Up next from a centennial symposium held at the Buffalo Bill Center in wyoming, historians talk about how he has been interpreted in museums, his relationship with the tribes that performed with him in europe, and his art collection. This is 90 minutes. It is a pleasure to introduce our first session. The group of scholars are well respected and wellknown. They dont need much of an introduction. Their names appear on their own publications. About the history of the American West and the ability of acknowledgments, more than likely you will run across these three names. He is a resident scholar where he lives in cody because he is our go to guy where we have questions about buffalo bill. Sometime for two is the opposition here. We get along very well. We collaborate with one another. We noticed a few mistakes that the directoror him of the Buffalo Bill Center in the west. And learned all about art thel consider Buffalo Bills life and legacy in the past, as well as touching on his historical legacy, and how it stands today. We will bring up our first speaker. He has 20 minutes. Each speaker has 20 minutes. Thanks to their spouses, wonderful and embarrassing slides of them will pop up. And after all presentations, we it up to questions. Please wait for the mike to get to you. I would like to introduce paul. [applause] paul thank you, jeremy. Steves presentation is too long and you are going to have to cut it short, because i am taking that extra time. I put this on paper to give the illusion of organization, but it is just an illusion. I cant read about computer light, either. It is interesting that one of the introductory statements was about asking people what they think when they hear of a wild west show. This museum participated in a neck submission a long time ago, which i will mention in this talk, and people on the streets of new york were interviewed, asking them, who is buffalo bill . And a variety of responses was pretty wonderful. This,is a videotape of still, in our museums archives. Archives. Eums they all knew he had something to do with the old west. Would find, ife we asked, nationally, about wild west shows, that people are really going to be as aware of Buffalo Bills wild west, as we and this route as we, in this room, r. We are going to be selfreferential here, and worse than that, im going to be. Alking about the museum all of you will have had a chance to walk through this place, although it wont be about this museum, exclusively, because there are other targets out there. This is a real moment of awareness for me and hastert was, peter asked in an interview, he was our director, he was asked when dera is getting ready to blow, what would you grab from the Buffalo Bill Center . No, he said Buffalo Bills saddle. While. That to me is an indication of how important buffalo bill mustve been. Because i dont think he came here as a buffalo bill god. But, the importance of buffalo l and the attempts at main name changes in this place. There was a time when the board wanted to change the name into the western heritage center, Something Like that, leaving out Buffalo Bills name Buffalo Billss name. Despite that changed the center of the west, what he means to this institution is clear. Since we them Frederick CodyFrederick Cody died a century and a half ago, scholars have tried to come to term with his meeting, or is his meaning, or his meanings. More thano bill, anybody, symbolized that story, the winning of the west. As he embodied in his wild west show, he simplified a narrative of American History, the myth of the west, as we call it. And it was a myth that helped to unify divided nation after the helped that itit celebrated individual, heroic values, and particularly celebrated this myth of collective national accomplishment. It was inclusive, it was progressive, and it fit very nicely with the idea of progress. Nother driving myth, particularly for americans, but for most of western civilization. That myth itself, and the narrative, and certainly the winning of the west part of the narrative, became, over the years, as ambivalent as the various understandings of buffalo bill himself. Of buffaloerstanding bill, by scholars, particularly, with our National Perception of the role of the west in American History. Bills reputation in the academy came with the publication of henry nash submits virgin lands. Smiths virgin lands. Myth was a founder of the and its symbols cool of american studies. Approachhe school to American Culture that i was steeped in, and graduate school. But his take on Buffalo Bills whichd on the dime novel, was one of his sources of cultural understanding of es, and the 1928 debunking of buffalo bill by milton walsh, who himself was steeped in a myth of buffalo barry nate sells , at the endry, who of his life was regretting that he put his name first on the posters. Accidentd, it was an plus a natural gift for dramatizing himself, that made buffalo bill such a center of attention. The accident he was referring to is his discovery by ned buntline. And his understanding was that said, buffaloa bill was probably lying drunk, under wagon. Later, when of those movements and Buffalo Bills fame, which i in 1989, historian was quoted in the wall street where he got this i dont understand, but he said, we are learning buffalo bill was a very average person who, by his own promotion, transformed himself into an International Figure of mythic proportions. Quotation from that spate of things that were being said in the press, in 1989, was from the new haven said buffaloich bills represented a mythologizing greed and corruption. The west was under attack in many places. The smithsonian was about to come out with its exhibition of the west as america. It was the end of the reagan presidency and the beginning of the first bush, of course. Comingboy diplomacy was peoples focus, as perhaps something else, there must be some other way to approach the world. The idea of progress itself was in question, and there were people writing about the death of progress. Im going to go into that for just a second, because it does, despite the way this is going to sound, have some relevance for the history of buffalo bill and the museum. The United States was born in the 18thcentury enlightenment. Enlightenment was an article of faith. The American Revolution of the subsequent pressing of American Civilization itself, into the wilderness, it began to make even otherwise pessimistic observers, like new england optimistic that enlightenment could be a democratic process. Of the west, or of the winning of the west, took root before the civil war, and a blossomed afterward as it became a truly powerful unifying force. And, in the face of political and economic i talked that long already . You are really in trouble, steve. [laughter] questioned thes idea of progress and said things who came hererims found only disillusionment and left only disillusionment for the rest of us to find. Still, we seem to have in our grasp at one time, this idea that we could produce a great society. And certainly the myth of the west had a lot to do with powering that. It was the new western historians who first saw that perhaps that myth, as it had been articulated and began to play out, i think they looked back on our western past, not as a lost golden age, exactly, but as, perhaps a lost age of golden opportunity. What does this have to do with museums . Place was aof this niece of buffalo bill, and a publicity agent who worked for john burke in the wild west show in the 1890s. She had a small collection of stuff related to her uncle, particularly publicity materials from the show. She claimed that one time that her uncle had told her, when they were visiting family in seattle, that he wanted his memorial to be a museum of western history. The buffaloblished bill museum with local help in 1927. Whocome up for those of you dont know, it is connected with the Baseball Hall of fame, and that the groundbreaking team for the Buffalo Bill Museum in 1926, included speaker tie, picture tiy cobb. Cobb. Cher ty not so nearly focused on Buffalo Bills himself, that she was creating some little, narrow museum. No. She had an idea that this could become a plain your center, a buffalo bill historical center, devoted to plains indians, transportation, firearms, certainly art area what she succeeded in founding was a stronghold against the any sort ofnd future deterioration of the understanding of American West. In fact, the committee of women who were charged with obtaining materials for the museum was called the relics committee. And that was true until she was retired by the board in 1959. Like many other western historians, i came of age in the wake of fess parkers david crockett, that phenomenon. I had a coonskin cap. I really believed in crocketts motto, be sure you are right and then go ahead. To my first introduction buffalo bill was probably in the late 1950s, at lookout mountain, the gravesite. The museum there at the time was actually older than this museum. It was founded by jonny baker in 1921, i believe. Itself, the museum seemed indistinguishable from its gift shop. Under the has come, direction of steve and his predecessor, right up until the late 80s. It continued to be more gift shop then museum. Reliquaries. Were they were anecdotal. They didnt seem to tell a story, but that doesnt mean there was no narrative. It certainly doesnt mean there was no interpretation. There was an implicit narrative. And that narrative was conveyed in Buffalo Bills west, the winning of the west, heroism, the adulation of buffalo bill. Maybe you dont know, but there is a third Buffalo Bill Museum, it is in leclair, iowa. It is mostly focused on river aating, but it does have corner of mostly secondary materials related to buffalo bill. And it was in 1981, the same at that time. It was a reliquary. We like to say there was no interpretation, but really there was. It was in a section the visitors already knew buffalo bill. There was an implicit of narrative of the winning of the west. And what we mean by no interpretation, is that it was uncritical of that narrative. By 1986 this museum was reinstalled with contacts, what history did mean, it brought into focus indians, conflict. It introduced the concept of race. But those changes were driven by traveling exhibitions. So it wasnt just in this museum. In the first traveling museum that brought buffalo bill into focus was actually driven by art. Peter, in concert with museums in new york and pittsburgh, put together in a commission called, buffalo bill and the wild west. Its curator was from the hisklyn museum, but personal focus was on a buffalo bill as americas first media hero. However, they did put together a withb book of essays, contributors including peter, lamar, leslied fielder. In other words, it took Buffalo Bills seriously. And another exhibition from the buffalo bill historical center, opened in new york in 1988. And it provided a narrative context, beginning to look critically at that myth. Buffalo bill was shown as part of a process. By the way, that was a great year for buffalo bill. Had an cody, we Dedication Service for the Postal Services introduction of the . 15 Buffalo Bills stamp. Where these shown, wearing a business suit, by the way. Taking seriously buffalo bill and temporary exhibitions. The Newberry Library curator, teaming up with richard white, came to terms with the fword, index of mission called the frontier and American Culture which opened in chicago in 1984. And it focused on that oftorical coincidence buffalo bill and Frederick Turner being in chicago at the same time. Richard wrote in his essay, we need to take buffalo bill as seriously as Frederick Jackson turner. An excellent book came out of that. An essay from patricia limerick, who is here. , by the wayssay bill kittredge of montana already made this observation, that not many people were living in museum culture. Said, one measure of the true end of the real frontier was what she called the museumization of western life. By which, of course, is meant that the west had become sort of a fantasy land of authentic, constructed frontier frozen in time. A museum. Took buffalolso bills seriously. And there were other exhibitions that mentioned west, as frontier. I mean, the myth that the west end the west the myth of the west and the west as america. My favorite image was of elvis as a cowboy. Called Buffalo Bills wild west, attempted to lay to rest misconceptions about the man, and to show his and toce on europe, demonstrate the respectful treatment in the wild west show of indian people. What i am saying is, museums are not static. Sometimes they are cutting edge. Not often. But they are best at center not best at synthesizing the latest interpretations. Sometimes, to a fault. This museum underwent a reinstallation a few years ago. The staff here are working to overcome a shortcoming in interpretation that became obvious after a while. This museum reverted to the way it had been before 1986, until that reinstallation. It was a reversion to the anecdotal, with a twist. As of old, assumes, that its audience knows the narrative that the museum is setting out to illustrate. In this case, it is the hypercritical narrative that seemed to involved have evolved in the 1990s. His story is divorced from historical context. It hasnt necessarily come full but as this symposium, and the many presenters prove, Buffalo Bills present, and he is being taken seriously in his influence in American Culture. As for me, i am being forced to close. Steve, you are happy about that. My motto has become the caption in a new yorker cartoon from a couple of years ago, where a man on a couch is telling his but i likedt, living in the past. It is where i grew up, [applause] thank you, paul. Steve. T speaker is steve thank you for having me here today. It is a pleasure to be here, 110 years after Buffalo Bills died. L died. R Buffalo Bills im going to segue a little bit specific access that specific aspects about Buffalo Bills legacy. We were raised on horseback. That is the way we had to work. That is the reason we went to work for these kinds of men. Hearts response, in 1890, when grilled by the department of interior about his participation in Buffalo Bills wild west Buffalo Bills wild west. And 1903, luther standing there returned for the next its Luther Standing Bear return for the next season. Surprised to see all the indians from the reservation there. Camp, i wased the besieged on all sides, from those who wanted to go out with the show. For the lakota, the chance to travel with Buffalo Bills wild west was an opportunity. A chance to get away from life on the reservation. Toormerly nomadic people, travel the world, and reenact the life and culture that was being suppressed by the United States government. Fromhe europeans, a visit Buffalo Bills wild west was a chance to see something they had only read about in newspapers or seen in an artwork. The American West. And the lakota were the most fascinating aspect of the American West, to them. The shows trips to europe were a time to experience something exotic and unusual. Strange cultures were encountered on both counts. It was an enjoyable experience for both sides. Bear noted, in 19 two, visitors to buffalo in 1902, visitors to Buffalo Bills wild west show had a chance to visit the village. In the midst of this exchange, Something Special happened. The cultures became familiar. A single lakota woman traveled comfortably across europe. The munich count winkle was formed in 1913 so germans could celebrate the old west. Another indian enthusiast maintains the grave to which lakota visitors often make pilgrimages, from pine ridge. s wild west bill traveled to europe for the first time in 1887, it began an era of wild west performance and the United Kingdom and the continent that continued until world war ii. The lakota were the largest contingent of performers and Buffalo Bills wild west. Buffalo bill frequently stated they were the most important part of his show. They would continue to be important to all subsequent wild west shows that visited europe. In the early part of the 20th century, the nature of the venues in which they lakota appeared changed. The popular wild west shows had been replaced by circuses and worlds fairs. And they all started wild west components. Performances,ded most frequently performances by the lakota. Zoos,were also shows at including the zoo near homburg hamburg. As distasteful as that concept might be today, even germany provided opportunity for cultural understanding and cultural exchange. The nature of the performances changed over time as well. There was a greater emphasis on lakota culture. Of lakota performance in europe lasted nearly 50 years,