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Cody Firearms Museum space during renovation.

Long-Awaited CFM Reload is within Our Sights

Ashley Hlebinsky at the top of the spiral stairway as the new Cody Firearms Museum nears completion.
Ashley Hlebinsky at the top of the spiral stairway as the new Cody Firearms Museum nears completion.

Originally published in Points West magazine
Summer 2019

Long-Awaited CFM Reload is within Our Sights

Editor’s Note: Wow! It’s hard to believe the Center of the West’s new, completely redesigned Cody Firearms Museum opened more than a year ago now. Here’s a fun look back at the exciting final stages of the renovation.

By Ashley Hlebinsky, Curator Emerita & Senior Firearms Scholar

The Cody Firearms Museum (CFM) staff, advisory board, and donors are excited to show the public the renovated museum. This project has been a long time in the making. Construction began on the museum last summer, but the planning, designing, fundraising, and organizing have been underway for many years.

As you walk into the hallway leading to the Cody Firearms Museum, a large graphic panel welcomes you and reads:

The Cody Firearms Museum interprets over 800 years of history with more than 10,000 objects in 40,000 square feet. This museum invites you to learn about the many ways people have used firearms throughout history in times of both war and peace. Please use what you see here as a foundation to spark your own research and further discussion beyond these walls.

Design drawing, CFM intro area

Thousands of visitors come through the CFM annually. They range from gun enthusiasts and collectors to people who know very little about firearms. As a result, the new CFM seeks to engage with all visitors. For novices, the CFM discusses firearms history, teaches safety, allows them to experience “hands-on history,” and learn not only about technology, but also how cultures and societies have changed because of firearms.

The museum’s main level combines traditional firearms display with conversations about the people associated with firearms history from early monarchs to modern athletes. The CFM main level is divided into the following galleries: introduction to firearms, modern shooting sports, evolution of the firearm, military history, firearms of the west, science of firearms, art of firearms, and a rotating exhibit space. It also features four firearms simulators including a pistol steel challenge, as well as a Browning 2 machine gun, a long-range rifle, and a shotgun. Additionally, throughout the galleries, visitors can find several series of mechanical and media-interactives and video to supplement the exhibit.

Danny Michael & Ashley Hlebinsky considering objects for exhibit.
Danny Michael and Ashley Hlebinsky considering objects for exhibit.

The CFM’s lower level is dedicated to those with a collector or research level of interest. At the base of the spiral staircase is an exhibit on early patents and prototypes which leads into a gun library with more than two thousand firearms and in excess of ten thousand rounds of ammunition. A video about the art of collecting plays in the space next to a firearms research room, a space available by appointment only to outside researchers and our staff to examine and photograph firearms and archival materials from the collection.

Click here for Points West, Summer 2019 issue

Our goal for the reimagined Cody Firearms Museum is to factually share and interpret the collection and its stories in light of the way the guns were used—whether for good, for ill, or simply indifferent. In so doing, we strive to become the authority on the public education and history of firearms as well as the location for academic firearms research and scholarship into the future.

Take a preview tour of the space here, and then make plans to see it “up close and personal.” We look forward to seeing you!

The CFM Reloads

In this article from May 2019 as the renovation neared its completion, Ashley Hlebinsky, the Robert W. Woodruff Curator of the Cody Firearms Museum [now Curator Emerita & Senior Firearms Scholar], and Assistant Curator Danny Michael [now Associate Curator] shared the progress on the #NewCFM and invited readers to come for a visit!

Collection + Stories

A distinctly American genre, Hollywood is always happy to produce a good western for TV or movie—stories that often affect how we view the American West. Below, Ashley and Danny help to decide how to display CFM’s firearms unique to such classic western icons as the Cartwrights of Bonanza and Paladin of Have Gun Will Travel.

A distinctly American genre, Hollywood is always happy to produce a good western for TV or movie, stories that often affect how we view the American West. Here Ashley and Danny help to decide how to display CFM's firearms unique to such classic western icons as the Cartwrights of Bonanza and Have Gun Will Travel's Paladin.
Working on the layout for firearms from the Hollywood guns collection.
Design drawing for the Wild West in pop culture exhibit in the new Cody Firearms Museum.
Top of the spiral staircase on the main level of the Cody Firearms Museum.

Getting Started

Design drawing of the new Cody Firearms Museum's orientation area.
Design drawing of the new Cody Firearms Museum’s orientation area.

The Exhibition Crew shines acres of glass in the new Cody Firearms Museum. The cases are larger to accommodate more firearms and with more glass to create better viewing for our visitors.

The exhibition crew shines acres of glass in the new Cody Firearms Museum. The cases are larger to accommodate more firearms, and have more glass to create better viewing for visitors.
A job for the patient: cleaning plexiglass cases.

Illusion of More Space

As of this writing [May 2019], the new Cody Firearms Museum has almost all the finishing touches in place (paint, carpet, cases, and a new stairway) and is now ready to add the firearms and other collections objects. The Exhibition Crew and CFM Staff planned a “soft opening” in early June with the Grand Opening to follow on July 6, 2019.

Cody Firearms Museum space during renovation.
Cody Firearms Museum space during the renovation.

Look for Old Favorites

Curator Ashley Hlebinsky ably “supports” the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. factory lintel, and Curator Ashley and Assistant Curator Danny Michael stand in front of the factory and the log cabin in the background from the last Cody Firearms Museum iteration.

Ashley Hlebinsky ably "supports" the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. factory lintel after its installation in the new Cody Firearms Museum.
Danny Michael and Ashley Hlebinsky in the new Cody Firearms Museum as the renovation nears completion.
Design drawing of the new Cody Firearms Museum’s orientation area.

And Exciting New Displays

The “pink room” is sure to highlight the nuances in the artistry of embellished and engraved firearms.

Vibrant pink walls await the installation of embellished and engraved firearms.
Vibrant pink walls await the installation of embellished and engraved firearms.
Design drawing for the embellished arms room in the new Cody Firearms Museum.
Design drawing for the embellished arms room in the new Cody Firearms Museum.

The Opening is in Our Sights

We’re so thankful to our donors, designers, contractors, advisory board, trustees, fellow colleagues, volunteers, an untold number of patrons and supporters, and of course, our families and friends! Without you, there would be no #NewCFM—we can’t wait to show it to you!

Ashley Hlebinsky & Danny Michael
Ashley Hlebinsky & Danny Michael

Ed. Note: The new Cody Firearms Museum opened to the public on July 6, 2019. Come see it in person!


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Written By

Nancy McClure avatar

Nancy McClure

Nancy now does Grants & Foundations Relations for the Center of the West's Development Department, but was formerly the Content Producer for the Center's Public Relations Department, where her work included writing and updating website content, publicizing events, copy editing, working with images, and producing the e-newsletter Western Wire. Her current job is seeking and applying for funding from government grants and private foundations. In her spare time, Nancy enjoys photography, reading, flower gardening, and playing the flute.

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