Arsenals of History: Ethics of Firearms in Museums
The Cody Firearms Museum hosts “Arsenals of History,” a firearms symposium, May 21–23, 2018.
A Cody Firearms Museum Symposium
May 21 – 23, 2018
The Cody Firearms Museum invites you to attend Arsenals of History: Ethics of Firearms in Museums, a symposium at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. Museums with firearm collections face unique challenges and interpretive questions. This symposium brings together authorities in the field to explore practical guidelines for museums with firearms.
- May 21 is open to the public and the sessions are free.
- May 22 and 23 are only open to museum professionals. To attend the full symposium as a museum professional, a $50 free and advanced registration is required.
Presenters for the symposium include speakers from our own Cody Firearms Museum, The Autry, The Met, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the NRA Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, the Dutch Military Museum, Royal Armouries, and the U.S. Marshals Museum.
Schedule (subject to change)
Day 1 • presentations – Monday, May 21 | in the Coe Auditorium | open to the public
- 8:30–9:15 AM: Richard Moll, Autry Museum of the American West – Survey of Staff Attitudes Towards Firearms
- 9:25–10:10 AM: John Byck, Metropolitan Museum of Art – Restoration in Museums
- 10:20–11:05 AM: Ben Nicholson, School of the Art Institute of Chicago – Teaching Firearms in Universities
- 11:15 AM–Noon: Phil Schreier, NRA Museums Division – Being a Museum in the NRA
- Noon–1 PM: Lunch presentation in the Kuyper Dining Pavilion – Jennifer Tucker, Wesleyan University – Perspectives on Firearms from Museums
- 1:10–1:55 PM: Erik Goldstein, Colonial Williamsburg – Reconversion and Restoration of Flintlocks
- 2:05–2:50 PM: Mathieu Willemsen, Dutch National Military Museum – Deaccessioning
- 3–3:45 PM: Dave Kennedy, US Marshals Museum –How a Museum Gets a Gun
- 3:55–4:40 PM: Jonathan Ferguson, Royal Armouries – Collecting Objects with Dubious Pasts
- 6 PM: Preview of CFM 2.0 – CFM Study Gallery
Day 2 • workshops – Tuesday, May 22 | CFM Study Gallery | open to museum professionals
- 9–10:15 AM: Alex Mackenzie, Springfield Armory NHS – Collections Access and the Role of Collectors
- 10:30–11:45 AM: Jonathan Ferguson, Royal Armouries – Provenance, Fakes, and Forgeries
- 11:45 AM–12:30 PM: Lunch – Onsite Kuyper Dining Pavilion
- 12:30–1:45 PM: Steve Sanetti, National Shooting Sports Foundation – Role of Public Collections in the Gun Debate
- 2–3:15 PM: Ashley Hlebinsky, Cody Firearms Museum – Legality of Museums and Firearms
- 3:30–4:45 PM: Richard Moll, Autry Museum of the American West – Going Too Far, Limits in Conservation
- 6 PM: Evening activity, Cody Firearms Experience
Day 3 • workshops – Wednesday, May 23 | CFM Study Gallery | open to museum professionals
- 9–10:15 AM: Ashley Hlebinsky, Cody Firearms Museum – 1st Association Meeting
- 10:30–11:45 AM: Erik Goldstein, Colonial Williamsburg – Conflict of Interest and Personal Collecting
- 11:45 AM–1 PM: Lunch – Onsite Kuyper Dining Pavilion
- 1:15–2:30 PM: Ben Nicholson, School of the Art Institute of Chicago – Effective Web Access for Collections
- 2–3:15 PM: Dave Kennedy, US Marshals Museum – Taking the Gun Out of the Story
- 6 PM: Dinner – Offsite, location TBD
Days 2 and 3 are only open to museum professionals and require pre-registration. Cost is $50. To register, please e-mail Danny Michael or call 307-578-4099. Click here for a flyer on the symposium.
Artist-in Residence:
John Hitchcock
Plains Indian Museum
May 21–25
9 a.m.–3 p.m.
Award-winning Wisconsin artist John Hitchcock joins us as artist-in-residence the week of May 21–25. From 9 a.m.–3 p.m. each day, Hitchcock demonstrates his work and technique while chatting with visitors in the Center’s Plains Indian Museum.
“Rabbit Hill,” 2018. Screenprint, acrylic paint, and dye on paper.
“Treasure Lake,” 2017. Screenprint and dye on paper.
“Quanah Parker Trailway,” 2018. Screenprint, acrylic paint, and dye on paper.
About the artist
Hitchcock received his bachelor of fine arts from Cameron University in his hometown of Lawton, Oklahoma. He later earned his master of fine arts in printmaking and photography at Texas Tech University in Lobbock, Texas. Currently, he is an artist, professor, and Associate Dean of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he teaches screenprinting, relief cut, and installation art.
His work has been featured at numerous prestigious national and international institutions. Hitchcock uses the print medium “to explore relationships of community, land, and culture.” Furthermore, his “works on paper and multimedia installation consist of prints and moving image that mediate the trauma of war and the fragility of life.”
To find out more about Hitchcock, visit his website.
The Center of the West’s summer educational programs are supported in part by an award from the Wyoming Arts Council through funding from the National Endowment for the Arts; and by a generous grant from the R. Harold Burton Foundation.
Chuck Wagon Cooking Demonstrations
Monday – Saturday, May 21 – September 21
9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Stop by the chuck wagon featured in our front garden area to watch chuck wagon cooking demonstrations, chat with “Cookie,” and learn some tips for campfire cooking. You can even try some Dutch oven biscuits, fire-roasted beans, and camp coffee.
Visit us this summer and sample fare from our cooks. Just look for the chuck wagon and campfire out front.
Enjoy one of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s most popular and dynamic programs: the Draper Museum Raptor Experience.
Turkey vulture Suli, one of our raptors, during a program.
At 1 p.m. each day the Center is open to the public, staff and volunteers bring out a few of the Raptor Experience’s live birds in the Center’s beautiful sculpture gardens (or in the Hub—the Center’s main lobby—in case of inclement weather). They talk about the raptors and the program, and answer questions from the audience.
Our raptors:
- Jade, the bald eagle
- Remington, the saw-whet owl
- Amelia, the short-eared owl
- Salem, the American kestrel
- Kateri, the golden eagle
- Teasdale, the great horned owl
- Isham, the red-tailed hawk
- Hayabusa, the peregrine falcon
- Suli, the turkey vulture
Click here for the Raptor Experience’s blog!
Find out more about the Draper Museum Raptor Experience.
What is—and what isn’t—a raptor?
Chuck Wagon Cooking Demonstrations
Monday – Saturday, May 21 – September 21
9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Stop by the chuck wagon featured in our front garden area to watch chuck wagon cooking demonstrations, chat with “Cookie,” and learn some tips for campfire cooking. You can even try some Dutch oven biscuits, fire-roasted beans, and camp coffee.
Visit us this summer and sample fare from our cooks. Just look for the chuck wagon and campfire out front.
Enjoy one of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s most popular and dynamic programs: the Draper Museum Raptor Experience.
Turkey vulture Suli, one of our raptors, during a program.
At 1 p.m. each day the Center is open to the public, staff and volunteers bring out a few of the Raptor Experience’s live birds in the Center’s beautiful sculpture gardens (or in the Hub—the Center’s main lobby—in case of inclement weather). They talk about the raptors and the program, and answer questions from the audience.
Our raptors:
- Jade, the bald eagle
- Remington, the saw-whet owl
- Amelia, the short-eared owl
- Salem, the American kestrel
- Kateri, the golden eagle
- Teasdale, the great horned owl
- Isham, the red-tailed hawk
- Hayabusa, the peregrine falcon
- Suli, the turkey vulture
Click here for the Raptor Experience’s blog!
Find out more about the Draper Museum Raptor Experience.
What is—and what isn’t—a raptor?
Chuck Wagon Cooking Demonstrations
Monday – Saturday, May 21 – September 21
9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Stop by the chuck wagon featured in our front garden area to watch chuck wagon cooking demonstrations, chat with “Cookie,” and learn some tips for campfire cooking. You can even try some Dutch oven biscuits, fire-roasted beans, and camp coffee.
Visit us this summer and sample fare from our cooks. Just look for the chuck wagon and campfire out front.
Wildlife of the West Tour
Learn about Wildlife of the West on this tour. Charlie Russell’s “The Buffalo Herd.” 21.80
Explore the spectacular wildlife of the American West and how these animals have influenced Plains Indian cultures and western artists.
This hour-long guided tour visits three of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s museums: the Draper Natural History Museum, the Plains Indian Museum, and the Whitney Western Art Museum.
Our guided tours are included with your regular admission to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Meet at the Tour Desk in the Hub (main lobby). Donations are gratefully appreciated and help fund this program.
Enjoy one of our other guided tours as well:
Enjoy one of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s most popular and dynamic programs: the Draper Museum Raptor Experience.
Turkey vulture Suli, one of our raptors, during a program.
At 1 p.m. each day the Center is open to the public, staff and volunteers bring out a few of the Raptor Experience’s live birds in the Center’s beautiful sculpture gardens (or in the Hub—the Center’s main lobby—in case of inclement weather). They talk about the raptors and the program, and answer questions from the audience.
Our raptors:
- Jade, the bald eagle
- Remington, the saw-whet owl
- Amelia, the short-eared owl
- Salem, the American kestrel
- Kateri, the golden eagle
- Teasdale, the great horned owl
- Isham, the red-tailed hawk
- Hayabusa, the peregrine falcon
- Suli, the turkey vulture
Click here for the Raptor Experience’s blog!
Find out more about the Draper Museum Raptor Experience.
What is—and what isn’t—a raptor?
Learn about the inhabitants of the West in our guided tour. Alfred Jacob Miller’s “Trappers Saluting the Wind River Mountains,” 1864. 10.70
People of the West Tour
From early Plains Indian peoples to contemporary artists, the amazing landscapes of the American West have influenced and inspired people’s lives.
In this one-hour guided tour, learn more about the lives and cultures of these “westerners” as we explore the Plains Indian Museum, the Buffalo Bill Museum, and the Cody Firearm Museum.
Our guided tours are included with your regular admission. Meet at the Tour Desk in the Hub (main lobby). Donations are gratefully appreciated and help fund this program.
Enjoy one of our other guided tours as well:
