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Conserving Outdoor Sculptures – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSpring 2008 Ensuring a Lasting Finish for the Future: Conserving Outdoor Sculptures By Mindy A. Besaw Thanks to a grant ...
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20 Greatest Western Films of All Time
The 20 Greatest Westerns Ever Made Our museum’s curators, historians, firearms experts, and film buffs voted on over 100 of the most popular western films. ...
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Museum Minute: Isham the Red-tailed Hawk
The Draper Museum Raptor Experience will be 10 years old in 2021. In honor of its anniversary, Museum Minutes are featuring the 11 raptors in ...
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Karl May, The Storyteller Old Shatterhand – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSpring 2011 Karl May: “I Am Hakawati.” The Storyteller, Who Was Old Shatterhand By André Kohler For Germans, Karl May ...
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Giving Back to the Land – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSpring 2020 Giving Back to the Land: Volunteering for public lands heals the spirit and the landscape By Corey Anco ...
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Museum Minute: Charles Carey Rumsey
Charles Carey Rumsey was an American sculptor who is most well known for depicting polo players and equestrian subjects. He was a pretty well known ...
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Western American Art Reinterpreted – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSummer 2009 See the West in a Whole New Way: Western American Art Reinterpreted Ed. Note: A look back to ...
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A coloring book from the Cody Firearms Museum
Looking for a fun and relaxing activity to pass the time at home? Our Cody Firearms Museum has created a coloring book! It features objects ...
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Museum Minute: Curators Don’t Always Know Everything
Museum curators are expected to have an in-depth knowledge of everything in the collections. “We try to put on a very good appearance of that ...
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Western or Eastern?
A note from Executive Director Peter Seibert So, what does constitute the difference between a Western American and an Eastern American? Beyond obvious points of ...
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Digital Resources for Teachers, Students, and Families
All activities, resources, and programs are correlated to standards across the content curriculum for Wyoming, Montana, and National standards. They are also inquiry and skill based. Teacher and Student ...
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Museum Minute: Symbolism of Red
The color red is symbolic for many different cultures and movements. It has become associated with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement, which ...
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360 Adventure: Alpine
BRAND NEW INTERACTIVE 360 ONLINE ADVENTURE! Come explore the alpine habitat of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem using this engaging interactive! Learn about this special habitat ...
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Museum Minute: Photo Manipulation In The Early 1900s
Vincent Mercaldo was a collector of Western imagery. But he was also a painter and an artist. Samantha Harper, the archivist at the McCracken Research Library, said ...
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Kids ask Why?
2020 Student Application – Do you love where you live?– Do you wish people knew more about Wyoming?– Do you want to be on the ...
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Museum Minute: Teasdale the Great Horn Owl
The Draper Museum Raptor Experience will be 10 years old in 2021. In honor, the museum minutes are featuring the 11 raptors in the program. ...
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Museum Minute: T.C. Cannon
Tommy Wayne Cannon, or more commonly known as T.C. Cannon, was a Native American artist of the 20th century. He was an enrolled member of ...
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Launching the Plains Indian Museum – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineFall/Winter 2017 Launching the Plains Indian Museum By Peter H. Hassrick, PhD One of the key milestones in the Buffalo ...
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Museum Minute: The Palm Protector Pistol
In the early 1900s, a new concealable pistol was created. The Palm Protector Pistol was a double action revolver, but Danny Michael, the assistant curator ...
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Museum Minute: An Early Forest Ranger
Samantha Harper is an archivist at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s McCracken Research Library. This job means that Harper digs through documents, photography ...
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The Tipi Blends Function and Elegance – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSummer 2016 The Tipi Blends Function and Elegance By Gene Ball From the Archives: Gene Ball, the Buffalo Bill Center ...
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3 Events to Plan Your Yellowstone Trip Around
Taking that long-planned, bucket-list trip to Yellowstone? We here in Cody consider it “our” park, too! Spend a little time with us on your way ...
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Museum Minute: “When the Buffalo Came Back”
The Plains Indian Museum doesn’t only collect art from the past. Rebecca West, the curator of the museum, said their job is also to collect ...
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Museum Minute: How Natural History Museums Came Across Their Collections, Yesterday and Today
In the past, natural history museums sent staff and researchers on expeditions to collect specimens in the field. But when the Draper Natural History Museum ...
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Museum Minute: A Hidden Figure
Museum curators often receive public inquiries, and sometimes an outside person can be very helpful to gaining better insight on a painting or object in ...
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Buffalo Bill Center of the West raffles for 2020
Two Raffles. Two Great Prizes. Each year, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West offers not one, but two opportunities to enter raffles and win ...
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Museum Minute: The .50 Caliber Bolt Action
During World War I, while John Browning was working on a heavy machine gun that would use a .50 caliber cartridge, Cody Firearms Museum Assistant ...
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Adaptations For the Speedy Life Style of Peregrine Falcons
How Speedy is a Peregrine? Peregrine Falcons are speedy birds that are popular with bird watchers and falconers all over the world. The peregrine has ...
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Treasures from Our West: “Winchester Herald” covers with baseball bat and mitt
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Summer 2019 Winchester Herald covers with baseball bat and mitt A Winchester bat? A Winchester mitt? With baseball ...
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Treasures from Our West: Winchester Calendar, 1894
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Summer 2019 Winchester Calendar, 1894 In 1887, Union Metallic Cartridge Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, introduced an advertising calendar ...
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Treasures from Our West: Wild Bill Hickok Revolver
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Summer 2019 Wild Bill Hickok’s Revolver James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok’s (1837–1874) pair of ivory-handled revolvers were as ...
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Adornment in the West: The American Indian as Artist – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSummer 2015 Adornment in the West: The American Indian as Artist By Donna Poulton To the world, Millicent Rogers was ...
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Treasures from Our West: Native Feather Bustle
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Summer 2019 Native Feather Bustle There’s no shortage of bustles at the Center of the West’s Plains Indian ...
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Guns as Art – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSpring 2017 Guns As Art By Gene Ball From the Archives: Gene Ball, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s ...
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Treasures from Our West: Photograph: Making a garden in North Platte, Nebraska, 1909
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Spring 2019 Photograph: Making a garden in North Platte, Nebraska, 1909 For these folks, spring undoubtedly meant consulting ...
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Show Me Something Old: St. Labre Museum Studies Class, Fall 2019
In the fifteenth fall, the Plains Indian Museum hosted high school students, tribal elders, and instructors from St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, Montana. The ...
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Museum Minute: A Bounty Hunter
Tom Tobin was a mountain man and bounty hunter in the late 1800s in Southern Colorado. He is most known for killing the Espinosa outlaws. ...
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Museum Minute: The Cody Red Sox
Did you ever think that Cody had a connection with the Boston Red Sox? Well, it turns out there is a connection. Eric Rossborough, the ...
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Cliff House Revealed – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineFall/Winter 2013 Cliff House Revealed By Mack Frost As a photographer, I constantly have to remind myself how lucky and ...
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Museum Minute: Preserving Objects
Museums carry objects that unfortunately are not meant to last forever. Rebecca West, the curator of the Plains Indian Museum, said a Lakota sun bonnet ...
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Unmasking the Mysterious Major Burke – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineWinter 2012 Unmasking the Mysterious Major Burke By Chris Dixon Major John M. Burke first met William F. “Buffalo Bill” ...
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Treasures from Our West: Irma Hotel Chamber Pot
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Spring 2019 Irma Hotel Chamber Pot In the days before indoor plumbing, that thirty-yard dash through the inky ...
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Museum Minute: A French Artist with a Passion for the American West
Rosa Bonheur was a famous French animal artist during the late 19th century. She’s one of the few female artists in the Whitney Museum collection. ...
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Museum Minute: General James Doolittle
James Doolittle was a general during World War II. He became famous for his raid on Tokyo in 1942 just after Pearl Harbor was bombed. ...
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The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Where Do We Draw the Lines? – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineFall/Winter 2016 The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Where Do We Draw the Lines? By Charles R. Preston, PhD For generations, many ...
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Treasures from Our West: Albert Bierstadt’s “White Horse and Sunset”
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Spring 2019 Albert Bierstadt’s White Horse and Sunset Ah, steeds, steeds, what steeds! Has the whirlwind a home ...
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Museum Minute: A $10,000 Deal
When Leonard Cody Bell (not related) was nine years old, Buffalo Bill Cody offered him $10,000 if he would keep his hair long until he ...
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The Basics of Bird Migration Part II-Travel Direction, Navigation, Flyways, and Dangers
Click here to read part 1 When thinking of bird migration, many people think of flocks of geese moving in their typical “V” formation. It’s ...
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Buffalo Bill and La Rana nel Wild West, conclusion – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSpring 2015 A Leap But Not a Stretch: Buffalo Bill and La Rana nel Wild West, conclusion By Mary Robinson ...
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Museum Minute: July 1919 Cradle Board
The Salish tribes in western Montana, Idaho and Washington made cradle boards to celebrate newborns. It’s a utilitarian object because it is used as a ...
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Treasures from Our West: Herb Parsons’s Winchester Model 1871
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Spring 2019 Herb Parsons’s Winchester Model 1871 To make movie magic, all it takes is a wizard. In ...
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Museum Minute: How Wounds Can Help Tell a Story
Late in the spring a couple years back, Leslie Patten went hiking and came upon something pretty spectacular. When she looked more closely, she saw ...
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Buffalo Bill and La Rana nel Wild West, part 1 – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSpring 2015 A Leap But Not a Stretch: Buffalo Bill and La Rana nel Wild West, Part 1 By Mary ...
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Treasures from Our West: Thomas Moran’s “Zoroaster Peak”
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Fall/Winter 2018 Thomas Moran’s “Zoroaster Peak” The trajectory of Thomas Moran’s career would change dramatically in 1871. That ...
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The Basics of Bird Migration Part I-Knowing When, Grouping, and How They Prepare
Migration can be one of the most dangerous times in a bird’s life, yet it is intended to improve their long term survival rate. The ...
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Museum Minute: What the Deadwood Stagecoach Stands for in History
In 1876, at the height of the Black Hills Gold Rush, a stagecoach route began between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Deadwood, South Dakota. The Buffalo Bill Museum has ...
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Turning Back: Reflecting on the Art of Harry Jackson – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSummer 2014 Turning Back: Reflecting on the Art of Harry Jackson By Mindy N. Besaw Harry Jackson (1924–2011) is a ...
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Museum Minute: Choosing of the Arrow
When a visitor enters the Whitney Western Art Museum one sculpture might confuse the visitor. Choosing of the Arrow by Henry Kirke Brown might remind ...
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“Distant Thunder” sculpture makes its way to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West welcomed a new sculpture to its beautiful grounds on September 6, 2019. Distant Thunder, a stately bronze of ...
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Treasures from Our West: Golden Eagle Eggs
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Fall/Winter 2018 Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) Eggs Golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming find ...
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Museum Minute: A Rifle Ahead of Its Time
The Cody Firearms Museum has a machine rifle gun from the early part of the last century that was ahead of its time in looks ...
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Talking Machine West 1902–1918 (part 2) – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineFall/Winter 2017 Talking Machine West 1902–1918, Part 2 By Michael A. Amundson In the last issue of Points West, readers ...
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Museum Minute: Historic Video Archives Teach a Lesson: Don’t Get Close to Wildlife
The McCracken Research Library has been working to compile historical video footage of natural history events in the Greater Yellowstone Area. There are well over ...
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Talking Machine West 1902–1918 (part 1) – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSummer 2017 Talking Machine West 1902–1918, Part 1 By Michael A. Amundson Mike Amundson, Northern Arizona University Professor of History, ...
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Museum Minute: A Smelly Surprise
The curator and curatorial assistant of the Plains Indian Museum once noticed an odd odor in one of the museum’s storage areas. This isn’t something ...
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Samuel Franklin Cody and William F. Cody – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSpring 2011 A Case of Mistaken Identity: Samuel Franklin Cody and William F. Cody By Lynn Johnson Houze Turn back ...
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Museum Minute: Custer’s Last Stand
Custer’s Last Stand was reenacted thousands of times in the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. A poster shows the classic image of Lakota, Cheyenne and ...
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Charlie Russell’s Books – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineFall 2010 Charlie Russell’s Books By Brian W. Dippie, PhD Charlie Russell’s library points to a book reader, not a ...
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TIME mural in Cody Firearms Museum nominated for Emmy Award
A TIME mural, a version of which is currently on exhibit in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s Cody Firearms Museum, was been nominated ...
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Museum Minute: An Epic View of the West
When you think of epic western landscapes, what comes to mind is probably those of Albert Bierstadt. Karen McWhorter, the Scarlett Curator of Western American ...
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Treasures from Our West: Mandan Burden Basket
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Fall/Winter 2018 Mandan Burden Basket In summer 2018, Plains Indian Museum staff had the opportunity to engage in ...
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Museum Minute: The Colt Texas Paterson
The Cody Firearms Museum has a pretty unique Colt Texas Paterson. The revolver is a repeating firearm with a revolving cylinder with multiple chambers. Ashley ...
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The Irma Hotel Cherrywood Bar: In La Scala Opera? – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineFall/Winter 2018 The Irma Hotel Cherrywood Bar: In La Scala Opera? By Walter Rudolph Metropolitan Opera Live in HD (also ...
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University of Wisconsin-Madison professor awarded $100,000 Camp Monaco Prize research grant
The Camp Monaco Prize Partnership has announced the winners of the $100,000 Camp Monaco Prize, which supports integrated scientific research and public education initiatives in ...
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4 Videos for a Greater Understanding of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is rife with eye-catching scenery and wildlife — it only takes a few hours of driving or hiking to see it. ...
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Celebrating Local Students’ Yellowstone Exhibits
Each year the Buffalo Bill Center of the West partners with 5th grade teachers and students from Westside Elementary in Powell, WY. This past May, ...
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Museum Minute: Women Workers at Winchester Repeating Arms Company
When men went off to fight on the front lines in World War I, many factories and companies replaced their workforce with women and young ...
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Celebrating the First 50 Years of the Whitney Gallery of Western Art – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineSpring 2009 Celebrating the First 50 Years of the Whitney Gallery of Western Art* *Ed. note: the Whitney Gallery of ...
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Artists-in-Residence Robert Martinez, John Hitchcock, and John Pepion demonstrate award-winning artistic styles
In the months of July and August visitors to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s Plains Indian Museum have the opportunity to interact with ...
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On the Trail of the Golden Eagle – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineFall 2009 On the Trail of the Golden Eagle: Summer Fieldwork with the Golden Eagle Posse By Charles R. Preston, ...
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Buffalo Bill Center of the West wins Sustainability Excellence Award for efforts to reduce energy consumption
In May 2019, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West was granted a Sustainability Excellence Award (SEA) from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) for ...
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Museum Minute: Buffalo Moccasins
The Nez Perce Tribe historically was a nomadic tribe that roamed the Plains. The tribe is known for their use of color in beadwork using ...
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The Faces of Conservation
I am a poster child for the wonders of educational outreach programs. My life was completely changed during an hour-long Birds of Prey program, very ...
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Renovated Firearm Museum Wants To Add Context To Gun History
On Saturday July 6, the newly renovated Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West will reopen its doors to the public. It’s long been home ...
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Museum Minute: Clark’s Nutcracker
The Clark’ s Nutcracker is a high mountain bird located in the Western U.S. The bird is pretty unique for its ability to cache said ...
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Treasures from Our West: Design Drawing, Winchester Repeating Shotgun
Originally featured in Points West magazine in Fall/Winter 2018 Design Drawing, Winchester Repeating Shotgun A quick glance through each of the Center’s five museums, and ...
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The Old Glory Blowout – Points West Online
Originally published in Points West magazineWinter 2009 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show: The Old Glory Blowout By Charles Sabukewicz [To me] Buffalo Bill’s history in ...
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Museum Minute: Pony Express Saddle
Although the Pony Express only lasted for about a year and half, the mail service has become synonymous with the Old West. The story of ...
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Donor Spotlight: Robert W. Woodruff Foundation
From Atlanta to Cody: Robert W. Woodruff Foundation continues support of the Cody Firearms Museum Robert W. Woodruff’s lifelong love for the West, and Cody ...
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Museum Minute: Frederic Remington’s Last Years
Frederic Remington was a famous painter who was known for his depiction of the American West. But Karen McWhorter, the Scarlett Curator of Western American ...
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