The Papers of William F. Cody - A Digital Edition

FAIN: RQ-50440-11

Buffalo Bill Historical Center (Cody, WY 82414-3428)
D. Kurt Graham (Project Director: November 2009 to June 2010)
Jeremy M. Johnston (Project Director: June 2010 to July 2013)

Preparation of a thematic, illustrated digital edition of the papers of Buffalo Bill Cody, a symbol of the American West in the popular imagination. (24 months)

At the dawn of the age of celebrity in the late nineteenth century, the public persona that William F. Cody created in his thirty years as head of the touring show, Buffalo Bill's Wild West, was central to a durable and vivid mythic vision of the vanishing American frontier. In the American public imagination, William F. Cody had become to many the embodiment of American promise and American virtue. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center will develop a digital edition of The Papers of William F. Cody containing material gathered from multiple repositories and organized into three thematic modules. The goal of The Papers of William F. Cody is to collect, edit, and publish online an open-access, keyword-searchable, digital edition that covers the period from William F. Cody's birth in 1846 to his death in 1917.

Associated Products

The William F. Cody Archive (Web Resource)
Title: The William F. Cody Archive
Author: McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Abstract: The William F. Cody Archive provides an invaluable record of the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century American national development. Through this digital archive and its associated texts, researchers and visitors have an unequaled opportunity to see, through the eyes of Buffalo Bill, the expansion and growth of the American West. Readers are given glimpses of attitudes of the time through his interactions with individuals ranging from statesmen and royalty to noted military and literary figures who sought his opinion on policy questions concerning the American West. A greater understanding of public attitudes and political, economic, and environmental policies that affected the United States during his lifetime are also reflected in his lesser-known roles as a community founder, businessman, rancher, and investor.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://codyarchive.org/

The Wild West in England in the Series The Papers of William F. Cody (Book)
Title: The Wild West in England in the Series The Papers of William F. Cody
Author: Buffalo Bill
Author: William F. Cody
Editor: Frank Christianson
Abstract: Army scout, frontiersman, and hero of the American West, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody was also a shrewd self-promoter, showman, and entrepreneur. In 1888 he published The Story of the Wild West, a collection of biographies of four well-known American frontier figures: Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Kit Carson, and himself. Cody contributed an abridged version of his 1879 autobiography with an addendum titled The Wild West in England, now available in this stand-alone annotated edition, including all the illustrations from the original text along with photographs of Cody and promotional materials. Here Cody describes his Wild West exhibition, the show that offered audiences a mythic experience of the American frontier. Focusing on the show’s first season of performances in England, Cody includes excerpts of numerous laudatory descriptions of his show from the English press as well as stories of his time spent with British nobility—from private performances for Queen Victoria and the Prince and Princess of Wales to dinners and teas with the elite of London society. He depicts himself as an ambassador of American culture, proclaiming that he and his Wild West show prompted the British to “know more of the mighty nation beyond the Atlantic and . . . to esteem us better than at any time within the limits of modern history.”
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/wild-west-in-england/oclc/785862733&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat Listing
Secondary URL: http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Wild-West-in-England,675262.aspx
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Type: Scholarly Edition
ISBN: 9780803240544

Buffalo Bill from Prairie to Palace (Book)
Title: Buffalo Bill from Prairie to Palace
Author: John M. Burke
Editor: Chris Dixon
Abstract: Advance man, press agent, and publicist extraordinaire, John M. Burke (1842–1917) was instrumental in turning William F. Cody into the iconic persona of Buffalo Bill. And with this biography, published in 1893, Burke put the finishing touches on the legend that persists to this day. This new, definitive edition includes the full text and all the photographs and line drawings of Burke’s original, while providing critical background on the literary sources, historical characters, and events that figure in the work. With “a few plain truths, unadorned,” Burke purported to give a frank account of Buffalo Bill’s life. Hostile Indians, gunfights, cattle stampedes: Cody’s Wild West was fraught with peril at every turn. This “Chevalier Bayard of American Bordermen” exemplified courage and daring while often narrowly escaping certain death and earned the respect and admiration of not only his fellow frontiersman but also European royalty. Burke recounts Cody’s duel with Chief Yellow Hand; his role as army scout, buffalo hunter, Pony Express rider, and international celebrity; and his associations with well-known figures like Kit Carson, Sitting Bull, General Phil Sheridan, and Queen Victoria. A brilliant instance of mythmaking by a true believer, Burke’s portrait of Buffalo Bill Cody as frontiersman and hero is a tribute to the romance of the Wild West and a canonical volume in the American story.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/buffalo-bill-from-prairie-to-palace/oclc/780415729&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat Listing
Secondary URL: http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Buffalo-Bill-from-Prairie-to-Palace,675263.aspx
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Type: Scholarly Edition
ISBN: 9780803240728

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