12 Coolest Artifacts at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West
Purchases made through some links on this page may provide The Detour Effect with commissions (at no extra cost to you). Thank you!
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is not just one museum, but five separate museum collections all connected on one property: The Buffalo Bill Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Cody Firearms Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, and the Whitney Western Art Museum. There is so much to see that your $23 ticket provides you with 2-day entry so you can explore, take a break, and come back again to cover more ground.
During my visit to Cody, Wyoming, I focused my efforts on the Buffalo Bill Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, and the special temporary exhibits. These are truly some of the coolest museums I’ve had the privilege of visiting because so many of the artifacts are extremely rare, are in pristine condition, and represent iconic figures from American history that people around the world are familiar with. My list of the “coolest” artifacts at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West is highly subjective; you may be drawn to other items during your visit. I also paired some relics together that are similar enough to count as one list item.
Elk tooth dresses
Plains tribes, especially the Crow, prized vestigial elk teeth. Crow women wore them in rows on wool trade cloth. There are only two of these ivory teeth per elk, but one adult dress may showcase over 500 elk teeth, representing material wealth and prosperity. Perhaps it proves their relation to prolific hunters and traders.
“Two elk teeth remain after everything else has crumbled to dust…and for that reason the elk tooth has become an emblem of long life. When a child is born its parents desire long life for it and for this reason an elk tooth is given to a child.”
Oku’te, Lakota Elk Dreamer, early 20th century.
Tipi made of actual buffalo hide
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West Plains Indian Museum also displays a canvas tipi, which I believe is a recreation for education purposes, but the Nez Perce bison hide tipi from 1850 is particularly impressive because very few remain. Real animal hide tipis would typically last only a few years.
“After buffalo disappeared from the plains in the late 19th century, women made tipis out of canvas. Few buffalo hide tipis exist in museums and private collections because worn out hide tipis were cut down and the materials reused. This Nez Perce tipi was constructed using approximately 14-16 buffalo hides. The artist patched various places and decorated the tipi with handprints and circles painted in red ochre pigments.”
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
Snakeskin bow
The bow part of this bow and arrow set was made of gopher (bull) snakeskin, wood, and sinew ca. 1880 in the Northern Plains. Nakoda-Cree educator Ernest Gendron explains that “Some men would even go a step further by gluing rattlesnake skins over-top of the sinew backing, to protect the backing from the weather.”
Buffalo horn headdresses
It’s commonly held that headdresses, or war bonnets, were worn by the most important members of Plains Native American societies, including chiefs and warriors. The right to wear one had to be earned through gallantry or spirituality. The individual elements that would be used to create the headdress had to be earned as well. Feathers, wool, glass beads, bells, deer hide, bison horns (or split bison horns) or hide, and/or ermine might symbolize the wearer’s strength, swiftness, bravery, or wisdom. Wearing a headdress might also imbue the wearer with the qualities of the animals represented in the bonnet.
“To the people of the Plains, the buffalo was the sustainer of life, a relationship as significant spiritually as it was materially. In preparation for a hunt, many tribes held buffalo calling ceremonies to lure the animal and to honor its sacrifice. Dancers wearing buffalo hides and masks, or buffalo horn headdresses, called on its sacred power to assist them in providing for their people.”
Nancy McClure, Buffalo Bill Center of the West
Lone Dog’s winter count
I had never heard of a winter count before visiting the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, but the idea behind it is extremely cool. It saddens me to learn that this tradition is not kept alive by Native Americans today, though they achieve similar goals by gathering to remember their ancestors and pass down their histories at powwows.
“A winter count is a record of tribal history. Each year the keeper of the count added one symbol, representing a significant event from that year. Lone Dog’s winter count, recording the years 1800-1871, begins in the center and spirals out counter-clockwise. Winter counts were originally painted on buffalo robes and were often maintained through several generations and shared with other tribal members to help them remember their histories.”
Nancy McClure, Buffalo Bill Center of the West
Copies of winter counts were commissioned by Europeans in the late 1800s, and these are what you’ll find in most museums. The winter count on display at the Plains Indian Museum at Buffalo Bill Center of the West is a copy. It was painted on muslin for the Missionary Education Movement in the early 1900s. The one at the Museum of Native American History in Arkansas is the original.
*Update – I got to visit the Arkansas museum this year and saw the original! This makes a great day trip from Eureka Springs.
Bear claw and eagle talon necklaces
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West has multiple bear claw necklaces and even an eagle talon necklace. It was believed that wearing such treasures would give a warrior the strength and cunning of the animal and protect the warrior from being harmed in battle.
“Similar to the status symbolism of buffalo horn and eagle feather bonnets, bear claw necklaces were worn by distinguished Pawnee, Otoe, and Omaha men as emblems of their accomplishments, honors, and roles as leaders. Pawnee men, in particular, specialized in creating bear claw necklaces made from the long, broad claws of grizzly bears that once roamed the Central and Eastern Plains….While the claws represent the bear’s strength and courage, the otter hide signifies power over both land and water. Both animals’ qualities guided the wearer during warfare, treaty negotiations, and other important events.”
Excerpt from “Native Art and a Sense of Place in the Great Plains” by Emma I. Hansen, in Art of the American Frontier from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, High Museum of Art and Yale University Press, 2013, 40 – 41.
Bison-shaped jewelry gifted to Buffalo Bill Cody from Alexis of Russia
Grand Duke Alexis of Russia visited the United States in November 1871 – February 1872, where he went on a buffalo hunt with Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, General Philip Sheridan, and William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody.
“In Buffalo Bill’s 1920 autobiography, originally published by Cosmopolitan as a series of articles, Cody notes the Grand Duke presented him with a stickpin and cuff links, all showcasing bison heads covered in diamonds. Cody also noted the Grand Duke presented him an elaborate fur coat, which the Grand Duke wore during the hunt. Cody removed the diamond-studded bison heads and made a brooch and two rings for his wife and two daughters.”
Jeremy Johnston, curator of the Buffalo Bill Museum and Western American History at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, for True West Magazine
Annie Oakley’s revolver, saddle, and riding habit
I don’t know if the clothing and saddle owned by Annie Oakley that are on display at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West were used often, but even if she barely ever touched them, it’s pretty cool to see her name emblazoned on the back of this 1880 saddle.
Considering what made Little Sure Shot famous, the guns are the coolest part of the display. I wanted to research the significance of these guns to Annie; were they some of her favorites?
According to the NRA, a Winchester Model 1873 Rifle and a Colt Revolver Model 1909 Army would have been two of her most used, go-to guns. However, the Autry Museum of the American West says Annie also used multiple Model 3 Smith and Wessons; she had at least three. On display at the Buffalo Bill museum is a Model No. 3 Smith and Wesson revolver from 1891-1911, and a Model 1892 Winchester carbine with “A.O.” engraved on the left side of the receiver and “Oakley” stamped on both sides of the stock. She often used the Winchester 1892 during arena performances.
“The fast-loading Smith & Wesson Model 3 was enormously successful. A rival to the popular Colt revolver, it played a legendary role in the “Wild West.” Frank and Jesse James, Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, Theodore Roosevelt, Virgil Earp, and a variety of lawmen, outlaws, and rodeo stars all used it.”
Mass Moments
Buffalo Bill Cody’s coat, hat, and saddle
According to the museum, Buffalo Bill Cody wore this 1871 coat both while scouting and appearing on stage. It was influenced by European-style frock coats and added to his flamboyant frontiersman’s appearance. His saddle is from 1893 and, like Oakley’s, has his name embossed on the back. His leather boots, Stetson hat, and beaded gloves give us a full picture of the man, myth, and legend.
“William F. Cody wore this coat while serving as a civilian scout for the United States Army. It is made out of buffalo hide with beaver fur trim and blends both Euro-American and [Native American] styles. After becoming a national celebrity, Buffalo Bill wore this coat on stage during his theatrical performances.”
Nancy McClure, Buffalo Bill Center of the West
Sitting Bull’s cuffs, pouch, and ring
These cuffs supposedly worn by Sioux leader Sitting Bull ca. 1875 are made of rawhide, cloth, feathers, porcupine quills, and deerskin. I haven’t been able to find more information on the cuffs, pouch, or ring to explain how we know they belonged to Sitting Bull, but the cuffs were donated by The Evans-Pettinger-Pratt-Anderson Collection of Sitting Bull Materials and the ring is from the Paul Dyck Plains Indian Buffalo Culture Collection.
Deadwood Stagecoach
William F. Cody purchased this 1867 Abbot Downing & Company stagecoach in 1902 for use in a performance that involved Native Americans attacking travelers in a dramatic re-enactment. When the Wild West Show toured England, the stagecoach came along. Cody also used it to transport visitors at his TE Ranch.
The original Deadwood stagecoach first used in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show was actually attacked by Native Americans around the 1860s/1870s when it was operating in eastern Wyoming and the Black Hills. Since the coach on display at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West today was previously used by a hotel in New Hampshire before being purchased by Cody in 1902, it must have been intended as a replacement for the original stage.
The Deadwood Stagecoach has been referred to as “the most famous vehicle in the world” and “the most famous stagecoach.”
Cavalcade painting depicting Rocky Mountain Rendezvous
Painter Alfred Jacob Miller (1810-1874) was commissioned to accompany and illustrate Scottish aristocrat Sir William Drummond Stewart’s journey to the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous in Wyoming, an annual meetup of fur trappers, suppliers, and Native Americans that looks like a huge party. Cavalcade, painted in 1839, is perhaps the most known work to come out of this commission. It depicts the grand arrival of the Shoshone at the Rendezvous. Miller produced at least 28 large oil paintings of the American West, many of which can be seen at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s temporary exhibition “Alfred Jacob Miller: Revisiting the Rendezvous — in Scotland and Today” running from May-October 2023.
On their journey to the Rendezvous, Miller illustrated significant landmarks such as Devil’s Gate and Chimney Rock. These are likely the first-ever visual representations of these landmarks.
In modern times, a Rendezvous is held in remembrance of the original gathering! Attendees dress in period clothing. The 2023 event was held in Colorado.
Bonus: Other Cool Historic Sites in Cody, Wyoming
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West isn’t the only cool historic site in town! It’s also worth visiting Old Trail Town, where they’ve relocated historic buildings from throughout Wyoming and Montana. You can go inside the famous Hole-in-the-Wall hideout cabin where the Wild Bunch Gang evaded capture, and the Rivers Saloon which was frequented by Butch Cassidy, Blind Bill Hoolihan, and other cowboys and outlaws. There’s also Curly’s cabin, once inhabited by the Crow scout who delivered the news of General Custer’s defeat at Little Big Horn, gravesites of famous mountain men like Jeremiah “Liver-Eating” Johnson (played by Robert Redbord in the movie about his life), and a great museum that has prehistoric Clovis arrowheads, mammoth bones, and a Lewis and Clark-era canoe.
If you’re looking for a mix of modern and historic, Sheridan Avenue in Cody, Wyoming is still hopping today. The coolest building you have to check out is the Irma Hotel and Restaurant. It was opened by Buffalo Bill in 1902 and named after his daughter. It’s still in use; I had a great breakfast there!
Don’t forget that Cody, Wyoming is the Rodeo Capital of the World because it hosts the nation’s only nightly rodeo, which has been held every summer since the year 1919.
🏨 Find hotels in Cody, Wyoming here or free dispersed campsites here.
✈️ Coming to Wyoming from further afield? Use an Airalo eSIM for affordable international cell data and don’t forget to protect your investment with travel insurance.
Related:
Pin It:
My dream is to write travel and hiking content full-time. All of my guides and itineraries are free and my travels are self-funded. If you enjoy my site and would like to support, you can donate any amount to my Ko-fi page. Thank you!!