11:00 AM-12:30 PM Session 7: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Abroad
Bob Rydell, Chair

Frank Christianson, The Special Relationship as Popular Culture: The Legacy of 1887

In 1887, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West afforded a unique opportunity for reconsidering the Anglo-American relationship. Approaching the end of the nineteenth century, the two nations found themselves on new footing brought on by a host of economic, technological, and political changes. This presentation will examine how the Wild West’s first international tour provides a template for subsequent tours and the ways it retold the Special Relationship for both American and British audiences.

Frank Christianson is Associate Dean in the College of Humanities and Associate Professor of English at Brigham Young University. Since 2012 he has served as Senior Editor of the Papers of William F. Cody. He is editor of The Life of Hon. William F. Cody, Known as Buffalo Bill (2011) and  The Wild West in England (2012) published by the University of Nebraska Press, as well as the forthcoming essay collection, The Popular Frontier: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Transnational Mass Culture with University of Oklahoma Press.

Tom F. Cunningham, Black Elk in Naples?

A closer look at Black Elk’s time in Europe with Mexican Joe, between being left behind in England by Buffalo Bill in May 1888 and his return to the USA from France in June 1889.

Tom F. Cunningham runs the Scottish National Buffalo Bill Archive and is the author of innumerable articles and several books, most notably ‘Your Fathers the Ghosts’ – Buffalo Bill’s Wild West in Scotland (Black & White Pub. Ltd., 2008).

Gregory Hinton, After Hours: Buffalo Bill in London

A view into the elite 19th century London Club scene where William F. Cody quickly became a favored guest of arts luminaries at the Garrick, Reform, Savage and Lyric Clubs; late night suppers in Sir Henry Irving’s vaunted Beefsteak Room at the Lyceum Theatre; and “at homes” with Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Wilde among others.

Gregory Hinton is a writer, historian and producer of Out West, a national western museum program series. A 2011 Resident Fellow and Associate Editor of the Papers of William F. Cody , BBCW inspired projects include his newspaper play, “Waiting for a Chinook; Out West with Buffalo Bill”; and currently, “Buffalo Bill & California” touring in 2018.