Published May 21, 2021 at 4:27 PM MDT
Museum Minute: A Unique Copy Of George Catlin s Books Of Paintings
Artist George Catlin made a number of trips to the West in the 1830s. He spent a lot of time with the upper Missouri tribes, which he painted, as well as took notes of their cultures.
Mary Robinson, the director of the McCracken Research Library, said Catlin tried to interest the public in the Native Americans through his paintings while traveling. He even traveled to Europe where he toured around with a gallery of paintings. Around the middle of the century, he published two books that were in two volumes, The Manners, Customs and Conditions of the North American Indians.
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The Cody Firearms Museum has over 7,000 firearms in the collection. So are they looking to add anything to the collection?
Danny Micheal, the curator of the museum, said yes, but we tend to be really, really selective.
Micheal said the mission of the museum is to interpret all of firearms history. So in that way, we can kind of justify anything from a hand cannon to, you know, something like a very modern 3d printed firearm, since that s been in the news lately.
But they do still need to be conscious of what they can care for, manage and make sure to be good stewards of the collection they have already. Plus, when it comes to certain topics, Michael said the collection is already pretty well represented.
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Toys are a great example of how historians learn about people s everyday lives. Hunter Old Elk, the curatorial assistant of the Plains Indian Museum, said a great example in the collection is a toy horse and doll. This is supposed to represent the nomadic culture of the Plains, said Old Elk. So a female figure in a child s life would create these toys to teach lessons about everyday life.
Old Elk said it was also given to children so that they could help learn self-care and play. She said boys and girls got different types of toys to help teach their different roles expected of them when they grow up.
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Pop culture usually influences the way we live. And it turns out firearms collecting is no different.
Danny Michael, the Cody Firearms Museum curator, said in the past Western movies really influenced what type of guns were collected but today that is changing. A great example is the Die Hard series. Where John McClane, you know, wields a MP five and a Beretta 92. And so later on these guns become collectible tourists, said Michael.
A certain population who sees the movie and like it may decide to buy it. They say, Hey, you know, these are modern firearms that are pretty readily accessible, I could go get one and then I could shoot and enjoy that and collect it, said Michael.
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Colt Buntline Revolvers weren t very well known until a biography was written about Wyatt Earp. Earp was an American law enforcement officer who served as deputy marshal Tombstone, Arizona Territory during the late 1800s and into early 1900s.
The book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal was written by Stuart N. Lake in 1931. The story was largely fictionalized but portrayed as a biography. In the biography, it s described that Earp ordered a number of these guns in this specific configuration with a long barrel and a stock, said Danny Micheal, the curator of the Cody Firearms Museum. These became to be known as the Buntline special after a figure, Ned Buntline.