NOTICE TO READERS:
This Guide and Container List to the Glenn D. Shirley Western Americana Collection is a work in progress. Upon being processed, catalogued, and described, series (as enumerated in the collection level scope & content note) will be opened to researchers.

Collection Level Guide Introduction Biography Scope & Content (includes list of known series) Subject Terms Processing Note Ownership & Literary Rights Restrictions on Access Preferred Citation Series Level Guides Lobby cards Series (processing in progress) Published Books and Featured Stories Series (processed) Western Americana Series, Research Materials (processed) Weeklies Series (processing in progress) Western Stars Series (processed)

On March 16, 1936 the 20-year old Shirley began his career with the Stillwater Police Department answering the telephone. Soon, as a desk sergeant, he began and managed an identification bureau dealing with the methods of fingerprint identification and the Bertillon method that combined detailed measurement and classification of unique personal features of suspects. To enhance his knowledge in this area, Shirley took an 18-month correspondence course from the Institute of Applied Science (IAS) School of Criminology in Chicago and received a diploma on May 28, 1937. So dedicated to this relatively new science, Shirley is reported to have cut a hunk out of his finger to determine how long it would take the fingerprints to return. Criminals attempted to erase their fingerprints and Shirley wanted to ascertain the return rate of the lines. On December 9, 1937 Shirley was formally appointed as a police officer.

In February 1938 Shirley enrolled in the correspondence course in American Law and Procedure offered by the La Salle Extension University and earned his bachelor of laws degree on November 5, 1940. On December 26, 1941 Shirley completed an exhaustive course on scientific crime detection through the IAS.
He received a diploma for professional photography from the New York Institute of Photography on January 2, 1943.

About this time Shirley was submitting articles to some 30 true-crime/detective pulp magazines such as Master Detective and Front Page Detective and sold his first article. One writer characterized him as a "young cop who wrote about crooks while he was off-duty from catching crooks." One of his earliest articles that appeared in the April 1942 issue of Daring Detective was titled, "Easter Eve Murder and the Hidden Clue." This was followed by "Crimson Showdown of the Kidnap Gunners." Coincidentally, he was writing western fiction and an active member of the Stillwater Writers' Club. By the end of 1951, he had written an estimated 300 stories. He wrote his last detective story in 1959.

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Inducted into the Army on July 28, 1943, Shirley served in the East Africa and Middle East theaters between 1943 and 1946. For a time he served in Iran from where he wrote to his mother, "I'm over here in a stretch of God-forsaken country called Iran...They say civilization began around here somewhere, but I don't know where it has gone." Shirley went on to write a book about his experiences there entitled, So This Is Persia.

Upon his discharge from the Army on February 6, 1946, Shirley returned to Stillwater, resumed his peace officer duties in May, and, in due course, married Carrie Mabel Jacob. In the spring of 1948 Shirley was employed by Oklahoma State University (nee Oklahoma A & M College) as an instructional material specialist in the Oklahoma Peace Officers' Institute. Moreover, he lectured on subjects in police science, practice and procedure in schools throughout the state between 1946 and 1949.

On May 2, 1949 he was appointed Captain of the Stillwater Police Department. Adding to his police bona fides, Shirley graduated from the International Criminologist School in Seattle, Washington on July 13, 1948 and the Delehanty Institute in New York on November 25, 1949. On October 13, 1950 he received a diploma from the Oklahoma Institute of Technology at OSU in the basic peace officers' training course covering 100 hours of instruction.

About this time, Glenn and Carrie were creating a family with the arrivals of son and daughter, Kenneth Ellis and Glenda Lea. On his own, however, Glenn began creating his first book, Toughest of Them All, a work of mystery and detective fiction published in 1953. The book is a collection of true-crime "Old West" stories about tough guys, both good and bad, including Pistol Pete, Temple Houston and, the "toughest of them all," Cherokee Bill. Through his writing, Shirley had combined his love of the West with his abiding interests in law and criminology.

Shirley, the western historian, emerged with the 1955 publication of Six-Gun and Silver Star, a history of law enforcement, its marshals and other law enforcers in Oklahoma and Indian Territories from the first opening of Indian Country for white settlement in 1889 to statehood in 1907. But it was his book, Law West of Fort Smith: A History of Frontier Justice in the Indian Territory, 1834-1896, that truly established Glenn Shirley as an author, historian and an authority on frontier justice in the United States. This history with a focus on the "hanging judge" Isaac Charles Parker, who was appointed judge of the United States District Court for Western Arkansas in 1875 and served until his death in Fort Smith in 1896, is currently in its 11th printing. He later commented that his legal studies provided him with the best general education. "Studying law taught me mainly where and how to find the law, how to do research and find the facts." Movie makers and fiction writers often distort the true story and disregard facts. To insure accuracy in his writing, Shirley searched court records, government documents, and contemporary newspapers.

At the Stillwater Police Department Shirley had risen through the ranks, but in a March 20, 1957 letter, he wished to retire from the department effective April 15, 1957, due, according to this letter, "to my writing obligations and commitments and other personal matters." On April 15 Shirley became a deputy sheriff and identification officer in the Payne County Sheriff's Office. Coincidentally, he worked on his next two books, Pawnee Bill: A Biography of Gordon W. Lillie and Buckskin and Spurs: A Gallery of Frontier Rogues and Heroes, both published in 1958. Shirley was instrumental in persuading the Oklahoma state tourism department and the Senate appropriations committee to purchase the Pawnee Bill Ranch and its contents.

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With the election of a new county sheriff, Charlie Fowler, Shirley left the Payne County Sheriff's office on January 6, 1959. Shirley became Assistant Chief of Security at Oklahoma State University, a position he held until 1969. Besides receiving the Oklahoma Literary Endeavor Award in 1960, he wrote six books during this time including Outlaw Queen: The Fantastic True Story of Belle Starr (1960), Heck Thomas, Frontier Marshal: The Story of a Real Gunfighter (1962), Born to Kill (1963), Henry Starr: Last of the Real Badmen (1965), True Tales of Oklahoma (1967, not published) and Buckskin Joe: The Unique and Vivid Memoirs of Edward Jonathan Hoyt, Hunter-Trapper, Scout, Soldier, Showman, Frontiersman and Friend of the Indians, 1840-1918 (1966). In addition to these books he wrote numerous articles and short stories for several periodicals.

Shirley was asked how he found the time to research and write and work full time. He replied, "You spend your time on what you want to spend it on." While admittedly a simplistic and cogent statement, Shirley's disciplined, systematic, and obsessively organized approach to research and writing was the key to his prolific literary production. This approach is reflected by his thorough record keeping, the detailed file folder label information, the comprehensive contents of those folders, and the sheer volume of files, more than 180 cubic feet.

Between 1969 and 1979 Shirley was employed by the Oklahoma State University Press as a publications specialist and assistant director. In his November 1, 1979 resignation letter, he wrote, "Presently I am contracted and otherwise committed for four additional book projects to be completed within the next two years, and it is necessary that I devote full time to my writing career." During that decade, however, he published four books including Shotgun for Hire: The Story of "Deacon" Jim Miller, Killer of Pat Garrett (1970), The Life of Texas Jack: Eight Years a Criminal - 41 Years Trusting in God (1973), Red Yesterdays (1977), and West of Hell's Fringe: Crime, Criminals and the Federal Peace Officer in Oklahoma Territory, 1889-1907 (1978).

Soon he published two more books Temple Houston, Lawyer with a Gun (1980) and Belle Starr and Her Times: The Literature, the Facts, and the Legends (1982). In 1981 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. He served between 1984 and 1986 as an historical consultant and member of the editorial board for Western Publications, Inc., publisher of True West, Old West, and Frontier Times. Before receiving the U.S. Marshals Service America's Star Award in recognition of his career in law enforcement and contributions to the law enforcement profession in 1989, Shirley wrote Guardian of the Law: The Life and Times of William Matthew Tilghman, 1854-1924 (1988), Purple Sage: The Exploits, Adventures, and Writings of Patrick Sylvester McGeeney (1989) and Hello, Sucker! The Story of Texas Guinan (1989). In 1988 Shirley sold his ranch near Perkins and moved back to Stillwater. By then he had a separate house for his office and collections.

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During the decade of the 1990s, Shirley received the University of Oklahoma's Professional Writing Award in 1990 and was inducted into the Oklahoma Professional Writers Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame in 1999. He also published seven books including Gunfight at Ingalls: Death of an Outlaw Town (1990), They Outrobbed Them All: The Rise and Fall of the Vicious Martins (1992), Marauders of the Indian Nations: The Bill Cook Gang and Cherokee Bill (1994), The Fighting Marlows: Men who Wouldn't be Lynched (1994), Thirteen Days of Terror: The Rufus Buck Gang in Indian Territory (1996), The Fourth Guardsman: James Franklin "Bud" Ledbetter, 1852-1937 (1997), and Desperado From Cowboy Flat: The Saga of Zip Wyatt (1998).

While Shirley published his final two books, The Mosser Massacre: The Southwest's Greatest Manhunt (2001) and The She-Devil of LaPorte and Other Stories Seldom Remembered - Or Forgotten (2002), he received two awards in 2001. From the National Association for Outlaw and Lawman History, Inc., he received the Literary Award for Achievement. Additionally, he was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to Outlaw-Lawman History from the Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association. This association also instituted the "Glenn Shirley Award" that is given annually to an individual who, over a 25-year period or more, has contributed significantly to the field of research and documentation of outlaw-lawman history.

About the time Glenn Shirley began writing books, he began collecting. Shirley's appetite for collecting was spotlighted as early as July 1965. In a newspaper article by Al Sylvester titled "Writing himself into a Corner," Sylvester wrote, "In his spare time, Glenn Shirley is a writer of books and a builder of buildings. Only problem is that with every third book published under his byline, it takes another built-on room just to hold the research material he gathers." With fifty years of writing and collecting and a brimming-to-capacity 4-bedroom house converted into a repository and office, Shirley's uncompromising passion for the West is palpable.

In 1991 his granddaughter, Denise Shirley, in a school essay described his "reference materials" in the following way. "His library includes a lifetime worth of 19th and 20th century paperback novels, prairie artifacts, movie posters, photographs, and books. The most impressive features are Grandpa's files. His filing system organizes information and material for future books. People call from all over the country to ask him questions about western history."

On February 6, 2002 Glenn and Carrie Shirley attended the unveiling of the portraits of Bill Tilghman and Pistol Pete Eaton painted by Harold Holden in the state Senate chamber in Oklahoma City. This was to be Shirley's last public appearance for on February 27 he died at the age of 85. His son, Ken, wrote, "My dad focused on his dream and lived his life with his own style. He wanted to fulfill his dreams through the past, and he is very fortunate to have been able to do what he loved most. He was a real nice and gentle man who had a true value and respect for history, and he wanted to immortalize those people who helped shape the West." In preserving and providing access to this western Americana collection with its pleasing plethora of popular western imagery, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is unabashedly complicit with this sentiment.

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Sources
Carla Chlouber, "An Oklahombres Profile: Glenn Shirley, Peace Officer and Western Historian,"
Oklahombres V. VI, no.5 (Summer 1995), pp. 15-18.

"Shirley Guest Speaker of Writers Group," Cushing Daily Citizen, Friday, May 4, 1973

Ann Defrange, "Historian Lets ‘Just the Facts' Enhance Stories," The Oklahoman, January 21, 1990

John Joerschke, "From the Editor," True West, V.32, no.8, 1985

Bethany Krottinger, "Stillwater author fulfilled dream in writing Western novels, articles," www.ocolly.com,
March 5, 2002

Charles E. Rand, "Museum Acquires Glenn D. Shirley Western Americana Collection," Persimmon Hill
V.34, No.3 (Autumn 2006), pp. 1-6.

Glenn D. Shirley Resume

Glenn D. Shirley Scrapbooks, 1936-2002

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Scope & Content:

The collection can be described generally in two categories: those items acquired and organized by Shirley during the resource-building/research process and those acquired and organized reflective of a hobby or avocation. Closer inspection reveals that these two types of materials have been physically, if not, intellectually mingled. The collection contains more than 6,400 books, more than 2,900 western pulp novels, over 1,900 pulp fiction issues, greater than 2,600 music sheets/folios, more than 3,200 dime novels/weeklies, the Billy McGinty, Otto Gray and Buckskin Joe archival collections, greater than 16,800 photographs and negatives and more than 10,700 movie posters, lobby cards, and inserts. Additionally, there are approximately 180 cubic feet of reference and research files created and maintained by Shirley, as well as variety of periodical titles and uncounted issues.

A multitude of western film stars are represented in this collection including Gene Autry, Johnny Mack Brown, Sunset Carson, Gary Cooper, Buster Crabbe, Wild Bill Elliott, Glenn Ford, Hoot Gibson, Charlton Heston, Tim Holt, Buck Jones, Burt Lancaster, Rocky Lane, Joel McCrea, Tom Mix, Roy Rogers, Randolph Scott, Charles Starrett, Bob Steele, Jimmy Stewart, and Tom Tyler.

Many historical figures are represented as well including Judge Roy Bean, Billy the Kid, James Bowie, Buckskin Joe, Buffalo Bill, George Armstrong Custer, Wyatt Earp, John Wesley Hardin, Wild Bill Hickok, Tom Horn, Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, Jesse James, Judge Isaac C. Parker, Pawnee Bill, Belle Starr, and Heck Thomas.

Frontier Stories, Western Romances, Northwest Romances, Ranch Romances, Cowboy Stories, West, and Lariat are among the numerous pulp fiction titles, while the Pawnee Bill Weekly, Pluck and Luck, Wild West Weekly, The Young Rough Riders Weekly, Diamond Dick, Jr., Beadles Frontier Series, and the New Buffalo Bill Weekly are counted among the myriad weekly titles.

The collection is arranged into series listed below. Please note that original order, arrangement, and categories by Shirley were retained. Processing priority was given to the lobby card-film still-movie poster complex due to the more generally utilitarian nature of these items in the context of museum interpretive and research functions.

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Movie Posters, ????-????(unprocessed) - 9 subseries
Actors
Authors Titles
Horse & Dog Movies
Oklahoma & Indian Territory Outlaws Titles
Outlaws Titles
Western Desperados Titles
Western Historical Characters
Western Serials
Westerns Miscellaneous


Western Stars, 1913-2002 (processed) - 3 subseries
Actors, 1915-2002
Actresses, 1915-2002
Sources, Directors, Studios, 1913-2001


Movies for Television (unprocessed)- clippings


Photographs (unprocessed)-11 subseries
Copy Negatives
Actors
African American westerns
Author Titles
Dog movies
Historical westerns
Horse movies
Series westerns
Television series westerns
Western serials
Westerns Miscellaneous

Research Materials-Western Americana, 1868-2002 (processed)

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Subject Terms

Each series has its own personal names, corporate names, and subject headings associated with it. However, for terms that cover the collection as a whole, see below.

Personal Names:
Shirley, Glenn

General Subject Headings:
Authors, American-20th century
Collectors and collecting-United States
Ephemera-United States-19th century
Ephemera-United States-20th century
Historians-United States
West (U.S.)-History-19th century
West (U.S.)-History-20th century
West (U.S.)-History-Sources

For dime novels:
American fiction--19th century.
American fiction--20th century.
Dime novels, American.
Popular literature--United States.
Pulp literature.

For movie posters & lobby cards:
Film posters, American
Film posters-United States
Lobby cards- American
Posters-United States
Western films-Collectibles
Western television

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Processing Note:

At its November 2005 meeting in Sedona, Arizona the Board of Directors voted to pursue the acquisition of this collection following a powerpoint presentation created by Chuck Rand. Between February 13 and 24, 2006, an exhaustive inventory of the collection in the 4-bedroom Stillwater, Oklahoma house was conducted primarily by Research Center staff including Chuck Rand, Karen Spilman, and Jennifer Wochner. Between February 27 and March 1 room inventories were compiled and edited. These inventories were sent to Guy Logsdon for appraisal purposes on March 3.

With the permission of Mrs. Carrie Shirley and her son Ken, Research Center staff returned to the house between March 3 and April 4, 2006 to pack the collection, room-by-room, and create box content inventories simultaneously.

On May 30 and 31, 2006 the collection was moved from the Stillwater house to the Museum. As the final collection components of the four 26-foot truckloads and four commercial vanloads arrived at the museum, the purchase agreement for the inventoried contents of all rooms, except that of the movie room, was signed by members of the Shirley family on May 31.

Guy Logsdon completed his appraisal of the entire collection including the gifted contents of the movie room on October 10, 2006.

Accession number RC2006.067 was applied to the gift portion of the collection. Accession number RC2006.068 was applied to the purchased portion of the collection.

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Ownership & Literary Rights:

Please refer to specific series descriptions and individual items therein (when applicable).


Restrictions on Access:

Only those series or portions thereof, that have been processed and finding aids created, are open for research. It is advised researchers discuss their research prior to visiting the Center.


Preferred Citation:

Glenn D. Shirley Western Americana Collection, Box ##, Folder ##, Dickinson Research Center, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK.

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