Browse by Collection

Digital Collections: Browse by Collection

Digital Collections are works in progress. Please see the appropriate finding guides for more complete collection content.

This collection consists of a series of original letters written by Victor Arland (c. 1848- 1890) of Arland, Wyoming to Mr. C.P. Dadant of Hamilton, IL, a beekeeper and manufacturer of bee supplies and distributor of honey. The letters are handwritten in French, dated between 1872 and 1889, and for the most part are in good to excellent condition. The letters have been flattened, separated by acid-free, lignin-free paper in archival folders and housed in Box 1, organized as Series 1. Included in Series 2 are excerpts of essays that have resulted from research with this collection.

MS 002
Victor Arland
Collection

A selection of letters, correspondence, published material, ephemera, objects and photographs surrounding the life of William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Supported by OCLC, Mrs. Lynne Cheney, and a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. Thank you! This project is also made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. http://imls.gov

MS 003
Charles Belden
Collection

Cody, Wyoming was founded in 1895. Long associated with William F. Cody and the East Entrance to YellowstonePark, Cody has had a rich and varied past. Series within the collection have been set up on the history of the City of Cody and Park County, which include Cody Rod and Gun Club papers; W. F. Cody; Wyoming and Western U.S. history; local persons and families such as Elmore Jones and the Hargreave family; general city of Cody and local scenery and wildlife photographs (many photos still unidentified); and Cody newspapers that include the Heart Mountain Sentinelof the World War II Japanese-American internment camp. Total volume of the collection is 7 c.f. of papers and photographs plus the newspapers.

MS 005
Cody Local
History Collection

A selection of letters, correspondence, published material, ephemera, objects and photographs surrounding the life of William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Supported by OCLC, Mrs. Lynne Cheney, and a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. Thank you! This project is also made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. http://imls.gov

MS 006
William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody Collection

This collection contains various documents concerning the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Most prominent are two original reports of General Alfred H. Terry to General George Crook, the first official reports of the defeat of Custer at the Little Big Horn battlefield. Other documents in the collection include reminiscences of Wilmot Sanford on the battle, a letter from General E. S. Godfrey to E.S. Paxson about the battle, as well as a letter from William F. Cody to Elizabeth Custer regarding a statue of her husband.

MS 007
George Armstrong Custer
Collection

Collection consists of four journals by Count Otto Franc von Liechtenstein relating daily activities as he ran the Pitchfork Ranch on the upper Greybull River west of present day Meeteetse, Wyoming. Typed transcripts are present for the first two journals.

MS 010
Count Otto Franc
Von Lichtenstein

MS 012
Frank Tenney Johnson Collection

MS 020 Winchester Repeating Arms Company Collection

MS 020
Winchester Repeating Arms Co. Collection

The Yellowstone National Park Collection consists of publications, memorabilia, souvenirs, academic publications, correspondence, photographic media, illustrations, postcards, and correspondence related to the park and its inception, existence, and development.

MS 021
Yellowstone
National Park Collection

This collection contains the booklet The Battle of the Little Big Horn by Wallace David Coburn and a manuscript written in pencil in a spiral notepad by "...the last of the Coburn boys..."

MS 025
Wallace David Coburn Collection

MS 032 Edward Becker

MS 032
Edward Becker
Collection

Among the items in the collection are letters and shipping orders from Schuyler, Hartley and Graham to H. K. White, correspondence from H. K. White Military Goods to customers, correspondence from individuals and companies seeking to purchase goods from Schuyler, Hartley and Graham and H. K. White Military Goods, correspondence from individuals and companies offering goods and services, business records such as bills, receipts, calling cards, etc., bound memo books, ledger books, inventory books, etc., and a large collection of advertisement materials. Supported by funding from the American Society of Arms Collectors.

MS 034
Schuyler, Hartley and Graham Co. Collection

This collection consists of images of North American Native American Indians by various photographers, with images arranged by photographer.

MS 035
North American Indian Photographs

Images of Northern Cheyenne Indians, early 20th century. Black and white prints, photographed by Mrs. George Bird Grinnell.

MS 037
Elizabeth Grinnell Indian Photos

A group of Glass Plate Negatives from the collection of David R. Phillips focusing on William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show.

MS 047
David R. Phillips
Collection

MS 051 consists of black and white engravings cut out of various publications, including Picturesque and Marvels of the New World, as well as French and German language books and newspapers. The plates represent scenes from the American west and give a good indication of how the United States was pictured in the mid-nineteenth century.

MS 051
Western Scenes
Collection

MS 056 Rinehart Indian Photograph Collection - The F.A. Rinehart Indian Photographic collection consists of 33 standard size images, and 118 oversize images of Native American Indians in a photographic studio setting, with approximately 10 images taken outside of a studio setting.

MS 056
Rinehart Photograph
Collection

The Don Russell Collection consists of the papers, photographs, printed matter and objects created and collected by, or awarded to, Don Russell (1899-1986). The subject matter is heavily concentrated on the American West, William F. Cody and George A. Custer, with file folders on various other subjects included. Printed material includes books, periodicals, pamphlets, dime novels, clippings and catalogues from book dealers and galleries. The papers include correspondence and notes.

MS 062
Don Russell Collection
of Cody Research

A compilation of items from several Winchester Repeating Arms Company (WRAC) related collections, which include firearms engineering drawings, corporate documents and records, photographs, and logs from multiple points along the assembly chain. Project funded by the Olin Corporation Charitable Trust.

MS 063
Winchester Design Drawings
Collection

A compilation of images, correspondence, and ephemera related to the survey, settlement, development, evolution and interpretation of the West. This project was made possible in part by a Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

MS 071
Vincent Mercaldo
Photograph Collection

A selection from the more than 300,000 images found in the McCracken Archives. Jack Richard was a journalist and professional photographer in Cody, Wyoming. Subjects include Yellowstone National Park, industries, portraits, ranching, and aerial photography. This project was made possible in part by a Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The project was also funded in part by a generous grant from the Carol McMurry Library Donor Advised Endowment Fund, through the Wyoming Community Foundation. Thank you!

MS 089
Jack Richard Photograph Collection

Reverend William Augustus Petzoldt (1872-1960); Petzoldt worked as a Baptist minister and missionary in Sheridan, Wyoming prior to moving to Lodge Grass in 1903. In Lodge Grass Rev. Petzoldt and his wife Anna established a mission and day school for native children to attend, thereby allowing them to live with their families while also receiving an ‘white’ education. Petzoldt photographed many of the residents of the area as part of his efforts to educate the public about the American Indian in the United States of America. These images comprise a collection of lantern-slides created between 1903 and 1925 by the Rev. William A. Petzoldt. The Rev. Petzoldt and his wife Anna lived among the Crow people at Lodge Grass, Montana in order to run a Baptist Mission and a day school for the children.

MS 095
William A. Petzoldt
Lantern Slides Collection

American firearm manufacturers began producing widespread advertising campaigns in the early 1800’s. Many commercial arms and ammunition companies found they could greatly increase their profits by placing pictorial ads in newspapers, catalogs, and magazines. Increased technology, such as the rotary press and the use of flexography, helped to spread advertisements to previously untouched markets. These advertisements often promoted firearms for specific demographics and functions. Recurring themes included protection, sport, hunting, and military purposes. During the late 19th century, firearm advertisements were largely focused on hunters. At the onset of the Second World War, advertisements for military grade firearms were predominant. At the conclusion of the war, firearm advertisements returned to sport and hunting themes. Material in this collection provides a wide range of advertisements targeted to individual demographics, as well as the average firearm consumer. Roy Marcot currently living in Tucson, Arizona with wife Cary, was raised in North-Central New Jersey. He graduated from Pratt Institute in Humanities and was a U. S. Army officer with active duty in the California Army National Guard for almost a decade. He is the author of several books and has been the head of the Remington Research Team and editor of the Remington Society Journal since 1991.

MS 111
Marcot Firearms Advertisements

Postcards, Advertisements, Book Pictorial Souvenir of Cody, WY.

MS 112
Barbara Smith Collection
of Cody Local History

These photographs were created by photographer Dr. Thomas Marquis, a physician and author, who lived on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in the early 20th century. The collection was divided into three sets prior to the purchase of the original negatives by the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association in 1999. The numbering system has been retained, based on image numbers within each of the three sets. The negatives were purchased from the Council for Indian Education. The collection consists of 462 nitrate negatives 2 ½ x 4 ¼ inches in size. Two (2) sets of prints have been furnished to the Council for Indian Education with permission for use in their publications.

MS 165
Marquis Native American Negatives

MS 166 William F. Cody Divorce Proceedings

MS 166
William F. Cody
Divorce Proceedings

MS 184 Early Cody Bands

MS 184
Early Cody Bands
Collection

MS 197 Cody Road Postcards

MS 197
Cody Road to Yellowstone Postcards

This collection consists of a single diary written in pencil, accompanied by a copy portrait of Herbert Briggs,documenting his summer spent as a performer of the U.S. Life-Saving Service performance within Buffalo Bill’s Wild West

MS 227
Herbert Briggs BBWW Diary Collection

MS 228 Original Buffalo Bill Museum Photographs

MS 228
Original Buffalo Bill Museum Photos

This collection consists of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody (BB) and others correspondence with John Tait (1912-16), one of the Rough Riders of the Spanish-American War. Included are pictures and postcards of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West (BBWW) show, pictures of the Barnum sideshow members, a volume of the original Rough Riders, a Route Book of the 1899 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and a letter from Mrs. Cody after Irma’s death.

MS 231
John H. Tait
Collection

MS 243 James Bama Collection - James Bama is a prominent illustrator and artist of the American West. He was one of the best known magazine and book illustrators in the country, with many Doc Savage book covers as examples of his work. After nearly 22 years as an illustrator in New York City, Bama moved to Wyoming in 1968. This collection comes from his studio and includes correspondence, research articles, photographs, negatives, gallery catalogs, magazines and books containing Bama’s illustrations.

MS 243
James Bama Artwork Collection

46 black & white photographic prints of Blackfeet, Cree, Crow, and Sioux peoples taken 1902-1904 by Fred R. Meyer, a photographer from Buffalo, NY. Includes scenes of the burial of Chief Plenty Coups and of Crow tribal member Pretty Horse Right Hand; a 1902 Blackfeet medicine lodge at Browning, Montana with Chiefs Three Bears, Rocky Boy, Wolf Eagle, Old Mountain Chief, Many Guns, Little Dog and Many Tail Feathers; and images of the Pine Ridge Sioux including Chief Red Cloud, Two Moons, Crazy Horse, Chief Calico and his wife Good Dog, and Black Horn. Also includes a few photographs of the Little Big Horn battlefield memorial. All caption quotations are from text written by Fred Meyer on the back of the photographic prints as sent to his friend William P. Sargent.

MS 247
Fred R. Meyer Photograph Collection

Robert Paul Whitney (1877-1955) played the tuba in Buffalo Bill’s Cowboy Band from at least 1902-1904 (possibly longer). Photographs, menu, postcards and newspaper article.

MS 259
Robert Paul Whitney BBWW Collection

This collection consists of misc. photographs and newspaper articles about the Memorial Monument Dedication for Lulu Bell Parr a member of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.

MS 261
Lulu Bell Parr BBWW Collection

William and Ida Craver were a married couple working as cowboy and cowgirl performers in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West c. 1902-1904. Included in this collection are cabinet cards of family and friends, vintage wild west show photographs, black & white postcards of Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo c. 1919, various color and b&w post cards of cowgirls and cowboys. Known dates covered range from 1898 to 1919, and 1964.

MS 274
William and Ida Craver BBWW Collection

Mrs. Julia Ethel Tuell (1886-1960) lived on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana from 1906 to 1912; Stroud, Oklahoma with the Sac and Fox Indians in 1913; and on the Sioux Indian Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota from 1913-1929. A photographer, her images were used by George Bird Grinnell to illustrate his books “The Cheyenne Indians” v. I & II, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1923. Included in this collection are three photo albums dated from 1908-1918. The first two albums described are of Northern Cheyenne reservation life, and third begins on the Northern Cheyenne but ends on the Rosebud. Descriptive text for most of the photographs are under the photo in white pen or written on the back of the photo. Some photos in this collection can also be found in her biography “Women and Warriors of the Plains: The Pioneer Photography of Julia E. Tuell” by Dan Aadland, MacMillan, NY: 1996. The final photographs in album, (after c. #106?) are dated to when Mrs. Tuell would have been living on the Rosebud Reservation.

MS 283
Julia E. Tuell Indian Photographs

William A. Bell was the professional printer for W. F. Cody & Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, Capt. Jack Crawford, Texas Jack & Capt. Chas. L.Von Berg. Through this relationship William A. Bell developed friendships with these men. This collection includes information of the Bell family and their relationships to these men through books, correspondence, poetry, news clippings, ephemera, and personal photographs.

MS 294
William A. Bell Family Collection

A selection of images by photographer Gabby Barrus related to the plant and animal inhabitants, geography, geology, ecology and exploration of the Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding area. This project was made possible in part by a Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

MS 301
Gabby Barrus Wildlife Slides
Collection

A collection of 8 glass plate negatives focusing on the Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Pawnee Bill's Great Far East.

MS 312
Buffalo Bill & Pawnee Bill Negatives

Collection consists of one tintype and 499 black and white and color photographs, postcards, and cartes de visites. Items mainly include Plains Indian subjects, Indian encampments, and Plains Indians involved in rites, ceremonies, rodeos, and fairs. Tribes included are Arapaho, Assiniboine, Blackfoot (Siksika, Piegan, and Kainah), Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Kiowa, Nez Percé, and Sioux.

MS 320
Paul Dyck Plains Indian Collection

A collection of images, correspondence, and ephemera related to the life and times of John Wallace "Captain Jack" Crawford, his family and descendants.

MS 322
John Wallace “Captain Jack” Crawford

MS 327 James Wojtowitcz

MS 327
James Wojtowitcz BBWW Collection

MS 331 consists of a legal transcript from a court case involving property loss in 1817 Territorial Missouri.

MS 331
William Clark
Collection

MS 392 Harrison H. Gunning Collection

28 Photographic Negatives (Nitrate) and 2 photographic prints (possibly by Hiscock)

MS 402
Big Horn Basin
Collection

Herbert Homer Hewes travel with his father Julius from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Rapid City, South Dakota (Dakota Territory) in search of gold in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory during 1876. The diary and accompany documents further record their experiences during the journey, as well as their recollections of these events in 1927.

MS 413
Hewes Black Hills Gold Rush Diary

This collection consists of the correspondence of railroad surveyor Samuel B. Reed between himself and his wife, family, acquaintances and business associates. Reed also kept some financial records which are included in the collection.

MS 414
Samuel B. Reed Railroad Survey Collection

MS 421 Walter M. Banko Collection

MS 421
Walter M. Banko
Collection

Native photographer Ken Blackbird observes that photographers are “the image keepers of history.” Ken Blackbird’s lineage is Gros Ventre/Assiniboine, and he is an enrolled member of the Fort Belknap Indian Community of Montana. A photojournalist and freelance photographer in a career that spans more than 30 years, his work on modern life in Cuba was recommended for a Pulitzer Prize in 2001. To date, he remains the only American Indian photographer nominated for this prestigious award. A graduate of the University of Montana’s School of Journalism, he has lived in the Cody, Wyoming, area for many years. Out of many thousand images, Blackbird has chosen a select few for the exhibition, representing the richness of Indian culture, the drama and timing of rodeo, and the unique qualities of western landscapes. Though his photographs recall a rich tradition, the vitality of Native American life today is his subject, conveyed poignantly and passionately through his lens.

MS 426
Ken Blackbird Photograph Collection

This collection is primarily wildlife video footage from Yellowstone National Park, including footage collected by Penny Preston for television broadcast. The Greater Yellowstone Sights and Sounds Archive is spearheaded by Dr. Charles Preston Curator of the Draper Museum of Natural History. This online collection is an joint endeavor between the Draper Museum of Natural History and the McCracken Research Library both of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. This effort is financially supported by the R. K. Mellon Family Foundation.

MS 430
Yellowstone Sights and Sounds

The collection contains research done by Roy Marcot for the writing of his book Civil War Chief of Sharpshooters; Hiram Berdan Military Commander and Firearms Inventor. It includes copies of sharpshooter correspondence, court records, patent records, and photos of sharpshooters and firearms, as well as drawings of Berdan's firearms and other inventions.

MS 437
Hiram Berdan Chief of Civil War Sharpshooters

MS 438 Forrest Fenn Indian Photographs - The Forrest Fenn Indian Photographs Collection consists of 2,200 photographs of various Native American Indian subjects acquired by collector, historian, and author Forrest Fenn. The photographs date primarily from 1880 to 1920 and were obtained from various repositories.

MS 438
Forrest Fenn
Indian Photographs

MS 441 Caroline S. Schimmel Collection

MS 441
Caroline S. Schimmel BBWW Collection

Man standing next to longhorn cattle. L-Pohrt.54

Pohrt Buffalo Bill
and Pawnee Bill Show Photos
Loan Collection

Winchester
Firearms
Publications