BUFFALO BILL HISTORICAL CENTER n CODY, WYOMING n SPRING 2011 Thomas Moran n Karl May n Samuel Franklin Cody To the point ©2011 Buffalo Bill Historical Center (BBHC). Written permission liver Wendell Holmes is required to copy, reprint, or distribute Points West materials once said, “Man’s mind, in any medium or format. All photographs in Points West are BBHC photos unless otherwise noted. Questions about image once stretched by a new rights and reproduction should be directed to Rights and idea,O never regains its original Reproductions, [email protected]. Bibliographies, works cited, and footnotes, etc. are purposely omitted to conserve dimensions.” space. However, such information is available by contacting the We here at the Buffalo Bill editor. Address correspondence to Editor, Points West, BBHC, 720 Sheridan Avenue, Cody, Wyoming 82414, or [email protected]. Historical Center couldn’t agree Senior Editor: more. In the last ten years, our Mr. Lee Haines minds have been stretched in Managing Editor: extraordinary directions, and none Ms. Marguerite House of us has ever been the same. Assistant Editor: Ms. Nancy McClure By Bruce Eldredge Then again, how could we remain Executive Director Designer: unchanged when, through our Ms. Lindsay Lohrenz exhibitions, we’ve encountered Contributing Staff Photographers: the likes of artists John James Audubon, William Ranney, and Ms. Chris Gimmeson, Ms. Nancy McClure contemporary artist Charles Fritz? Or, photographers Gertrude Historic Photographs/Rights and Reproductions: Mr. Sean Campbell Kasëbier, Gus Foster, Robert Turner, and our own Charles Credits and Permissions: Belden and Jack Richard? We met Samuel Colt and the Colt Ms. Ann Marie Donoghue Collectors Association, and our galleries have featured wild Advisory Team: horses and quadrupeds as well as the arts and culture of the Lee Haines, Public Relations Director & Senior Editor Marguerite House, Public Relations & Managing Editor Ute Indians, and Splendid Heritage: Perspectives on American Nancy McClure, Public Relations & Assistant Editor Indian Art from last summer. Lindsay Lohrenz, Designer Wendy Schneider, Director of Development In addition, we broke enormous new ground—quite Jan Jones, Membership Manager literally—with a brand new Draper Museum of Natural History Christine Brindza, Acting Curator, Whitney Gallery of Western Art in 2002, preceded by a “new” Plains Indian Museum just two Megan Smith, School Services Coordinator years before, and followed by a “new” Whitney Gallery of Points West is published quarterly for patrons and friends of Western Art in 2009. the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. For more information, contact Jan Jones at [email protected] or write to the address above. Yes, I believe that in the first decade of the new millennium, The BBHC is a private, non-profit, educational institution we’ve given new meaning to “Celebrating the Spirit of the dedicated to preserving and interpreting the natural and cultural history of the American West. Founded in 1917, its collections American West™!” include: Buffalo Bill and the West he lived and loved, historic As our celebration continues, we are constantly exposed to photographs and documents, firearms, natural history of the Greater Yellowstone region, Plains Indians, and masterworks of new collections, new ideas, new viewpoints, and, most of all, western art. new stories. We can hardly contain our excitement when the next The mission of Points West is to deliver an engaging educational magazine primarily to our patrons and friends. exhibition is on display or the next reinterpretation of one of our Points West will use a multi-disciplinary strategy to connect the galleries is underway. We are, after all, storytellers at heart! reader to the nature and culture of the American West, and the BBHC in particular, through exceptional images and appealing, As we anticipate the coming year, we have more stories reader-friendly stories. to share with you in three outstanding exhibitions that open this spring: Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam; Arapaho Journeys: Photographs and Stories from the Wind River Reservation; and Dressed Just Right: An Evolution of Western Style from Function to Flamboyance. Finally, with the countdown begun toward a “new” Buffalo Bill Museum in 2012, you’ll be hearing plenty this year about one of the greatest storytellers of them all, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Within the pages of Points West, you’ll read more about Cody, the museum’s reinterpretation efforts, and ways in which you can contribute. About the cover: Rest assured: We know that as our story continues, we are Detail: Thomas Moran (1837 – 1926). Yellowstone Lake, ca. grateful to you, our patrons, for making it all possible. Thank 1875. Chromolithograph from the portfolio The Yellowstone you! n National Park, and the Mountain Regions of Portions of Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah. L. Prang & Co., 1876. Gift of Clara S. Peck. 18.71.5. Read more starting on page 20. 2 n POINTS WEST Contents From the earliest Native Americans and explorers to the visitors of today, Yellowstone National Park holds a particular, sometimes peculiar, fascination. This “you won’t believe it until you see it” landscape is the essence of countless photographs, sketches, and paintings—including the myriad of masterworks by Thomas Moran. Starting on page 20, read Christine Brindza’s story about Moran and how his images were parlayed into chromolithographic prints and ultimately sold the nation on Yellowstone. Thomas Moran (1837 – 1926). The Castle Geyser, upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, ca. 1875. Chromolithograph from the portfolio The Yellowstone National Park, and the Mountain Regions of Portions of Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah. L. Prang & Co., 1876. Gift of Clara S. Peck. 18.71.3 FEATURES DEPARTMENTS A case of mistaken identity: Samuel Franklin Cody and 15 BBHC BITS AND BYTES News, activities, and events 4 William F. Cody. He purposely confused the public into thinking that he, Samuel Franklin Cody, was the William 16 CALENDAR OF EVENTS F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, the famous scout, buffalo hunter, showman, and entrepreneur. To many it must have WAYS OF GIVING By Wendy Schneider been a disappointing experience, but others enjoyed the 19 performance, never realizing that they hadn’t seen the real Buffalo Bill and his Wild West. By Lynn Johnson Houze 20 IN OUR BACKYARD: YELLOWSTONE Thomas Moran and his chromolithographs. Moran painted 8 Families can have fun together at museums. We created watercolors based on his western experience that were just active experiences for families by supporting monthly as spectacular as the large canvases, but more intimate. To Family Fun Days in the outdoor gardens of the Historical reach diverse populations on a smaller scale, it was logical to Center. Activities included relay races, crafts, dancing, and reproduce some of the watercolors in print form, particularly kid-approved competitions. By Emily Buckles chromolithographs. By Christine C. Brindza 10 Karl May: “I am Hakawati.” The storyteller, who was 28 TREASURES FROM OUR WEST Old Shatterhand. For Karl May, Shatterhand was not This month’s look at our collections only a literary character: Shatterhand was his alter ego— the man he wanted to be. In a letter dated April 15, BETWEEN THE BOOKENDS 1897, he wrote to one of his readers: “I am really Old 30 East of Yellowstone: Geology of the Clarks Fork Valley and the Shatterhand, Kara Ben Nemsi (Karl, son of the Germans), Nearby Beartooth and Absaroka Mountains. By Robert J. Carson. and have experienced everything that I tell.” For this total Review by Charles R. Preston, PhD identification with the persona, he was celebrated by his fans. By André Kohler 31 A THOUSAND WORDS Check out the “new” Visit us www.bbhc.org, and find us on Facebook, Twitter, Magazine of the Buffalo Bill Historical online . Flickr, and YouTube! Center • Cody, Wyoming SPRING 2011 n 3 A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY Samuel Franklin Cody and William F. Cody S.F. Cody lithograph, ca. 1890. Buffalo Bill poster, 1887. A. Hoen & Co., Baltimore. Mary Jester Allen Fund. 1.69.5951 (detail) Original Buffalo Bill Museum Collection. 1.69.430 (detail) 4 n POINTS WEST By Lynn Johnson Houze gold rush. While it can’t be verified performing with the Forepaugh show urn back the years, all the that he did either, he did become an in Pennsylvania, that S.F. met Maud way back to early 1891, and excellent horseman along the way and Lee, and after obtaining her father’s try to imagine how excited definitely loved the cowboy life. By permission, married her the following T year. Whether to impress his new you would be to attend a performance the mid-1880s, S.F. was working as a of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. “mustanger,” a cowboy who rounded wife, her family, or both, Cody began Now, imagine how badly you would up wild horses on the Plains, and then to claim kinship to Buffalo Bill during feel when you found out that the show “broke” them so they could be sold to this time. Due to Forepaugh’s death in you were viewing was a “knockoff“ of ranchers and cattlemen. 1890 and the dissolution of his show, the original, and that In spring 1888, among other things, S.F. decided to “Buffalo Bill” was a Cody joined Adam travel to England to see if he, and “wannabe,” merely “Everything about Forepaugh’s New and ultimately Maud, would enjoy greater a look-alike. He pur- the life of S.F. Cody… Greatest All-Feature acceptance by the British public as posely confused the was confusing and Show and Wild West western entertainers than they had public into thinking misleading.” Combination as a in America. The popularity of Buffalo that he, Samuel Frank- sharpshooter. The Bill and his Wild West exhibition in lin Cody, was the Wil- main star was Doc 1887 – 1888 certainly had indicated liam F.