Up from the Basement. Curators at the Cowboy Museum display ‘Treasures from our Atherton Vault’
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA – What lies beneath?
Museum curators like David Davis know that what’s on display is only a fraction of what’s actually there.
He paints the picture, “So if you imagine about 11,000 square feet of space that is chock full of everything you can imagine.”
Most of the rest is locked away in a vault.
Davis has been at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum for several years now and always wished he could bring up some of the most interesting items to put on display.
So that’s exactly what he and his staff did.
Ranch history in oils and artifacts: The Metcalfe Museum opens for spring
“The wonderful ways that out museum selects to represent the west include the weird, wild and unusual,” he smiles.
One of the first times we ever ventured to the basement storage areas at the museum was to catalogue the huge collection of artist George Grandee.
That was 32 years ago.
Davis brought up some of his U.S. Army horse tack from the late 1800’s.
“This is a cavalry feed bag from about 1895,” he points out.
The museum holds a collection of 350 saddles.
The one Davis brought up belonged to Boomer Col. David Payne.
Their saddle collection, says Davis, “Runs the time period. It includes rodeo, working cowboy saddles, and trophy saddles.”
Muskogee Artist Johnny Beaver’s painting sees the light of day here, as does an Emmy award belonging to actor Barbara Stanwyck.
Movie props like actor Steve McQueen’s jacket from ‘Tom Horn’ and a collection of movie marshal stars are also included.
When George Reynolds took an arrow to the stomach in a fight with Plains Tribes in the 1880’s, he saved the point when doctors cut it out of him 16 years later.
“He knew what it was that was bothering him,” David chuckles.
A shocking find on the summit of Ghost Mound
Weapons, everyday items, and weird stuff you wouldn’t think you’d find in a western museum include John Wayn’s buddha statue, the plaster death mask of artist James Earl Fraser, and Ronald Reagan’s cowboy boots.
The breadth of western collections touches history, pop culture, art, and the kind of miscellany only an exhibit like this could fully explain.
‘Treasures of the Atherton Vault’ will be open at the Cowboy Museum until April 28, 2024.
For more information go to
https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/exhibitions/treasures-from-the-vault/
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
