John B. Stetson came West as a young man. He was the son of a successful hatter. In the West, he recognized the need for a felt hat with a wide brim to keep off rain and sun. His famous “Boss of the Plains” hat became widely popular and he was forever associated with the […]
Painter Thomas Moran visited Yellowstone National Park in 1871. A year before, Yellowstone became the world’s first national park. Moran traveled to Yellowstone on a formal expedition to document both in text and imagery of the place to the world. “Moran was tasked with bringing color to Yellowstone,” said Karen McWhorter, the curator of the […]
One day while working in the Plains Indian Museum collections, Hunter Old Elk, the curatorial assistant, found a very heavy box. “I didn’t really know what it was going to be,” said Old Elk. “I kind of had an idea. I called a colleague over. He helped me uncover this box, we pulled it down, […]
The McCracken Research Library director loves artifacts that tell a bigger story. Mary Robinson said one of her favorite examples is a pamphlet that talks about the dude ranches in the Big Horn Mountains. She said the pamphlet packs so much information in 50 pages-even just the front page evokes some history. “The Burlington railroad […]
The Cody Firearms Museum is well known for its huge collection of Winchester firearms. But Danny Michael, museum’s curator, said the museum actually has a much larger Winchester archival collection. “We might have a few thousand firearms that Winchester gave us. But we have 30,000 drawings…engineering drawings that they gave us of how they built […]
Lauren Good Day is Arikara Hidatsa Blackfeet and Plains Cree. Rebecca West, the curator of the Plains Indian Museum, said this diverse cultural heritage informs her as an artist. Good Day usually does beadwork, parfleche or painting. So West said this pipe bag is unusual. West said the pipe bag is also unusual because of […]