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Read the West Book Club: Letters of a Woman Homesteader

This book is composed of letters written by a young woman who lost her husband in a railroad accident and went to Denver to seek support for herself and her two-year-old daughter. Turning her hand to the nearest work, she went out by the day as house-cleaner and laundress. Later, seeking to better herself, she …

Brown Bag Lunch Series: Inuit Traditional Skin Markings

Traditional Tattooer Holly Mititquq Nordlum discusses Inuit people, place, history, colonization, healing and wearing sacred markings in a modern context. Nordlum is one of a few women internationally bringing back Inuit markings to her people and working with the next generation. (Nordlum will speak via Zoom from Anchorage, Alaska.) Bring your lunch or purchase one …

Read the West Book Club: The Removed

Read the 2022 Western Heritage Award-winning Western novel The Removed by Brandon Hobson. In the 15 years since their teenage son, Ray-Ray, was killed in a police shooting, the Echota family has been suspended in private grief. The mother, Maria, increasingly struggles to manage the onset of Alzheimer’s in her husband, Ernest. Their adult daughter, …

Curator Conversations: Mother Roads

Explore the West by “taking the highway that is best” with Samantha Schafer and Nathan Jones, curators of the exhibition Mother Roads. Ride along on a trip that covers the Museum’s history along Route 66, the weird and wonderful world of roadside America and the ways we tour the West. $5; free for Museum members. …

Traditional Cowboy Arts Association Workshop: Design and Ornamentation for Bits and Spurs

In conjunction with the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association (TCAA), this workshop will focus on demonstrations and hands-on learning. Instruction will address overall design and layout, overlay and soldering techniques as well as creating silver inlay borders, stripes and sheet inlays. Forging techniques for spurs and ported mouth pieces will also be covered. Students will gain insight …

Living History: Bass Reeves at the Crossroads

Enjoy dinner and a living history presentation of the life of Bass Reeves. Ernest Marsh portrays Reeves, one of the first black men to be named deputy U.S. marshal in Indian Territory. Discover the true story behind the legendary lawman, from being born into slavery, to becoming one of the most feared U.S marshals, and …

Event Series Stitchin’ Good Time

Stitchin’ Good Time

Want to try embroidery but don’t know where to start? Join Darci Lenker for a two-night workshop learning and experimenting with different stiches to create your own embroidered piece! Classes will be held within the Western Wares exhibition where you will be inspired by fanciful embroidered embellishments. Perfect for beginners or those that enjoy a …

Curator Conversations: Chuck Wagon Chuck: History vs. Mythology

Follow the invention of the chuck box and the chuck wagon from Charles Goodnight in the mid-1860s to the chuck wagon’s use on ranches in the American West today. Learn who the cooks were who sometimes — intentionally or not — spoiled the broth, er, beans, on the trail and on the ranch, and who …

Read the West Book Club: Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman

Celebrate the Museum’s Annual Chuck Wagon Festival by learning about the inventor of the original chuck wagon — Charlie Goodnight. Discover the exciting story of a Texas Ranger, adventurer and immigration officer who became a symbol of his age while gambling with death in the wild frontier regions of Texas, Arizona and Old and New …

Read the West Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass

In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer draws on her experience as botanist, Native American and mother. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Kimmerer holds to the idea that we have much to learn from plants and animals about living in reciprocal relationship with the world around us. Through a braid of memoir, scientific …

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