Creator
NAPOLEON SARONY (1821-1896)
Title
A Rodeo Performance in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
Date
Not after 1886
Description
Arguably, no one did more to perpetuate the romantic ideal of the West in the American consciousness than William "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917). Cody was a true Westerner, having worked as a messenger for the Pony Express, as a scout for the U.S. Army, and as a cowboy. But he recognized that life in the West was changing and that he would have to find new sources of income. Ever the entrepreneur, Cody decided to become an entertainer. With his internationally renowned Wild West Show, Cody not only played to existing stereotypes but ensured their persistence. Even today, popular images of the West revolve around rodeos, gunslingers, cowboys and Indians, and outlaws and sheriffs, all features of Cody's show. The condition of the tattered photograph here suggests that it was much cherished by its former owner.
Format
Albumen print
Source
Princeton Collections of Western Americana, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Purchase, J. Monroe Thorington Fund.
Relation
View hi-resolution file: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/t722h919r