I had another post planned for today, but as my readers know by now, I love to enumerate and the story I read late last night offers just that opportunity...
Above are photos* and below is a list of some of the 8,000 artifacts amassed by former 7-term Harrisburg mayor Stephen Reed in the hope that an exhibit of the same would draw tourists to the Pennsylvania capital:
- a Conestoga wagon and a stagecoach
- muskets, pistols, and ammunition, including a slug from the 1876 battle of Little Big Horn
- Indian effigies
- a tomahawk that may have been owned by Chief Crazy Horse
- Native American art, a canoe, and a teepee
- salmon dried by Eskimos and sold during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896
- period photographs and tintypes
- an antique typewriter
- cactus skeletons, some up to 10' tall
- clothing, including hats and moccasins
- household goods, including blankets, pottery, knives, and medicine bottles
- Seventh Cavalry telescope and bugle
- the gates to the OK Corral
- Virgil Earp’s watch and badge
- Wyatt Earp’s last saddle, shaving kit, and saloon table
- Buffalo Bill’s megaphone
- Doc Holliday's flask, coat, and shaving mirror
- a wanted poster for Jesse James
- a painting shot through by Calamity Jane
- Annie Oakley's suitcase and tiara
- a mounted bison
*Slideshows at WGAL.com, SFgate.com, and newyorktimes.com.
I think the saddest thing about this story is that the concept for the collection wasn't bad- a Wild West Museum would probably have been a big draw and in the long-term might have even become economically advantageous for the area. I wonder if it was a case of bad timing economy-wise, or if the guy underestimated the cost and effort that goes into museum planning...
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