National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

You know, we took this monumental event, and we broke it down into pieces, and everybody had jobs, and it just, it was dynamite.

And so through that, I met a man named Michael Grauer, and he had recently moved to Kansas City, but was very instrumental in the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, so many different museums as an art curator, a historian.

He is extremely passionate about the West.

But as I got to talking to him and my ideas started to develop, I realized his real passion is showcasing the women of the West, which, as you mentioned, don't get a lot of spotlight.

You can see the company has Kansas State University graphics on it, but middle school students from Saint John Catholic School in Lawrence, Kansas, were actually on the bus on a field trip.

They were going to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Also breaking a brush fire still burning in New York State.

Whilst it turned out to be NBC's highest-rated movie of 1982, it had been a difficult production, with the star and owner of the production company, Raquel Welsh, clashing with the director on set and executives seemingly unsure about the actor's turn towards serious acting.

Hunter at least reaped some reward in the form of a Bronze Wrangler Award presented by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum for artistic works that contribute to the representation of American Western culture.

Projects requiring historical research had been dominating much of Hunter's time during the early part of the 1980s, and nowhere more so than in the preparation for his novel Lizzie.

Employing an approach not unlike that taken with the paper dragon previously, Hunter used actual court transcripts of the Lizzie Borden trial to hang his speculative tale around.

The theme park was razed and replaced with a mall.

But back in his hometown, there's a wing of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum with his name on it.

And not just the last name.

It's the Edward L. Gaylord wing.

Harvest Public Media is a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest and Great Plains, including KOSU.

For more from Harvest Public Media, visit KOSU.org. And finally, from the KOSU events calendar, Keep Oklahoma Beautiful's 36th Annual Environmental Excellence Celebration returns Thursday, October 29, 2026 at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

The annual gala honors individuals, businesses, and organizations making a difference for Oklahoma's environment from litter prevention and community beautification to conservation and environmental education.

You can find the KOSU Daily wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm in the Small Works show, which is pretty incredible.

I'm super honored to be at the National Cowboy Museum for their Small Works Great Wonders show.

I have two pieces in that and two little Dine girls that I met in Monument Valley.

That's going to be a lot of fun.

But I did want to give a little more information about something that's coming up October the 17th.

So one week from today at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, we're doing our sixth annual second half expo.

That's at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

It is free to attend, and you get a free ticket to the museum that day as well.

This is something that brings all kinds of information to the public.

Uh, we've got great stuff still to come.

[laughs] The first one up is at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

It opens November 7th.

It's Small Works, Great Wonders.