In 1866 Westerner wrote, “The new arm of the west, called a Smith-and-Weston [sic], is a pretty tool; as neat a machine for throwing slugs into a...
Hickok’s Number One
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Art, Guns and Culture
Remington’s Second Life
Not many collectors know that Frederic Remington was a novelist. Because he earned his living as an artist, he had the luxury of portraying the West...
The Dalton Death Rifle?
While many of the American frontier’s most famous arms are well known today, few have had the distinction of becoming a working classic for as long...
Fine Fruitcakes
"Inmates of various boarding-houses shudder to think of the vast amount of turkey and fruitcake leftover from the feast of yesterday,” wrote San...
Let’s Rodeo
Wild West shows and frontier rodeos are largely responsible for the distinctive styling and flare seen on cowboy shirts today. The arena cowboys...
A Dickens Christmas
Bah, humbug. The high sheriffs of this rag twisted my arm to write about Victorian Christmas celebrations out West. I’m no Scrooge, but I live in...
The Mini “Buffalo Gun”
When most people think of the Sharps rifle, it’s a good bet they probably think “Buffalo Gun.” The “Old Reliable” Sharps single-shot rifle was...
Bill Anton
“They’re all real folks,” says Bill Anton, referring to the cowboys and ranchers he depicts with his oils. Most of his work—if not all—evokes the...
Tailor-Made Re-enactor
As I walk across the grounds of the John Brown Museum in Osawatomie, Kansas, during the annual Freedom Festival, I am surrounded by re-enactors. By...
A Tale of Two Shirts
On June 20, 1905, “one of the greatest affairs of the kind” took place, a potlatch feast-giveaway of the belongings of Nez Perce Chief Joseph, who...
Pizza in the Old West
“My wife has been in the habit for several years of putting up tomatoes for winter use…. She says they must be stewed a long time..,” penned a...
Roger Archibald
“Is that pencil?” mocks Western artist and Arizona native Roger Archibald. When people’s eyes first fall upon his black-and-white depictions of...