Histories of the American West at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

The Clark Library collection includes many books by and about William F. Cody, also known as Buffalo Bill (1846–1917). Buffalo Bill was a former U.S. soldier and buffalo hunter who capitalized on white Americans’ interest in the American West with his famous Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of the Rough Riders of the World shows. He further popularized skirmishes between cowboys and Indigenous people, recreating battles as entertainment. The sensationalization of the American West is also present in Clark Library books about hunting, buffalo, and outlaws.

Collection materials include:

• Cruising in the Cascades (1889): A narrative about hunting grizzly bears, elk, antelope, buffalo, goat, and deer; trouting in the Rocky Mountains; participating in a Montana round-up; and living with cowboys by George O. Shields (1846–1925).

• Memories of Buffalo Bill, by his wife, Louisa Frederici Cody, in collaboration with Courtney Ryley Cooper (1919)

• Story of the wild West and camp-fire chats (1888): An embellished account of frontier life and the lives of Daniel Boone (1734–1820), Kit Carson (1809–1868), and Davy Crockett (1786–1836) by Buffalo Bill. 

• The last American frontier (1910): A book describing westward expansion, the Oregon Trail, the Union Pacific Railroad, The Sioux War, The Cheyenne War, Chief Black Kettle (1807–1868)  of the Southern Cheyenne tribe, Chief Joseph (1840–1904) of the Wallowa Nez Perce, and Sitting Bull by Frederic Logan Paxson (1877–1948). 

• The story of the outlaw (1907): A study of the American West focused on famous outlaws, border wars, and vigilante movements by Emerson Hough (1857–1923), a popular writer of histories of the American West. 

To find printed books, pictorial works, and manuscripts go to UC Library Search. Click on “Advanced Search,” select the “Subject field,” and type either “Indians,” “Peuples autochtones – Guerres –  États-Unis,” “Indians of North America,” “Frontier and pioneer life,” or “West (U.S.) – Description and travel.” To search for works by specific figures, select the “Author” field, and type “Cody, Louisa (Frederici) Mrs,” or “Buffalo Bill, 1846–1917),” for example. You can also do a keyword search either in the simple search or in the “Any field” field of the “Advanced Search.” Once you have search results, you can limit to the Clark Library by selecting it from the “UCLA Locations” facet.