Buffalo Bill Historical Center

We spent a morning at The Buffalo Bill Historical Center. We could have spent days exploring all the exhibits.

The facility contains five museums under one roof including the American West, Western art, American firearms, Plains Indians, and Nature.

Whitney Gallery of Western Art

We began our exploration in the Western art section. We were particularly interested in an exhibit of lost wax metalcasting process since we'd just discussed the topic with John in our visit to Laramie. Interested in this process? Check out these websites on the lost wax process: 1, 2, 3, 4.

We also enjoyed the special sections on two famous western artists: Charles Russell and Frederic Remington. For example, the museum included a replica of Remington's studio.

The museum contained excellent pieces of artwork depicting American Indians as well as events in western history.

We were interested in being introduced to a few artists we hadn't seen before. Allan Mardon was our favorite discovery. We really liked his style and use of color. Annette was fascinated with his elaborate borders. The museum provided interesting "discovery cards" to encourage people to explore the detail of the painting (below right).

Plains Indian Museum

The museum did a great job providing a comprehensive examination of the history of the Plains Indians. A "curator's guide" was used throughout the museum to interpret the artifacts.

Buffalo Bill and the American West Museum

The American West section focused on the life and times of Buffalo Bill Cody. They also had interesting information about other Cody contemporaries such as Annie Oakley and Bill Pickett.

Draper Museum of Natural History

The natural history museum began with an interesting exploration of naturalists and scientists. Then visitors moved through a series of walkways exploring different aspects of the environment. Annette had fun getting stamps in her Greater Yellowstone Adventure passport book. Children (and adults like Annette who act like children) get stamps at the expedition trailhead, alpine environment, mountain forest environment, mountain meadow and aquatic environment, plains/basins environment, and seasons of discovery.

McCracken Research Library

Annette spent some time talking to the research librarian in the McCracken library. She was interested in the relationship between the museums and the libraries.

Downtown Cody

We did some shopping in downtown Cody and went to Irma's Restaurant established by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1902. Although the interior features were interesting, the food was mediocre. We also went to the local Cody Gunfight which was equally mediocre but free to all.