True West magazine has added the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s Cody Firearms Museum to its list of the Top Ten Western Museums for 2014. True West selected the Firearms Museum “in recognition of their superior exhibitions and ability to reach all generations through their creativity in interpreting the West while fulfilling their institution’s mission.”
“The Cody Firearms Museum dedication to excellence, and their mission of preserving and interpreting our great western history for all generations, is inspiring,” says True West Executive Editor Bob Boze Bell. “They keep the Old West alive.”
For nearly a dozen years, True West magazine has recognized the best western museums in America for their dedication to their mission of keeping the Old West alive in their communities and the nation.
Spur Award-winning writer Johnny D. Boggs selected the winners for this annual award based on his extensive travels, research, and firsthand experiences in visiting dozens of western museums each year. Readers also nominated museums through an application form on the magazine’s website.
Currently on display in the Cody Firearms Museum is the exhibition Journeying West: Distinctive Firearms from the Smithsonian, 64 firearms from the Smithsonian’s National Firearms Collection, a collection established at the National Museum of American History in 1876 in honor of the American Centennial. In addition, the museum recently acquired the Lone Ranger Colt .45 single-action army revolver belonging to actor John Hart and the Colt .45 Model 1905 Bisley Flattop target revolver that was a gift from movie star Gary Cooper to classic western film star Audie Murphy. Both “Hollywood guns” are also on exhibit in the Firearms Museum.
Read more in the Cody Firearms Museum section of this website.
True West magazine is in its 61st year of leading the way in presenting the true stories of Old West adventure, history, culture, and preservation. For more information, visit twmag.com or call 888-687-1881.
Since 1917, the award-winning Buffalo Bill Center of the West has devoted itself to sharing the story of the authentic American West. The Center is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. For additional information, visit centerofthewest.org or the Center’s Facebook page.