From Black cowboys to Native American WWII warriors, OKC museum explores diverse stories

From Black cowboys to Native American warriors, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is celebrating the holiday season with diversity.

"You could make the case that this is one of the most diverse lineups of exhibitions that we've ever had in any one time (as far as) telling diverse stories," said Seth Spillman, the museum's chief marketing officer. 

"That's obviously an emphasis for us and something that we want to do every day. And we have the opportunity with this series of exhibitions to do it in a big way here through the end of the year."

The Oklahoma City landmark has seven temporary exhibitions on view, ranging from "Women in Wyoming" to "Italy’s Legendary Cowboys of the Maremma." Plus, the museum unveiled in November its new permanent interactive exhibit "The Code of the West," part of its ongoing $40 million capital campaign. 

"It's the time of the year where if you have family coming, and you're looking for things to do with them, we're a great option. And so we certainly see a lot of that traffic. ... The kind of Oklahoma experience a lot of people are looking for is that Western experience, and that's something that we can deliver on," Spillman said.

Here's a look at the exhibits now on view at the National Cowboy Museum and what's coming next for the landmark in 2024:

'Black Cowboys: An American Story'

When: Through Jan. 2.

It's a little-known fact that one in four cowboys who hit the trail was Black, and this exhibit helps create a clearer picture of the diversity of the American West.

Featuring photographs, artifacts and documents, it delves into the lives and labors of the many Black men, women and children – both enslaved and free – who worked on the ranches of Texas and participated in cattle drives from before the Civil War through the turn of the 20th century.

'King Ranch: A Legacy in Art; Paintings by Noe Perez'

When: Through Jan. 2.

A contemporary Texas artist based in Corpus Christi, Noe Perez was granted access to the Lone Star State's historic King Ranch to create the paintings in this exhibition.

Using his skill at creating landscapes, wildlife and livestock paintings and genre scenes, Perez colorfully conveys the customs of the legendary King Ranch.

One of the largest ranches in the country, King Ranch was established in 1853. During a drought in south Texas and northern Mexico, Richard King purchased cattle from the families of the ranching community of Cruillas, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and invited them to move to his ranch and become his workforce. These families became "Los Kine?os," or "King’s people."

Since, the ranch has loomed large in both American history and popular imagination.

'Women in Wyoming: Portraits and Interviews of Women Who Shape the West'

When: Through Jan. 2.

"Women in Wyoming" uses photography and audio interviews to share the stories of 22 women making their mark on the Cowboy State, which was the first to recognize women's right to vote.

24th annual Traditional Cowboy Arts Association Exhibition & Sale

When: Through Jan. 2.

Founded in 1998 at the National Cowboy Museum, the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association is a collective of saddle makers, bit and spur makers, rawhide braiders and silversmiths working to preserve traditional Western crafts and elevate them into fine art forms.

The OKC museum has partnered with the association to host its annual exhibit and sale since 1999, and this year's show features 50 pieces of original work by 13 artists, ranging from intricately crafted saddles and belt buckles to leather-tooled lamps and notebooks. There's even a tooled leather Fender Stratocaster guitar created by Texas saddle builder Troy West.

'Nations at War! Field Sketches of a Pawnee Warrior'

When: Through Jan. 21.

This exhibit showcases sketches created by Pawnee soldier Brummett Echohawk during his service with the 45th Infantry Division in World War II.

Echoing the ledger art stylings that many Great Plains tribes took up in the late 1800s, Echohawk's drawings feature the battles he fought in, the friends he lost and fellow soldiers from Germany, Japan, India and Algeria as well as warriors from the many different Native American nations who fought alongside him in the 45th Infantry Division.

'Open for Business'

When: Through Feb. 28.

What does it take to carve out a career as an artist? This show explores the work an artist must put in outside their studio, from teaching their craft as a side gig to negotiating a better deal at a gallery.

'Italy’s Legendary Cowboys of the Maremma, Photographs by Gabrielle Saveri'

When: Through May 7.

Did you know there are cowboys in Italy? This photography exhibit chronicles the long-established ties between the Italian cowboys known as "butteri" and American cowboys.

The butteri come from the lands extending from the plains of northern Lazio up through the coastal Italian region of Maremma into southern Tuscany. Their origins date back to the spread of agriculture during Etruscan times.

In 1890, cultures collided when the legendary Buffalo Bill brought his "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders" show to Naples and Rome. Along the way, he met an Italian duke and prince named Onorato Caetani, and the pair made a bet, or sfida, as to which country boasted the superior horsemen.

“The butteri’s cow-herding traditions pre-date cowboys of the Americas by centuries and are different in some respects, particularly managing cattle from horseback,” said Michael Grauer, the museum's McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture, in an email.

“Even though American historians believe the outcome was actually an American victory, modern-day Italian cowboys claim that they won the competition and Buffalo Bill never paid the 1,000 Lire he owed.”

'The Code of the West' permanent interactive exhibit

Made possible through a donation from Devon Energy, the cutting-edge multi-million-dollar "The Code of the West" interactive, wide-screen exhibit debuted in November in the museum's East Hallway.  

The immersive experience where people can "see themselves through the ethos of the American Cowboy" is the first of many improvements planned under the three-year "Live the Code" campaign devised to modernize, enhance and continue the legacy of the almost 60-year-old institution. 

The exhibit delves into the values of the "Code of the West" as penned by author Jim Owen in his book" Cowboy Ethics – What Wall Street Can Learn from the Code of the West." Although various versions of the code exist dating back at least as far back as Zane Grey’s 1934 novel "The Code of the West," the museum adopted Owen’s version for its new interactive feature.

The exhibit's nearly 30-foot main LED screen showcases shifting images from the museum’s collection, along with the 10 elements of the code, and visitors are encouraged to interact with one of two touchscreens positioned on either end of the exhibit. They can explore the components of code, take their picture using embedded cameras at the interactive kiosk and add their photo and chosen Western values in real time to a tapestry of images on the widescreen at the center of the exhibit. They also can receive a digital file of their custom image to share on social media.

National Cowboy Museum's 2024 plans include 'Treasures from Our Vault'

Heading into the 2024, visitors will continue to see the National Cowboy Museum make improvements through its most comprehensive capital campaign since the 1990s. In September, museum leadership revealed a partnership with Lighthouse Immersive, producers of the blockbuster exhibit "Immersive Van Gogh," to create another high-tech addition to the museum: a floor-to-ceiling, projection-mapped exhibit for the West Hallway.

“The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum's collections allow us to tell the stories of the West better than anyone, and now we’re advancing the museum-going experience to make sure those stories connect with our guests,” said museum President Pat Fitzgerald in an email.

“Today, museums are not just repositories for the important archives of our past, they are increasingly interactive. Collaborating with a world-class creator of experiences like Lighthouse Immersive will elevate our storytelling and set the bar for museum-based immersive experiences.”

Also in 2024, the museum will completely redo its parking lot — and stay open during that construction — and start expanding its vault as part of its capital campaign improvements.

In honor of the latter project, the museum will unveil in February a new exhibit titled "Treasures from Our Vault," offering a rare glimpse at some of the art and artifacts from the museum's vast collections that typically stay tucked away. Its curators have combed through more than a million archival documents and photographs and nearly 25,000 historic objects, teasing out the stories behind many strange, unusual and rarely seen items.

"There's this mystique behind the vault — like an 'ooh, what's in the vault? — that's a fun part of it. And we'll certainly be leaning into that," Spillman said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC's National Cowboy Museum sharing diverse stories, looking to 2024