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Museum Minute: An Unusually Shaped Water Vessel at the Plains Indian Museum
At the Plains Indian Museum, most of the water vessels carved out of horns that may have been used as spoons look like scoops or ...
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Belted Kingfisher: A Water Dependent Bird
If you have ever seen a Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) it is probably around water. Water may even influence migration patterns, as Kingfishers that do ...
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Echoes of the Painted West: John Clymer’s Gold Train
Gold in the Hills! Colonel Mulberry Sellers in Mark Twain’s satirical novel The American Claimant prophetically decreed, “There’s gold in them thar hills, I tell ...
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An Unsung Hero of Firearms Manufacturing
Following the American Civil War, large scale firearms manufacturing companies Winchester, Colt, Smith and Wesson, and Remington drove demand by creating niche audiences. This launched ...
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Brushstrokes of a Nation: Golden Gate, Yellowstone
Thomas Moran's "Golden Gate, Yellowstone National Park," 1893. 4.75...
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Today’s West
Today’s West Mezzanine Level Overlooking the Hub Today’s West brings a fresh lens to the American West with modern stylized artwork selected from the Whitney ...
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Buffalo Bill’s Greatest Prop: The Storied Ride of the Deadwood Coach
There’s an old yellow stagecoach sitting in the Buffalo Bill Museum at the Center of the West that once rumbled through rugged country on the ...
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Silent Shadows: Art, Internment, and the Legacy of Minidoka
The “Minidoka on My Mind” collection sits somewhere between memories and creativity. Created by Japanese American artist Roger Shimomura, the three painting collection challenges traditional ...
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Carl Rungius and the Silver-Tipped Grizzly: A Legacy in Western Wildlife Art
A silver tipped grizzly lives in the Whitney Western Art Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. No cause for alarm—he is two ...
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Museum Minute: Beadwork on a Horse Mask Shows Bond Between Blackfeet Owner and Animal
Museum Minute: Beadwork on a Horse Mask Shows Bond Between Blackfeet Owner and Animal A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaJune 12, 2025 A ...
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Museum Minute: Elk Teeth on a Crow Dress Displays Importance of Children
Listen: Some Plains Indian cultures used elk teeth to decorate clothing and make jewelry. Heather Bender, the native education outreach specialist in the education department ...
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Her Plane Vanished. Her Flight Jacket Didn’t.
Her Plane Vanished. Her Flight Jacket Didn’t by John C. Rumm, PhD. The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on March 8 while en ...
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Museum Minute: A cradleboard tells the story of a flower and a Blackfeet legend
Museum Minute: A cradleboard tells the story of a flower and a Blackfeet legend A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaMay 14, 2025 A ...
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Grackles: Why Do They Look Upward?
The Arrival of Grackles Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula) are birds that often arrive in large flocks. This arrival is not a welcome one for many people. ...
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Statement from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West on the Impact of Federal Grant Program Losses
UPDATE: 4/24/2025 The Center of the West is pleased to announce we have received the majority of the reimbursements requested from the Institute of Museum ...
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Philip R. Goodwin, or, A Child Prodigy Runs Afoul of the 20th Century
It was December, and I had just walked into the shelving room of the Madison, Wisconsin, Public Library. My job. The room was full of ...
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Practicing Safe Leks: A Guide to the Greater Sage-Grouse
The Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is one of the flashiest introverts in the bird world. For most of the year, these hefty, chicken-like birds keep ...
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Rubber Boas: The Pythons of the Rockies (only cuter)
If you’re wandering around the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and hoping to spot one of the region’s most elusive creatures, you might find yourself staring at ...
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Buffalo Bill Center of the West Mourns Loss of Former Chair Alan K. Simpson
UPDATE: March 25, 2025 Click here to read this news release on EIN Presswire. Three Wyoming Cities to Host Alan K. Simpson Memorial Events Memorial ...
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There’s a pocket gopher in the Draper’s research collection
There’s a pocket gopher in the Draper Museum’s research collection A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaMarch 6, 2025 A 1-minute audio snapshot highlighting ...
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The Reinvention of Mickey Cochrane
At night, when he was a kid, Mike Cochrane would practice running down Mt. Prospect Street in his hometown of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He wanted to ...
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Ice patch exhibit shares objects from the past
Draper museum ice patch exhibit shares objects from the past A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaFebruary 12, 2025 A 1-minute audio snapshot highlighting ...
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Draper museum puts bones back together to share about Yellowstone-area wildlife
Draper museum puts bones back together to share about Yellowstone-area wildlife A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaFebruary 6, 2025 A 1-minute audio snapshot ...
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How to “Read” a Bison: Basics for Visitors
Bison are some of the most iconic animals in Yellowstone. While they may appear docile, bison do not view individual humans as a significant threat. ...
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A Masterpiece Finds a New Home at the Center: Bierstadt’s ‘Wind River Country, Wyoming’
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, receives Bierstadt’s Wind River Country, Wyoming” as a gift, now prominently displayed in the Whitney ...
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A Golden Mystery: The Unexpected Presence of Western Meadowlarks in Winter
It truly feels like springtime when I hear the flutelike melody of the Western Meadowlark. This strikingly colorful member of the blackbird family can be ...
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A bird trainer shares a story about a raven
A bird trainer shares a story about a raven A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaJanuary 22, 2025 A 1-minute audio snapshot highlighting a ...
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Meet Becky the raven
Meet Becky the Raven from the Draper Museum Raptor Experience A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaJanuary 16, 2025 A 1-minute audio snapshot highlighting ...
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Wintering with Bees
As the wind, cold temperatures, and snow create icy conditions outside, our staff are working on the results of the second year of our pollinator ...
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With humor, artist looks at the commercialization of Native American cultures
Artist looks at the commercialization of Native American cultures with humor A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaJanuary 9, 2025 A 1-minute audio snapshot ...
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Stewardship in Action
Simple Ways to Protect Yellowstone’s Wildlife and Ecosystems by the Draper Natural History Museum staff The Draper Natural History Museum was established to showcase the ...
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Woodpeckers of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
The variety of habitats within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem makes it a perfect place for many species of woodpeckers. Learn more about these visually striking ...
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Center of the West Acquires Iconic Sculpture by Deborah Butterfield
Major New Work on Display at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming The Whitney Western Art Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the ...
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Long-eared Owls: Appearance, Habitat, and Behavior
Long-eared Owls are just one of about 250 species of owls living in the world. They reside on every continent except Antarctica. Nineteen of these ...
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A Legacy of Learning: St. Labre School Fall Visit 2024
Students, elders, and instructors of St. Labre Indian Schools traveled to the Plains Indian Museum from Ashland, Montana, in October of 2024. Students Hanna Dudek, ...
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Downy Woodpeckers: Small Drummers
Downy Woodpeckers (Dryobates pubescens) are only one of 239 species of woodpeckers worldwide. They are also the smallest woodpecker in all of North America. Although ...
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Migration Season
By Chloe Winkler and Amy Phillips Fall affects us all in many different ways! As humans we tend to snuggle up inside with pumpkin-themed drinks ...
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Western illustrator featured women when that was out of the ordinary
Western illustrator featured women when that was out of the ordinary A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaOctober 17, 2024 A 1-minute audio snapshot ...
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Hibernation versus Torpor
Hibernation versus Torpor: What’s the Difference? by Brandon Lewis and Amy Phillips Winter is a difficult time to survive for many animals. Mule deer in ...
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Conservation of Black-Footed Ferrets
Black-footed ferrets were first reintroduced to Meeteetse in 2016. Since then, there have been several subsequent releases including the one our staff participated in last ...
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The Truth About Bats
Why do bats have such a bad reputation? Are they really disease-carriers, blood-drinking, flying rodents? ...
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Black-capped Chickadees, the Birds Whose Brain Changes
If you love birds, especially if you feed birds, then hopefully you are familiar with Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus). These are cute, little, non-migratory birds ...
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White-Nose Syndrome: A Battle for the Bats
In the late winter of 2006, thousands of bats began to die in the northeastern United States. Not long before they should have been emerging ...
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A Summer in ‘The West’: 2024 Intern Experiences
This summer, 14 interns were selected to spend 10 weeks at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. Across several departments, each ...
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What a Paris-made firearm can tell us about Winchester’s founder
Later in life William F. Cody hunted often outside of Yellowstone using a Winchester rifle A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaAugust 8, 2024 ...
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The pistol that took shooting sports athlete Julie Golob around the world
The pistol that took shooting sports athlete Julie Golob around the world A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaAugust 2, 2024 A 1-minute audio ...
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Taking Flight with Pinyon Jays
The Pinyon Jay is named for its characteristic behaviors of both nesting in piñon pine trees and eating their seeds. A relative of ravens, crows, ...
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Caroline Lockhart: 5 Facts about Cody’s Western Novelist
In 1895, 25-year-old Caroline Lockhart wears a 246-pound diver’s suit twice her size and climbs over the edge of a tugboat, looking out at the ...
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Earn Your Spurs – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazine Spring 2023 The Way West: Earn Your Spurs By Jim Arndt William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody wore spurs as ...
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The Fabulous Topperweins: a couple famed for their sharpshooting skills
The Fabulous Topperweins: a couple famed for their sharpshooting skills A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaJuly 18, 2024 A 1-minute audio snapshot highlighting ...
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A Spirited Wild West Volley – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazine History EditionWinter 2022 A Spirited Wild West Volley By Mack Frost The performers and crew who toured with Buffalo ...
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Jeremy Johnston remembered
Obituary reprinted with permission from the Powell Tribune Jeremy Monroe Johnston, 53, passed away Saturday, June 15, 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah, surrounded by ...
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Enduring West: Exploration and its Impact
The American West has always been a destination to explore – by scholars, naturalists, scientists, and others. Discoveries made within the last couple of decades ...
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A Coors connection: Beer company used firearms to try and bring back marksmanship festival
Coors connection: beer company used firearms to try to bring back marksmanship festival A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaJuly 2, 2024 A 1-minute ...
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American Robins: Misbeliefs and Facts
The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) may be the most common bird in the USA. They are a frequent sight almost everywhere in the lower 48 ...
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The firearm that gave Buffalo Bill his nickname
The firearm that gave William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody his nickname A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaJune 20, 2024 A 1-minute audio snapshot ...
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Roosevelt’s Winchester that he took to Africa tells us about his hunting days
Theodore Roosevelt’s Winchester that he took to Africa tells us about his hunting days A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaJune 12, 2024 A ...
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The surprising origin of the phrase, ‘get your ducks in a row’
The surprising origin of the phrase, ‘get your ducks in a row’ A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaJune 6, 2024 A 1-minute audio ...
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Equipment of a Raptor Handler
Many individuals are fascinated by birds of prey and many facilities do educational programs with their live Avian Ambassadors. Working with raptors in captivity requires ...
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Shared artwork in Wild West show posters reveals subtle differences
Shared artwork in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show posters reveals subtle differences A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaMay 23, 2024 A 1-minute audio ...
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Red-winged Blackbirds: An Early Sign of Spring
Conk-la-ree! I hear it before I see it. Looking up I spot a Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) perched in the leafless tree above me. It ...
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Andy Warhol serigraph portrait of General Custer acquired
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is thrilled to announce a significant addition to its esteemed collection: a one-of-a-kind Andy Warhol serigraph portrait of ...
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Advertising the Frontier Myth: Poster Art of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West
In 1835, P.T. Barnum bought a human being. Barnum saw an ad in the Pennsylvania Inquirer. Joice Heth, an elderly African-American, was being promoted as ...
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Military drills in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West
Military drills in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaMay 16, 2024 A 1-minute audio snapshot highlighting a museum object ...
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The Herbarium of Erwin Evert
An herbarium is a collection of dried plant specimens useful for both research and education. Each specimen in the collection has a label stating who ...
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The female bandit in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show poster
The female bandit in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show poster caused controversy A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaMay 10, 2024 A 1-minute audio ...
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Poisonous Birds
When people think of poisonous animals birds do not typically come to mind. Nevertheless there are a few birds that are poisonous. In his blog ...
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French artist was inspired by the performers in the Wild West show
French artist was inspired by the performers in the Wild West show A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaApril 11, 2024 A 1-minute audio ...
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Ragtime orchestra likely inspired some of the music in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show
Ragtime orchestra likely inspired some of the music in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaApril 5, 2024 A ...
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Black Musicians in the Wild West
Originally published in Points West magazine History Edition, Winter 2024 Black Musicians in the Wild West: The Curious History of Ferris’s Satisfied Musical Entertainers By ...
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The Harry Yount Enigma: Yellowstone’s First Park Ranger
Buried among the sublime passes of the Sierra Nevada are old men, who, when children, strayed away from our crowded settlements, and, gradually moving farther ...
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Wonders of Bird Migration
What is migration Several different animal species come, spring and fall, move around between their breeding (summer) homes and their nonbreeding (winter) grounds. Deer, elk, ...
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The firearm of the first woman who rode across the country on horseback
The firearm of the first woman who rode across the country on horseback A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaMarch 21, 2024 A 1-minute ...
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Buffalo Bill’s Wild West master trick roper Vicente Oropeza
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West master trick roper Vicente Oropeza A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaMarch 14, 2024 A 1-minute audio snapshot highlighting a ...
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Dr. Charles Preston to Receive Award for Contributions to Biodiversity Science
Dr. Preston’s lifelong dedication to conservation has left an enduring legacy, showcasing the importance of preserving our natural world. The University of Wyoming’s Biodiversity Institute and the Buffalo ...
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Buffalo Bill’s cowboy band played “The Star Spangled Banner” before it became the national anthem
Buffalo Bill’s cowboy band played “The Star Spangled Banner” before it became the national anthem A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaMarch 7, 2024 ...
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Sharpshooters and myth-making in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show
Sharpshooters and myth-making in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaFebruary 22, 2024 A 1-minute audio snapshot highlighting a ...
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Did Buffalo Bill ride for the Pony Express?
Did William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody ride for the Pony Express? A Museum Minute By Olivia WeitzWyoming Public MediaFebruary 15, 2024 A 1-minute audio snapshot ...
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Jade Vaquero auction benefits Cody Firearms Museum
“The Jade Vaquero” – A Masterpiece by Paul Lantuch – Auctioned to Benefit the Cody Firearms Museum Update, January 27: The auction has concluded. Thank ...
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Pommel & Pistol: A brief history of handguns on horseback – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineFall 2022 Pommel & Pistol: A brief history of handguns on horseback By Danny Michael Since the invention of firearms ...
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Common Raven: Do They Sing and Other Interesting facts
When it comes to ravens, it seems that people’s opinions range from hate to love. How about you? What do you think of when you ...
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A Cautionary Tale: Modified 98k Mauser – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineFall 2023 Reloaded: A Cautionary Tale By Steve Sanetti In 1964, my father was a recently divorced shoemaker with little ...
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“There wasn’t any make-believe or made-up stuff:” the Western Work of James Bama
Don Schmalz was riding up Trout Creek. The year was 1973. The wind was coming straight out of the north and it was snowing. He ...
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How trees survive winter
When trees first evolved, they existed only in the tropics and for good reason—50 percent of the tree is water. Cold temperatures turn water into ...
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Photo: Bald Eagle in Flight – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazine Spring 2021 How I Got That Shot: Bald Eagle in Flight By Rob Koelling New York photographer Jay Maisel ...
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Buffalo Bill Center of the West embarks on a digital journey with Bloomberg Connects
Smithsonian Affiliate partners with Bloomberg Connects app for digital guide, enhancing visitor experience, accessibility, and global outreach. The Whitney Western Art Museum at the Buffalo Bill ...
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Exhibition Explores Photos by Artist James Bama – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineFall 2023 Exhibition Explores Photos by Artist: James Bama – Portraits of the West By Susan Floyd Barnett Are westerners ...
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Charlie Russell’s Tough Year
1917 was a tough year for Charlie Russell. His good buddy, bullwhacker Johnny Matheson, was dying. Johnny ran the last horse-drawn freight line between Great ...
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What are Preening and Rousing?
“Why did that bird shake?” This is a question I am occasionally asked when a visitor observes one of our birds ruffling up its feathers ...
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Ned Buntline and the Discovery of Buffalo Bill; or, how a Miscreant Created the First World Celebrity
One thing I’ve learned since coming to work at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West is that every prominent American frontiersman is that way ...
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