This Week in the West

This Week in the West: Charles Russell: Artist & Original Great Westerner

🤠This Week in the West🎙️ Episode 72: Charles Russell: Artist & Original Great Westerner
📢 Episode Summary:This week on This Week in The West, we remember Charles Marion Russell, one of the most important artists to ever capture the spirit of the American frontier. Born March 19, 1864, Russell left his comfortable home in St. Louis at just sixteen years old to pursue his dream of becoming a cowboy in Montana. Instead of following the respectable career paths expected of him, Russell chose the rough life of the open range—an experience that would later define his art.
Before he became famous, Russell spent more than a decade working as a cowboy and night wrangler. During that time, he carefully observed the people, animals and cultures of the West. He lived among cowboys, learned from mountain men and spent time with Native communities, experiences that gave his later paintings an authenticity few artists could match.
Russell’s artistic career began almost by accident during the devastating winter of 1886–87, when he sketched a starving steer in the snow with the caption Waiting for a Chinook. The small drawing circulated among ranchers and townspeople and brought Russell his first attention as an artist. By the early 1890s, he set aside cowboy life to focus on painting full-time.
With the support of his wife Nancy, who became his tireless promoter and business manager, Russell’s work gained national and international recognition. Yet he remained rooted in Montana and committed to telling the stories of the West as he had lived them. Today, Russell’s paintings, drawings and sculptures remain some of the most powerful visual records of frontier life.
🔍 What You’ll Learn:
How Charles Marion Russell’s real-life experience as a working cowboy shaped the authenticity of his Western art.
The story behind Russell’s famous sketch Waiting for a Chinook and how it launched his career.
How Russell and his wife Nancy helped preserve the stories, people and culture of the Old West through art.
👥 Behind the ScenesHost: Seth SpillmanProducer: Chase SpiveyWriter: Mike Koehler
🔗 Further research:
The C.M. Russell Museum: https://cmrussell.org/
The Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West at the University of Oklahoma: https://www.ou.edu/finearts/visual-arts/about/charles-m-russell-center
PBS Documentary “C.M. Russell and the American West:” https://www.montanapbs.org/programs/CMRussellAmericanWest/
📬 Connect With Us:🌐 Website: www.thecowboy.org📖 Read Our Blog: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/blog/📩 Email: podcast@thecowboy.org📲Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ncwhm/📷Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalcowboymuseum❎X/Twitter: https://x.com/ncwhm💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-cowboy-&-western-heritage-museum
🗺️ Visit Us: The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73111. See us on the map
🎟️: You can now buy tickets to The Cowboy online, go to https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/tickets/💡 Support Us:🏅Become A Member of the Museum: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/support/memberships/
🛒Shop at Persimmon Hill, our Museum store: https://persimmonhillstore.com/
🎧 Listen & Subscribe:🔹 Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-the-west/id1776228708🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KYmd2BumVtQVH1ez1Cr2U🔹YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFoE2kU21JpX9T6W9NonXuD9UapS1TsmN🔹Podbean: https://thisweekinthewest.podbean.com/ 
⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate & review!

This Week in the West: The Miller Brothers and the Rise of the 101 Ranch

🤠This Week in the West🎙️ Episode 71: The Miller Brothers and the Rise of the 101 Ranch
📢 Episode Summary:This week on This Week in The West, we remember Joe Miller Sr., one of the driving forces behind Oklahoma’s legendary 101 Ranch. Born March 12, 1868, Miller grew up in a cattle family that helped shape ranching in Indian Territory. After their father, Colonel George Washington Miller, established the 101 brand and built a vast ranching operation, Joe and his brothers inherited the growing enterprise. Under their leadership, the 101 Ranch expanded into a massive 110,000-acre operation near Ponca City, becoming one of the largest and most diversified farms and ranches in the United States.
Joe Miller distinguished himself not only as a rancher but as a promoter who understood the public’s fascination with the American West. In 1907 he helped launch the 101 Ranch Real Wild West Show, which brought the spectacle of frontier life to audiences across the United States and around the world. The show featured cowboys, Native American performers from many tribes, and rising Western legends such as Bill Pickett, Will Rogers and Tom Mix. Through daring demonstrations of horsemanship and frontier skills, the show helped shape the public’s image of the cowboy and the West.
At the same time, the ranch itself thrived as a hub of innovation, agriculture and oil development, helping launch what became the Marland Oil Company, later known as Conoco. Yet the Wild West show business proved volatile, and mounting costs, competition and economic challenges eventually caught up with the Millers. After Joe Miller’s death in 1927 and the onset of the Great Depression, the great 101 Ranch empire collapsed. Today, the legacy of the ranch survives in preserved historic sites, museum artifacts and the enduring myth of the American cowboy that the Millers helped bring to life.
🔍 What You’ll Learn:
How Joe Miller Sr. helped transform the massive 101 Ranch near Ponca City into one of the largest and most diversified ranching operations in America.
How the 101 Ranch Real Wild West Show introduced global audiences to the drama and skills of frontier life, featuring performers such as Bill Pickett, Will Rogers and Tom Mix.
How the 101 Ranch helped shape the popular image of the American cowboy while also contributing to early oil development and the cultural mythology of the West.
👥 Behind the ScenesHost: Seth SpillmanProducer: Chase SpiveyWriter: Mike Koehler
🔗 Further research:
The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History on the 101 Ranch: https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=MI029
101 Ranch episode of PBS’ “Back in Time”: https://www.pbs.org/video/back-time-101-ranch/
Western Horseman Magazine article: https://westernhorseman.com/culture/the-101-ranch-empire-2/
📬 Connect With Us:🌐 Website: www.thecowboy.org📖 Read Our Blog: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/blog/📩 Email: podcast@thecowboy.org📲Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ncwhm/📷Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalcowboymuseum❎X/Twitter: https://x.com/ncwhm💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-cowboy-&-western-heritage-museum
🗺️ Visit Us: The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73111. See us on the map
🎟️: You can now buy tickets to The Cowboy online, go to https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/tickets/💡 Support Us:🏅Become A Member of the Museum: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/support/memberships/
🛒Shop at Persimmon Hill, our Museum store: https://persimmonhillstore.com/
🎧 Listen & Subscribe:🔹 Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-the-west/id1776228708🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KYmd2BumVtQVH1ez1Cr2U🔹YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFoE2kU21JpX9T6W9NonXuD9UapS1TsmN🔹Podbean: https://thisweekinthewest.podbean.com/ 
⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate & review!

This Week in the West: How Jesse Chisholm Talked His Way Into Western History

🤠This Week in the West🎙️ Episode 70: How Jesse Chisholm Talked His Way Into Western History
📢 Episode Summary:This week on This Week in The West, we remember Jesse Chisholm, the man whose name became permanently attached to one of the most famous cattle trails in American history. Yet Chisholm himself was not a cowboy or cattle baron. Born around 1805 to a Scottish father and a Cherokee mother, he grew up between cultures on the expanding American frontier. Fluent in numerous Native languages as well as Spanish and Plains sign language, Chisholm built his reputation as a trader, guide and interpreter who could move between tribal nations, settlers and government officials at a time when communication often meant the difference between peace and conflict.
Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, Chisholm worked as a scout and guide across what is now Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. He later established trading posts where commerce and diplomacy could take place peacefully between Native communities and newcomers. His language skills made him a trusted mediator in treaty negotiations and diplomatic missions, even interpreting for tribal delegations meeting with President James K. Polk. Leaders across the Southern Plains came to view Chisholm as a fair dealer and a reliable peacemaker.
After the Civil War devastated Indian Territory, Chisholm reopened trade and improved a wagon route he had long traveled across the region. That road, built simply to move goods efficiently through the Plains, later became the famous Chisholm Trail when cattlemen used it to drive millions of Texas longhorns north to Kansas railheads. Though Chisholm never drove cattle and died in 1868 before the great cattle drives reached their peak, the trail bearing his name helped shape the economy, culture and enduring mythology of the American West.
🔍 What You’ll Learn:
Why Jesse Chisholm’s ability to speak multiple Native languages made him one of the most important interpreters and mediators on the Southern Plains.
How Chisholm’s trading posts and diplomatic work helped maintain peace between tribal nations, settlers and government officials during a turbulent era of frontier expansion.
How a practical wagon route Chisholm improved after the Civil War became the famous Chisholm Trail, used by cattlemen to drive more than five million longhorns north to Kansas railheads.
👥 Behind the ScenesHost: Seth SpillmanProducer: Chase SpiveyWriter: Mike Koehler
🔗 Further research:
Jesse Chisholm grave site: https://www.travelok.com/listings/view.profile/id.3935
Chisholm Trail Heritage Center: https://onthechisholmtrail.com/who-was-jesse-chisholm/
Wichita Eagle on the 100th Anniversary of the Trail: https://www.kansas.com/news/article1107374.html
📬 Connect With Us:🌐 Website: www.thecowboy.org📖 Read Our Blog: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/blog/📩 Email: podcast@thecowboy.org📲Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ncwhm/📷Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalcowboymuseum❎X/Twitter: https://x.com/ncwhm💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-cowboy-&-western-heritage-museum
🗺️ Visit Us: The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73111. See us on the map
🎟️: You can now buy tickets to The Cowboy online, go to https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/tickets/💡 Support Us:🏅Become A Member of the Museum: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/support/memberships/
🛒Shop at Persimmon Hill, our Museum store: https://persimmonhillstore.com/
🎧 Listen & Subscribe:🔹 Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-the-west/id1776228708🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KYmd2BumVtQVH1ez1Cr2U🔹YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFoE2kU21JpX9T6W9NonXuD9UapS1TsmN🔹Podbean: https://thisweekinthewest.podbean.com/ 
⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate & review!

This Week in the West: Quanah Parker, Remarkable Native Leader

🤠This Week in the West🎙️ Episode 69: Quanah Parker, Remarkable Native Leader
📢 Episode Summary:This week on This Week in The West, we remember Quanah Parker, the famed Comanche leader, on the anniversary of his death on February 23, 1911. Born the son of Comanche war chief Peta Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker—a white woman captured and raised among the Comanche—Quanah grew up fully immersed in Comanche life during a time when the power of the Plains tribes was rapidly being challenged by American expansion.
As railroads spread westward and commercial hunters decimated the buffalo herds that sustained Plains cultures, Parker emerged as a war leader among the Kwahadi Comanche. He fought to defend his people’s homeland during the final years of open conflict between Plains tribes and the United States, including the famous 1874 attack at Adobe Walls that helped trigger the Red River War. When the buffalo were gone and survival on the open plains was no longer possible, Parker faced the difficult decision to surrender and lead his people onto the reservation at Fort Sill in 1875.
Rather than fade into history, Parker adapted. Appointed principal chief of the Comanche Nation, he became a bridge between cultures—advocating for his people while navigating the new realities of reservation life. A successful rancher, political advocate and protector of Native traditions, Parker helped guide the Comanche through one of the most difficult transitions in their history.
🔍 What You’ll Learn:
How Quanah Parker’s unique heritage shaped his role as a leader during the final years of Comanche resistance.
The impact of buffalo destruction and westward expansion on the Plains tribes and the events that led to the Red River War.
How Parker reinvented himself as a political advocate, rancher and cultural bridge while helping the Comanche adapt to reservation life.
👥 Behind the ScenesHost: Seth SpillmanProducer: Chase SpiveyWriter: Mike Koehler
🔗 Further research:
Interview with author S.C. Gwynne: https://historynet.com/interview-with-author-s-c-gwynne/
10 Facts You May Not Know About Quanah Parker, OldWest.org: https://www.oldwest.org/quanah-parker/
Bio from the Oklahoma Historical Society: https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=PA014
📬 Connect With Us:🌐 Website: www.thecowboy.org📖 Read Our Blog: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/blog/📩 Email: podcast@thecowboy.org📲Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ncwhm/📷Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalcowboymuseum❎X/Twitter: https://x.com/ncwhm💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-cowboy-&-western-heritage-museum
🗺️ Visit Us: The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73111. See us on the map
🎟️: You can now buy tickets to The Cowboy online, go to https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/tickets/💡 Support Us:🏅Become A Member of the Museum: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/support/memberships/
🛒Shop at Persimmon Hill, our Museum store: https://persimmonhillstore.com/
🎧 Listen & Subscribe:🔹 Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-the-west/id1776228708🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KYmd2BumVtQVH1ez1Cr2U🔹YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFoE2kU21JpX9T6W9NonXuD9UapS1TsmN🔹Podbean: https://thisweekinthewest.podbean.com/ 
⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate & review!

This Week in the West: Albert Bierstadt's Larger Than Life Artistic Journey

🤠This Week in the West
🎙️ Episode 68: Albert Bierstadt's Larger-Than-Life Artistic Journey
📢 Episode Summary:
This episode of This Week in The West explores the life and legacy of artist Albert Bierstadt through one of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s most breathtaking works, Emigrants Crossing the Plains. Known for his massive, dramatic landscapes, Bierstadt didn’t simply document the American West — he transformed it into a vision of hope, grandeur, and destiny that captured the imagination of a nation eager for expansion and opportunity.
From his immigrant beginnings in Massachusetts to his groundbreaking journeys west with government surveys, Bierstadt used sketches, photography, and bold artistic license to create scenes that felt larger than life. His famous wagon train paintings, inspired by real emigrants he encountered near Fort Kearny, blended reality with romantic storytelling, shaping how generations would envision the pioneer experience. At the height of his career, his paintings sold for astonishing sums and drew crowds eager to be transported into the West’s sublime beauty.
But tastes eventually changed, personal tragedy struck, and Bierstadt’s once-celebrated style fell out of favor before being rediscovered decades later. Today, his work is recognized not just for its technical mastery but for its powerful role in shaping America’s myth and memory of the frontier — a legacy that still stops visitors in their tracks at The Cowboy.
 
🔍 What You’ll Learn:
How Albert Bierstadt used photography, travel, and artistic embellishment to create the iconic Western landscapes Americans fell in love with
The real-life wagon train encounter that inspired Emigrants Crossing the Plains and how the painting blends history with imagination
Why Bierstadt’s career soared, collapsed, and ultimately experienced a major revival in the 20th century
👥 Behind the Scenes
Host: Seth Spillman
Producer: Chase Spivey
Writer: Mike Koehler
🔗 Further research:
Albert Bierstadt and the American Land, a lecture by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Watch on YouTube
📬 Connect With Us:
🌐 Website: www.thecowboy.org
📖 Read Our Blog: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/blog/
📩 Email: podcast@thecowboy.org
📲Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ncwhm/
📷Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalcowboymuseum
❎X/Twitter: https://x.com/ncwhm
💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-cowboy-&-western-heritage-museum
 
🗺️ Visit Us: The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73111. See us on the map
🎟️: You can now buy tickets to The Cowboy online, go to https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/tickets/
 
💡 Support Us:🏅Become A Member of the Museum: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/support/memberships/
 
🛒Shop at Persimmon Hill, our Museum store: https://persimmonhillstore.com/
🎧 Listen & Subscribe:
🔹 Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-the-west/id1776228708
🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KYmd2BumVtQVH1ez1Cr2U
🔹YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFoE2kU21JpX9T6W9NonXuD9UapS1TsmN
🔹Podbean: https://thisweekinthewest.podbean.com/ 
⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate & review!
 
 

This Week in the West: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House Author’s Version of Pioneer Life

🤠This Week in the West
🎙️ Episode 67: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House Author’s Version of Pioneer Life
📢 Episode Summary: This episode of This Week in The West explores the life and legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose Little House books shaped how generations of Americans imagine frontier life. Born in 1867, Wilder grew up in a constantly moving pioneer family that faced illegal settlement on Native land, brutal winters, crop failures, disease and near-constant financial instability. Far from a romantic adventure, her childhood was marked by hardship, early labor and survival on the margins of the American frontier.
 
After marrying Almanzo Wilder and enduring years of personal loss and economic struggle, Laura eventually settled in Missouri, where she began writing seriously in her 60s, encouraged by her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. Although her first autobiographical manuscript was rejected as too bleak, she reworked her memories into books for young readers, beginning with Little House in the Big Woods in 1932. The series became a cultural phenomenon, later adapted into the beloved TV show Little House on the Prairie.
 
🔍 What You’ll Learn:
How Laura Ingalls Wilder’s real childhood hardships differed from the gentler tone of the Little House books.
The late-in-life writing journey that turned pioneer memories into one of America’s most influential book series.
Why Wilder’s legacy is both beloved and critically reexamined in modern times.
👥 Behind the Scenes
Host: Seth Spillman
Producer: Chase Spivey
Writer: Mike Koehler
 
🔗 Further research:
Features, timeline and more from PBS, based on their American Masters documentary of Wilder: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/masters/laura-ingalls-wilder/
Laura Ingalls Wilder historic home: https://lauraingallswilderhome.com/
Laura Ingalls Wilder park and museum: https://www.lauraingallswilder.us/
📬 Connect With Us
🌐 Website: www.thecowboy.org
📖 Read Our Blog: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/blog/
📩 Email: podcast@thecowboy.org
📲Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ncwhm/
📷Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalcowboymuseum
❎X/Twitter: https://x.com/ncwhm
💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-cowboy-&-western-heritage-museum
 
🗺️ Visit Us: The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73111. See us on the map
 
🎟️: You can now buy tickets to The Cowboy online, go to https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/tickets/
 
💡 Support Us:🏅Become A Member of the Museum: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/support/memberships/
 
🛒Shop at Persimmon Hill, our Museum store: https://persimmonhillstore.com/
🎧 Listen & Subscribe:
🔹 Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-the-west/id1776228708
🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KYmd2BumVtQVH1ez1Cr2U
🔹YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFoE2kU21JpX9T6W9NonXuD9UapS1TsmN
🔹Podbean: https://thisweekinthewest.podbean.com/ 
⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate & review!

This Week in the West: Belle Starr, Queen of the Outlaws

🤠This Week in the West🎙️ Episode 66: Belle Starr, Queen of the Outlaws
📢 Episode Summary:
Belle Starr’s life sits at the uneasy intersection of fact and legend, shaped as much by mythmaking as by crime. Born in Missouri in 1848 and educated in refinement, the Civil War upended her world and drew her into outlaw circles that included Confederate guerrillas and future members of the James-Younger Gang.
In Indian Territory, Starr reinvented herself not as a gunslinger, but as a savvy organizer who harbored fugitives, moved stolen goods and cultivated a dramatic public image that captured national attention. Her unsolved murder in 1889 and the flood of dime novels that followed transformed Belle Starr into one of the most enduring—and controversial—figures in Wild West lore.
👥 Behind the ScenesHost: Seth SpillmanProducer: Chase SpiveyWriter: Mike Koehler
📬 Connect With Us:🌐 Website: www.thecowboy.org📖 Read Our Blog: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/blog/📩 Email: podcast@thecowboy.org📲Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ncwhm/📷Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalcowboymuseum❎X/Twitter: https://x.com/ncwhm💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-cowboy-&-western-heritage-museum
🗺️ Visit Us: The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73111. See us on the map
🎟️: You can now buy tickets to The Cowboy online, go to https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/tickets/💡 Support Us:🏅Become A Member of the Museum: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/support/memberships/
🛒Shop at Persimmon Hill, our Museum store: https://persimmonhillstore.com/
🎧 Listen & Subscribe:🔹 Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-the-west/id1776228708🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KYmd2BumVtQVH1ez1Cr2U🔹YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFoE2kU21JpX9T6W9NonXuD9UapS1TsmN🔹Podbean: https://thisweekinthewest.podbean.com/ 
⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate & review!

This Week in the West: Casey Tibbs, Rodeo's Golden Boy

🤠This Week in the West🎙️ Episode 65: Casey Tibbs, Rodeo’s Golden Boy
📢 Episode Summary:This episode of This Week in The West explores the extraordinary life and legacy of Casey Tibbs, one of the most influential figures in rodeo history. Born into a hard-scrabble homesteading family in South Dakota, Tibbs ignored his father’s doubts about rodeo and launched a career that would redefine the sport. By age 19, he was already a world champion, and between 1949 and 1955, he dominated rodeo with multiple world titles, all-around championships and a level of charisma that made him a national sensation.
Tibbs wasn’t just a champion rider—he was rodeo’s first true superstar. His distinctive style, fearless riding and larger-than-life personality helped elevate rodeo into mainstream American culture, earning him a Life magazine cover and widespread fame. Even as injuries mounted, Tibbs continued to compete and win, famously shrugging off broken bones and hospital stays. His impact was so profound that he was inducted into the inaugural class of the National Rodeo Hall of Fame while still actively competing.
After stepping away from full-time competition at just 26, Tibbs carried the spirit of rodeo into Hollywood and beyond. He appeared on television, advised film productions, worked with legends like John Wayne, produced his own movies and took American rodeo worldwide through international tours and Wild West shows. In his later years, Tibbs fulfilled his dream of ranch life in California, remaining connected to the sport he helped shape until his death in 1990. The episode honors Tibbs not just as a champion, but as a cultural ambassador who forever changed how the world saw rodeo.
🔍 What You’ll Learn:
How Casey Tibbs rose from a South Dakota homestead to become one of the most dominant and recognizable figures in rodeo history
Why Tibbs’ style, personality and media presence helped transform rodeo into a national and international spectacle
How Tibbs extended his influence beyond the arena through film, television and global rodeo exhibitions
👥 Behind the ScenesHost: Seth SpillmanProducer: Chase SpiveyWriter: Mike Koehler
🔗 Further research:
Casey Tibbs on the TV game show “To Tell the Truth”: https://youtu.be/Pr5ABRvw-Yg?si=tk7mh7bySQ_kVqrN
The Casey Tibbs South Dakota Rodeo Center: https://www.caseytibbs.com/
South Dakota Public Broadcasting - “The Remarkable Life of Casey Tibbs”: https://www.sdpb.org/rural-life-and-history/the-remarkable-life-of-casey-tibbs
📬 Connect With Us:🌐 Website: www.thecowboy.org📖 Read Our Blog: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/blog/📩 Email: podcast@thecowboy.org📲Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ncwhm/📷Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalcowboymuseum❎X/Twitter: https://x.com/ncwhm💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-cowboy-&-western-heritage-museum
🗺️ Visit Us: The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73111. See us on the map
🎟️: You can now buy tickets to The Cowboy online, go to https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/tickets/💡 Support Us:🏅Become A Member of the Museum: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/support/memberships/
🛒Shop at Persimmon Hill, our Museum store: https://persimmonhillstore.com/
🎧 Listen & Subscribe:🔹 Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-the-west/id1776228708🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KYmd2BumVtQVH1ez1Cr2U🔹YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFoE2kU21JpX9T6W9NonXuD9UapS1TsmN🔹Podbean: https://thisweekinthewest.podbean.com/ 
⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate & review!

This Week in the West: The Hollywood Drama of Broncho Billy Anderson

🤠This Week in the West🎙️ Episode 64: The Hollywood Drama of Broncho Billy Anderson 
📢 Episode Summary:In this episode of This Week in The West, we remember Broncho Billy Anderson, one of the very first cowboy movie stars and a true pioneer of American cinema. Born Maxwell Henry Aronson in 1880 to Jewish immigrant parents, Anderson found his way from stage performances and odd acting jobs into film at a moment when movies themselves were still being invented. His early appearance in The Great Train Robbery helped launch both his career and the Western genre itself.
As co-founder of the Essanay studio, Anderson didn’t just act—he helped shape how films were made. When early Westerns struggled to connect with audiences, he created Broncho Billy, a cowboy character with depth, emotion, and humanity. Through innovative techniques like close-ups and structured storytelling, Anderson turned simple short films into powerful narratives, producing nearly 150 Broncho Billy movies and helping establish the visual language of cinema that’s still used today.
After stepping away from filmmaking, Anderson faded from public memory until a rediscovery in the 1950s led to a long-overdue Honorary Academy Award. Accepting the Oscar at age 78 with humor and humility, Anderson was finally recognized for the enormous impact he had on motion pictures and Western storytelling. Today, his legacy lives on as one of the foundational figures who defined both the movie Western and the art of filmmaking itself.
🔍 What You’ll Learn:
How Broncho Billy Anderson helped invent the Western movie and the grammar of modern film
Why creating a relatable, emotionally complex cowboy changed cinema forever
How one of Hollywood’s earliest pioneers was forgotten—and then finally honored late in life
👥 Behind the ScenesHost: Seth SpillmanProducer: Chase SpiveyWriter: Mike Koehler
🔗 Further research:
A 1958 Interview with Broncho Billy: https://youtu.be/8Y8S9lI1LtQ?si=IaO0Q8U1Z0MXqSdh
A playlist of Broncho Billy silent films and clips: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0ep7L_jT6YOaUxqn0YnUG2JIpDgy08vE
The Hollywood Walk of Fame’s blog on Broncho Billy: https://walkoffame.com/broncho-billy-anderson/
📬 Connect With Us:🌐 Website: www.thecowboy.org📖 Read Our Blog: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/blog/📩 Email: podcast@thecowboy.org📲Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ncwhm/📷Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalcowboymuseum❎X/Twitter: https://x.com/ncwhm💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-cowboy-&-western-heritage-museum
🗺️ Visit Us: The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73111. See us on the map
🎟️: You can now buy tickets to The Cowboy online, go to https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/tickets/💡 Support Us:🏅Become A Member of the Museum: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/support/memberships/
🛒Shop at Persimmon Hill, our Museum store: https://persimmonhillstore.com/
🎧 Listen & Subscribe:🔹 Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-the-west/id1776228708🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KYmd2BumVtQVH1ez1Cr2U🔹YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFoE2kU21JpX9T6W9NonXuD9UapS1TsmN🔹Podbean: https://thisweekinthewest.podbean.com/ 
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This Week in the West: Bass Reeves, the Legendary Lawman

🤠This Week in the West🎙️ Episode 63: Bass Reeves, the Legendary Lawman
📢 Episode Summary:This episode of This Week in The West honors the life and legacy of Bass Reeves, one of the most remarkable lawmen of the American frontier, remembered on the anniversary of his death. Born into slavery in Arkansas in 1838, Reeves escaped bondage during the Civil War and found refuge in Indian Territory, where he learned Native languages, survival skills, and the terrain that would later define his career. When freedom came, those skills transformed him from a formerly enslaved man into an indispensable scout and, eventually, a deputy U.S. marshal.
At age 37, Reeves became one of the first Black deputy marshals west of the Mississippi, serving under Judge Isaac Parker out of Fort Smith. Illiterate but possessing an extraordinary memory, Reeves memorized every warrant before riding out, often covering more than 75,000 square miles of dangerous territory. Over 32 years, he made more than 3,000 arrests, relied on disguises and strategy more than brute force, and upheld a strict moral code—even when it meant arresting his own son for murder.
Reeves’ reputation grew into legend, influencing Western storytelling and possibly inspiring the fictional The Lone Ranger. His legacy experienced a resurgence in recent decades, with honors including induction into the Hall of Great Westerners, a statue in Muskogee, the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith, and renewed popular attention through the TV series Lawmen: Bass Reeves. Once nearly erased from history, Bass Reeves is now rightly recognized as a towering figure of justice, resilience, and frontier law.
🔍 What You’ll Learn:
How Bass Reeves went from enslavement to becoming one of the most effective and respected lawmen in Western history
Why Indian Territory was so dangerous—and how Reeves’ skills, ethics, and ingenuity helped tame it
How Reeves’ real-life exploits shaped Western legend and continue to influence popular culture today
👥 Behind the ScenesHost: Seth SpillmanProducer: Chase SpiveyWriter: Mike Koehler
🔗 Further research:
CBS Sunday Morning on Bass Reeves: https://youtu.be/w8znkir645o?si=P3__0saeADjl3vZR
US Marshals Museum in Fort Smith, Ark.: https://marshalsmuseum.org/
Bass Reeves National Historic Site: https://www.nps.gov/fosm/learn/historyculture/bass_reeves.htm
📬 Connect With Us:🌐 Website: www.thecowboy.org📖 Read Our Blog: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/blog/📩 Email: podcast@thecowboy.org📲Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ncwhm/📷Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalcowboymuseum❎X/Twitter: https://x.com/ncwhm💼LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-cowboy-&-western-heritage-museum
🗺️ Visit Us: The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73111. See us on the map
🎟️: You can now buy tickets to The Cowboy online, go to https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/tickets/💡 Support Us:🏅Become A Member of the Museum: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/support/memberships/
🛒Shop at Persimmon Hill, our Museum store: https://persimmonhillstore.com/
🎧 Listen & Subscribe:🔹 Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-the-west/id1776228708🔹 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2KYmd2BumVtQVH1ez1Cr2U🔹YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFoE2kU21JpX9T6W9NonXuD9UapS1TsmN🔹Podbean: https://thisweekinthewest.podbean.com/ 
⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to rate & review!