AP News, May 18th, 2007
More than a century ago, Buffalo Bill Cody took Wyoming to the world with his Wild West show.
His trick-roping cowboys, stern-faced Indian chiefs and exotic animal displays made Cody a celebrity in East Coast cities and European capitals alike. With his ever-present hat and distinctive goatee, Cody hobnobbed with kings and presidents as one of the best known U.S. citizens of his day.
Now Wyoming is planning to scour the world for the showman's correspondence to compile a definitive historical reference work on its most famous ambassador.
"I truly believe that Buffalo Bill was an epic character in Wyoming's history, especially northwest Wyoming, and America's history," said state Rep. Colin Simpson, who pushed through legislation this spring to put up $300,000 in state money to kick off the Buffalo Bill papers project.
The Buffalo Bill Historical Center in the city of Cody is raising funds to match the state's investment.
Kurt Graham, a curator at the historical center, said the project will go beyond a compendium of letters. It will be carefully annotated to explain the significance of what Cody wrote, who he was writing to, who wrote to him and how those papers fit into the historical fabric of his day, he said.
The documents will be posted online, and printed editions will be given to libraries at the University of Wyoming and the state's community colleges.
Graham believes the state's investment will help the project secure federal grant money. Similar projects have collected the papers of American presidents and other figures.
"This project is important because it _ at long last, finally _ provides funding for a level of research that's equal to its subject and the importance of that subject in Wyoming and its history," said Milward Simpson, director of the Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources, which is in charge of administering the state money for the project.
According to a biography prepared by the historical center, Cody was born in Iowa in 1846. He rode for the Pony Express before serving as a Union cavalry scout in the Civil War. After the war, he began hunting bison for railroad crews and later was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service as a scout during the Indian Wars.
An expert marksman, Cody worked as a hunting guide taking dignitaries such as Grand Duke Alexis of Russia into the field. In 1883, he created Buffalo Bill's Wild West, the show he led for the next 30 years.
Cody founded the city in northwestern Wyoming that bears his name and developed the irrigation system that allowed agricultural development of Big Horn Basin. His Irma Hotel, named after his daughter, still stands. He died in 1917 in Colorado, where he is buried.
Milward Simpson, who is Colin Simpson's cousin, said Buffalo Bill is as important to Wyoming as Benjamin Franklin is to Philadelphia.
"He shaped the West and so much of what we value in ourselves and in Wyoming," he said.
