Buffalo Bill Historical Center
Encyclopedia
The Buffalo Bill Historical Center is a complex of museums displaying artifacts and art of the American West located in Cody, Wyoming
Cody, Wyoming
Cody is a city in Park County, Wyoming, United States. It is named after William Frederick Cody, primarily known as Buffalo Bill, from William Cody's part in the creation of the original town. The population was 9,520 at the 2010 census...
. Founded in 1917, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center is the oldest museum in the West. The museum is an affiliate in the Smithsonian Affiliations program.
The museums include the Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...
Museum, which features general western articles and historical items that help tell the story of W. F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody's life. A large amount of background and historical information is provided so as to put his life into context with what was going on in the country, especially out west, at that time.
Plains Indians Museum
The Plains Indians Museum features exhibits related to Plains Indian peoples, their cultures, traditions, values and histories, as well as the contexts of their lives today. Since 1979, the Plains Indian Museum has been a leader in promoting public recognition of the importance of Plains Indian art due to its nationally significant collection. The majority of the collection is from the early reservation period, ca. 1880-1930, and relates primarily to Northern Plains tribes, such as the Lakota, Crow, Arapaho, Shoshone, Cheyenne. The holdings also include important contemporary objects, ranging from artworks to quilts. In September 2007, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center acquired the Paul Dyck Plains Indian Buffalo Culture Collection, recognized as the most historic and important privately held collection of Plains Indian artifacts, art work, and related materials in the world. The collection includes clothing, eagle feather bonnets, bear claw necklaces, buffalo hide tipis and tipi furnishings, shields, cradles, peace medals, and moccasins. It dates from the late 18th century to pre-1890s. The Plains Indian Museum also sponsors the Plains Indian Museum Powwow held each June in the Robbie Powwow Garden at the historical center, an event which attracts dancers from all over North America.Whitney Gallery of Western Art
The Whitney Gallery of Western Art features paintings and sculptures of the American west. The gallery first opened in 1959 and re-opened on June 21, 2009 following a re-installation. The gallery is organized thematically, with spaces dedicated to heroes and legends, the heroic cowboy, wildlife, horseses in the West, inspirational landscapes, first people of the West, and the Western experience. Replicas of the studios of both Frederic RemingtonFrederic Remington
Frederic Sackrider Remington was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in depictions of the Old American West, specifically concentrating on the last quarter of the 19th century American West and images of cowboys, American Indians, and the U. S...
and Alexander Phimister Proctor
Alexander Phimister Proctor
Alexander Phimister Proctor was an American sculptor with the contemporary reputation as one of the nation's foremost animaliers.-Birth and early years:...
help visitors learn about the artists and their techniques. Other classic Western artists include George Catlin
George Catlin
George Catlin was an American painter, author and traveler who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West.-Early years:...
, Edgar Samuel Paxson
Edgar Samuel Paxson
Edgar Samuel Paxson was an American frontier painter, scout, soldier and writer, based mainly in Montana. He is best known for his portraits of Native Americans in the Old West and for his depiction of the Battle of Little Bighorn in his painting "Custer's Last Stand".- Biography :Paxson was born...
, Alfred Jacob Miller
Alfred Jacob Miller
Alfred Jacob Miller was an American painter and sketcher best known for his paintings concerning the northwestern United States.-Life:...
, Thomas Moran
Thomas Moran
Thomas Moran from Bolton, England was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family took residence in New York where he obtained work as an artist...
, Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion...
, Alexander Phimister Proctor
Alexander Phimister Proctor
Alexander Phimister Proctor was an American sculptor with the contemporary reputation as one of the nation's foremost animaliers.-Birth and early years:...
, W.R. Leigh, Joseph Henry Sharp
Joseph Henry Sharp
Joseph Henry Sharp was an American painter and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists, of which he is considered the "Spiritual Father". Sharp was one of the earliest European-American artists to visit Taos, New Mexico, which he saw in 1893 with John Hauser when he visited in 1893...
and N.C. Wyeth. More contemporary Western artists include Harry Jackson
Harry Jackson
Harry Jackson was the first man to be convicted in the United Kingdom via fingerprint evidence.On June 27, 1902, a burglary occurred in a house in Denmark Hill, London, and some billiard balls were stolen. The investigating officer noticed a number of fingerprints on a freshly painted windowsill,...
, James Bama
James Bama
James Bama is an American artist known for his realistic paintings and etchings of Western subjects. Life in Wyoming led to his comment, "Here an artist can trace the beginnings of Western history, see the first buildings, the oldest wagons, saddles and guns, and be up close to the remnants of...
, Deborah Butterfield
Deborah Butterfield
Deborah Kay Butterfield is an American sculptor. She divides her time between a ranch in Bozeman, Montana and studio space in Hawaii...
, Fritz Scholder
Fritz Scholder
Fritz Scholder was one of the most renowned Native American artists of the 20th century. Born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, Scholder was one-quarter Luiseño, a California Mission tribe. Scholder's most influential works were post-modern in sensibility and somewhat Pop Art in execution as he sought...
, and the sculptor Grant Speed
Grant Speed
Ulysses Grant Speed is a western sculptor based in Lindon in Utah County, near Provo.Speed was born in San Angelo in Tom Green County, Texas, where as a youth he concentrated on riding and roping and hence showed little evidence of his later passion for art...
. Interactive stations allow visitors to create their own works of art. The renovation and expansion was designed by Curtis W. Fentress
Curtis W. Fentress
Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA an American Architect, is the Principal-in-Charge of Design at Fentress Architects, an international design studio he founded in Denver, Colorado in 1980...
, FAIA, RIBA of Fentress Architects
Fentress Architects
Fentress Architects is an international design studio known for sustainable and iconic public architecture. Founded in 1980 by Curtis W. Fentress, FAIA, RIBA, the firm is internationally recognized for innovative designs of international airports, national museums, convention centers, high-rise...
.
Cody Firearms Museum
The Cody Firearms Museum houses the most comprehensive collection of American firearms in the world. The collection includes firearms ranging from a 16th Century hand cannon to guns of modern manufacture, and includes guns from almost every significant gun manufacturer in the world. The Winchester Collection, the heart of this museum, was transported from New Haven, Connecticut to Cody in 1976. Dedicated in 1991, the Cody Firearms Museum provides a permanent home for the Winchester collection as well as the largest collection of DuBiel Arms CompanyDuBiel Arms Company
The DuBiel Arms Company was established in 1975 by Joseph T. DuBiel and Dr. John Tyson and was located in Sherman, Texas. The talents, skill, and vision of master gun-maker Joe DuBiel were incorporated into these premium centerfire bolt-action rifles...
rifles in the United States today. Visitors can also learn about topics in firearms manufacturing, including factory workers, business competition,and innovations in production. Within the exhibits, visitors are able to trace the evolution of modern firearms technology from its earliest days through today's variations. Membership to the Cody Firearms Museum allows access to the Cody Firearms Museum Records Service, which provides information from original factory records of the Winchester, Marlin or L.C. Smith companies based on the make and serial number of the firearm.