Spring Course: Buffalo Bill and the Wild West

I am really excited about the new course I am teaching at Eastern Washington University in the Spring Quarter: History 498/596: Buffalo Bill and the Wild West. The course will meet Wednesday evenings from 5 until 9:30 p.m.

William F. Cody, aka “Buffalo Bill” was America’s first international celebrity. In a public career spanning more than 40 years he appeared before crowds from Spokane to New York City, and from Glasgow to Moscow. His Wild West show parlayed his early life experiences as a buffalo hunter and Army scout into the most popular public entertainment of his era. Along the way he interacted with Teddy Roosevelt and Sitting Bull, Thomas Edison and the Queen of England. He was America’s first international celebrity and many of our western myths were shaped by his Wild West show. But how much of it was true?

In this exciting course we will discover the realities behind the many myths of Buffalo Bill. We will explore Cody and his world via primary and secondary sources, historic and contemporary film, and archival research.

This course builds on a new partnership between the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming and the Public History Program at Eastern Washington University. Students will get the chance to have their work published in the forthcoming Biographical Encyclopedia of the Wild West.

The course is open to both graduates and undergraduates. For more information contact Professor Larry Cebula at LarryCebula@gmail.com.