Local Resources: Autry Museum of Western Heritage

By Beverly Mateer Taylor

Cowboy museum? Yes. Serious history museum of the West? Yes. A scholarly research facility? Yes, again. What a wonderful surprise it was to find a significant collection of reference books, rare books, photographs, original research reports, and ephemera such as postcards, movie publicity packets, posters, etc., in the museum's library, all being carefully preserved, cataloged, and made available for use by anyone with a need for the information there-in.

I was met in the lobby by librarian Marva Felchlin who took me up to the attractive, well-lighted reading room on the upper floor of the building, where she enthusiastically introduced me to the Autry Institute for the Study of the American West (formerly known as the Research Center), which is headed by Professor Steve Aron.

The experienced genealogist searching for pioneering and show-biz ancestors will find much of value here. Anyone who was involved in the making of westerns in Hollywood from the silent movie era through modern TV and movies is likely to be found in the reference books or documents here.

There are extensive files of photographic stills from Western TV series from 1949 to the 1990s, as well as publicity stills and other photographs from movie studios. The Western film collection is extensive-not the films themselves, but all of the surrounding materials, such as scripts, publicity materials, posters, etc., including exploitation manuals (the publicity manuals provided to theater owners). Wild West show materials have also been collected.

A strong area of interest is the collection of materials about women in all aspects of women's role in the history and development of the West. It was expanded with last spring's merger of the Autry Museum and the Women of the West Museum (formerly located in Colorado). A curator of Women's History will be added to the staff (probably by the time this is published).

Another strength is a variety of materials relating to the military. Examples of these are papers, correspondence, and photographs relating to Myles Keogh (1840-1876), an Irish-born officer who served with Custer in the Battle of Little Big Horn; rosters, photos, and diaries of Buffalo Soldiers; and a photograph album of cyanotypes of military personnel and their families in the Arizona territory.

One important and unique item is the card file of information on Spanish soldiers who were stationed in the Southwest; this was gathered by Raymond E Wood. He indexed every name on cards and noted sources and research notes on many of them. Some of the notes are in Spanish.

Those with Colorado interests will find the Fred Rosenstock Collection and the Western Map Collection especially useful. Rosenstock was a Denver book collector and dealer who amassed a large number of local histories and centennial booklets of small towns, which are now at the Autry. There are also Western Americana manuscripts, diaries, correspondence, maps, photographs, and visual ephemera, primarily from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century (with a few that date back as far as the late 16th century), emigrant guides, government reports, overland narratives, published diaries, and materials on the development of ranching, mining, and railroads in Colorado and Western America.

You can find information about early travelers through the Death Valley region in documents, maps and photographs. Materials about gold and mining throughout the west, including Alaska, are available. Although Los Angeles history is not a special area of focus, correspondence, books, manuscripts, and photographs concerning Pio Pico, his family, and associates, and a hotel ledger are here. There are relatively few materials relating to Native Americans here, since the Southwest Museum, which focuses on them, is nearby.

More than 260 maps from the 19th and early 20th century are in the Western Map Collection of topographic and geologic surveys, military expeditions, mining districts, transportation routes, and townships.

The collection has 30,000-plus book and serial titles; 5,000 linear feet of non-book materials, including manuscripts, photographs, maps, sound recordings, music scores, and motion pictures; visual ephemera, such as lettersheets, posters, lobby cards, programs, and advertisements; and 300 linear feet of archives documenting the history of the museum.

The museum continues to collect both primary and secondary materials documenting the area from pre-history to the present day. A user-friendly on-line catalog is on the Internet, although not all of the materials are included as yet. The book collection of the Women of the West Museum has been added to the catalog.

To search the catalog or to learn more about the various collections in the library, select "Autry Institute" from the main menu of the museum website http://www.autrymuseum.org.

The original Research Center was established to support the interpretive and educational activities of the museum in presenting fictional Hollywood history, as well as the true history of the West from the Mississippi to the Pacific Coast. The knowledgeable library staff welcomes all types of users-genealogists, scholars, filmmakers, etc. Access is by appointment only.

Use of the application provided on the website is preferred, since the library staff must gather materials from the closed stacks. Appointments can also be made by telephone. All materials must be used in the institute and no interlibrary loan services are offered. Photocopying and photographic services are available for a fee. Laptop computers are allowed.

The Autry Institute for the Study of the American West is located at 4700 Western Heritage Way in Griffith Park, across from the Los Angeles Zoo; it has ample free parking. It is open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The telephone is (323) 667-2000, and the e-mail address is rroom@autry-museum.org

© Beverly Mateer Taylor. Used with permission.