Yep, it is all things Western. Exhibits and displays range from fine art to horseshoes and from pre-white settler days to modern times. We spent 4 hours and probably didn’t do it justice. It is classic museum so there is lots of reading to get the whole affect and I skipped a number of videos that are available.

It is interesting to see how saddles, firearms, tac, attire, and even barbed wire evolved to meet the changing needs and desires of the cowboys/ranchers through time. They have a bit of a primer on rodeo and on making of rawhide rope. Considerable space is devoted to “The Western” as in moving picture, its inaccuracies, its wild popularity and its stars through the years.

My favorites?

Artsy-the bronze sculptures. They are magnificently detailed and are accompanied by great stories of the artists and their techniques.

Cowboyee- how the influence of the Spanish, European immigrants, and Native Americans combined to shape the Cowboy of the American West.

Take a sweater if you go. It was so cold that it was distracting. We actually ducked out into the gardens midway through our tour to warm up a bit.

Monument rescue

Critical acclaim to scrap heap to city park to Museum. “The End of the Trail” is a sculpture created by James Fraser for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915.   The plaster sculpture drew great acclaim but disappeared when the exhibition closed.   Later it was found to have been cut in half and tossed in a scrap heap only to be rescued to stand in relative anonymity in a small town park for 50 years. There is a wonderful story of its rediscovery and restoration climaxing in display in the main lobby here at the Museum.   It is an impressive piece depicting horse and rider. What is the message? Check it out at nationalcowboymuseum.org so you can decide.