i also want to add my voice of thanks to all the organizers in the last day today and tomorrow. this is a splendid series of events. the word fund is not often get used in the context of academics. word ton appropriate use. i'm looking forward to the ones that are upcoming. the personal privilege, 100 a massive funeral. my grandfather and grandmother were there along with my mother at age two. somehow, these things come around. let me introduce our first panelist. frank christianson, i think most of you know frank and his work. he is an associate professor of english, associate dean, god

bless him, an associate dean of the college of humanities and -- at byu. he is also the editor of a book. his talk is entitled "the special relationship as popular culture 1989 to 1906." please join me in welcoming frank. [applause] >> thanks, bob. echo has go -- stimulating this has been. i was going over my notes. i could spend half the talk making callbacks for yesterday's session. there were so many things i found helpful in my own thinking.

i do have a couple of preparatory thoughts. from some things that patty limerick is -- said in her keynote yesterday. i really like her idea of what she calls buffalo bills studies, as fieldnotes. field that identifies our collective project as inherently ecumenical. in its approach to scholarship, one that is called a by the nature of the subject. was, i informal survey thought, was very helpful. she asked about the various backgrounds of those in the audience. i would like to think that the paper is working towards this vision in a variety ways.

one of which, in weight of cody series on the dutch culture of the american west. just a quick review of the 2017 publications that are out. it suggests a variety of institutional affiliations. we have steve friedman's book, a curator of the museum. and thejulia bricklin's forthcoming book. they both enjoy various measures of independence as scholars. and the popular frontier, the essay collection i edited. it's a work of essays out of universities. so, we think this is in a cross-section of those

scholarships we can expect going forward. by the way of a pitch, open for business, we arts is -- we are soliciting manuscripts. we are interested in your ongoing work and work from others that you might send our way. the series also highlights the unique features of the papers. recently, at association for documentary editor -- editing doug and i traveled together. ,although we do not share the same room. [laughter] >> we learned. [laughter] >> this gathering of editors of documentary papers projects for lincoln papers, jefferson papers, and other papers, many of which are older and more venerable than ours, as jeremy suggested elsewhere they looked , to us as innovative. one way that really struck me

was -- i see the conventional approach to the papers project as toiling to provide a documentary record in the hopes that somebody will come and use it. we have taken a much more active approach to fostering scholarship to maintaining an immediate and symbiotic relationship between editing and scholarly work. we think that makes a real anierence and enemies -- mates both in an important way. the second thing patty brought up -- this is a case study, buffalo bills a case study. that has been the governing principle for the papers as we develop platforms for the documentary and scholarship, including the original proposal for the oklahoma series that we

framed in those terms. and in the grant we have been able to successfully get over the last five or six years. it is the underlying concept of codyarchive.org. they demonstrate how readily the buffalo bills phenomenon speaks to broader issues. the roundtable session on the legacy of buffalo bills america tomorrow will demonstrate in interesting ways. .ne third set up i recently attended a transatlantic studies conference in which a reconsideration of the so-called special relationship was a central focus, that's of special relationship. the rhetorical formulation of winston churchill articulated in his 1946 piece speech in full

sun, missouri. -- full some missouri. the church of the fraternal association of english speaking peoples, this was not news for -- not a new framework, it was a reiteration of a long-standing relation for political circumstances. in this case, it was a rhetorical kick off to the cold war. once again, that relationship is under scrutiny for populist -- nap nationalism reshaping politics in the 21st century. both moments, now and in 1946, and earliers, moment of high nationalism. it founded one of its most potent expressions in a transnational context, the period of the wild west in europe. the rest of my remarks will represent parts of my effort to frame the work that went into the popular frontier. which is forthcoming with the

university of oklahoma in december. it includes art history, literary studies, but there are a disproportionate number of chapters that deal with the wild west in britain. part of this is about trying to account for that. one premise of the book is that europe isn't central to the legacy of buffalo bills wild west. any study of the wild west exhibition in europe is also the least implicitly, and account of how the wild west became america's national entertainment. and how its meaning shifting, .ased on when and where it's meaning shifting on where -- when and where it appeared

leading on to contacts between 1887-1906. focusing more specifically on the british wild west, if you look today, you will find signs of the wild west exhibition passage across multiple tours. they included a show program in the victorian wing of the museum uriel for lone wolf, lakota performer who died of pneumonia in 1892. street signs in manchester with names such as buffalo court, cody court, and kansas avenue, indicating where the exhibition and performed during the winter of 1987, -- 1887, 1888. there was a buffalo bills statue , a subtle display in the st. michael's mount which cody gave to the baron in 1904.

there were some pieces of public memory, preserved and displayed in locations prominent and of skewer. a are supplemented by thousands newspapers, postcards, illustrations, sheet music, and photographs stowed in archives across the country, including the british library. physical elements -- evidence of the wild west in european history is evident in britain than any part of europe. it spends more time than in any other country outside the united states. the british experience of the wild west has a prominent place in the exhibitions international history, in part because england played a prominent role in american cultural exports. because of its relatively linguistic and cultural affinity with the united states the , national port of entry for the wild west functioned as a proof

of concepts for cody and his partners. emboldened by their success after nearly a year in england, the expletive -- the exhibition organizers regrouped to the united states for more extensive continental runs. those cultural affinities were underwritten by structural developments. in his study of post-world war ii america, there's an argument that "given the special relationship with popular culture explores how culture moves across cultural boundaries shaping of public policy and subjectivity." the essays in popular frontier illustrate the value of this proposition and an earlier moment. he focuses on post-world war ii, even as they brought in the apart from the anglo-american framework. toy saw through a spectacle

reimagine the relationship between the united states and britain. an opportunity that was a business venture with its commercial potential bound up with the same political and cultural subtext. a half a century before the cold war began, many conditions were already emerging. his characterization of the postwar context made american cultural central to any narrative of britain, could be described of the environment assured the wild west east to europe. these include a vast increase in contact that had american culture via tourists. what he describes as an unparalleled growth in the density of transatlantic media. qualitativetive and transformation of culture via -- with the hallmark of the edwardian era.

this is another unifying thread. the point is, the revolution requires as transatlantic frame because it of the interaction between american and british institutions responding to the possibilities of mass circulation. reinforcing his point about the centrality of the newspaper. in his account of the rise of this agriculture in the u.s. , he points out that the terms of americanization in transatlantic are approximately the same time in the 1870's and 80's. the first substance abuse of americanization in the british press appeared in the wild west exhibition when first arrived. the study demonstrates that the primary medium for the dissemination of this was in fact the newspaper. the rise of cheap print is an important part for most of the

essays in this book. and as the primary platform for mass circulation. it was central to the wild west success serving as an extension of marketing innovations. the history of the wild west and european tours has been understood within a broader thesis on the changing state in late 19 century nationalism. the preface of the american century. it's a key chapter in the related account of a global mass culture. william stead, british, in 1902 published americanization of the world. it was subtitled, the trend of the 20th century, and offered a portrait of the systems that were quite literally irresistible. byconcludes his study resenting his fellow britons with two calls a momentous

choice. this is between merging with united states to become an integral part of the world power, or excepting ultimate status as an english speaking belgium. [laughter] he goes on to imagine a reunion of sorts with the united states at the center of an empire. englisheration of speaking peoples would not be without its drawbacks. he contemplates a certain future with uncertain consequences. drawing on the moral strategy figures such as william glasgow -- gladstone, he cautions against the influence of layscan consumerism that waste our powers and leaves none for the cultivation of the higher souls. riddelly later, bob subtitled their own study of the

cultural exports, with a nod to the journalists. and bologna, the americanization of the world invokes with a measure of irony, in thehe great waves early 20th century. they differentiated among a range of economic trends offering a nuanced portrait showing how european uses of the term projects the " one-to-one relationship of american culture, as american culture is willfully projected abroad. and the ideological reading even to it in the receipt -- at the receiving end." collectively, it breaks new ground in the expensive influence of the wild west exhibition as a transnational moment, while also showing how the exporting of cody's enterprise contributed to the ongoing project of the american national self-definition. americanization of another sort.

buffalo bills wild west in europe took place in one year, cultural nationalism, queen andtorrid -- queen victoria her jubilee. the coincidence of these mass consumed performance of the nation, literal convergence, a for the unique opportunity for exploring how late 19th century conception of national affiliation emerged through the engagement with the transatlantic imaginary. the one hand to wild west is a check of how the frontier west global. as one feature of a broader phenomenon of america is european americanization. on the other hand, the wild west suggests buffalo bills frontier ism, was to some extent, an actual product of immigration.

they accelerated their own process of naturalization, leading to their resettlement of the united states. by 1893 incorporated into rough riders of the world. intra-gold to the drama of americanization as it played out domestically. the wild wests of advance the process of national consolidation by bringing the outside in, even as they sold the story of the wild west to the rest of the world. from the time the exhibition arrived, the media coverage was insatiable. exhibitionw the represented itself across media platforms, including its own marketing materials. placesown account newspaper stories at the center of his narrative. as a way of validating himself and expressing through a local

voice, the political subtext of the performance. joe showed us the publication of voice with somebody like burke managing things. the 1888 edition of his biography references direct attention to the press including the international experience within a larger national project. the centerpiece of the account is orchestrated staging of the showground of pages of the book, the command performance before queen victoria. a performance that coincided with the performance of her jubilee. theas an integral part of richer commemoration of her re ign. the narrative that charted the explosion of the 18th and 19th centuries. the current performances working self-definition, certainly the british public goes beyond sheer entertainment for the show.

cody's description of a performance takes on patriotic tone. in depicting the queen and her noble bowing of the american flag. he uses this scene for all his success claims to the wild west shows. event has aof the larger irony. just as he has cast the queen in his moment of becoming america's national entertainment, he and his entire enterprise art literally commanding a performance. during the summer of 1987, the queens gradual renewal of her public role of head of state, she spent the 25 -- the past 25 years in morning for prince albert. it constituted a re-assumption of her role as a public figure head. given this context, it becomes a commentary on the nature of publicity as well as the root of

primary interests. the queens journal accounts of the event pays less attention to the political context, in favor of the red indians. west becomes one episode in a much larger display of a british national pageantry. one that incorporated the american story, embodied in the figure of herself. a version of this dynamic helps explain why cultural nationalism was a period hyper consciousness of your pan, particularly british roots. in her study, lisa hammerkin more responsive moves beyond a straightforward story of influence, one that

exhibits -- prior ties, toward sociability and emotional train of national women's within itself." her conception indicates a much wider engagement in american society with the legacies of british and american colter that would remain an index to a particular experience of being american threat the 19th century. what she sees as devotion. what we might brought into a form ofbroaden to a hypertension culture. with the result that anglo-phobia, simultaneously be expressions of the same national impulse. let me one this up with this image. a sickening blow. upon landing in england, the

-- who finds upon landing in england, that the british nation thinks the buffalo has become surly americanized. [laughter] on one hand, this is another version of the command performance. as it would be rendered for the american audience. the central figure in the cartoon is victoria last inning -- last sewing this demand. the object of satire, the subject of the cartoon is the anglo maniac. the figure on the right. --are to understand the sea the eyes of the horrified american, to express his anglo-philia. and finding his own stereotypes upended. ational identity is performance, acted and exchanged. the queen has joined in the

performance, the american has sought to do the same but he has no stage to act upon. representsgraphy this ambiguous relationship in its concluding chapters which i am going to skip the discussion of. the essays in this lame have taken up the question of how national exceptionalism translate in a context that is "national character, and yet held beyond the limits of the national territory." this is drawn from the official program from the american exhibition in london, concisely formulates the national logic of the international wild west. the work of this study, as well as future research, will trace form ofways of this culture left its mark on the people and places of the turn of century europe. and how in turn, the national care -- national character emerged. thank you. [laughter] -- [applause]

>> thanks, frank. we have some problems being resolved. i don't think they will impede our progress here. let's continue with exploring the international wild west. it's my pleasure to introduce to you tom cunningham, who must have one of the neatest jobs on the planet. he manages the scottish national buffalo bill archive. [laughter]

that sounds like great fun. he has written a book, "your father, the goes, buffalo bills wild west in scotland." i have read it. it is a first rate study. his presentation today is on black elk in naples followed by a question mark. please join me in welcoming tom. [applause] >> before flying here, i decided to look up some of my old girlfriends. girlfriends. [laughter] that is me all over because everything i do is about the primary sources. basically, i have a great title.

realize he was a humble minor. i appreciate raw materials. in an industrial scale so that people can analyze them today. [laughter] >> if i can be helpful, i am here to inform you with my discoveries. consider me your non-native guide. like jim conway said this morning, some things you need a different perspective. the last people you need is western scholars. [laughter] exile is an and asleep recurring -- is an endlessly recurring. theme it comes as no surprise as an experience involving indians

from buffalo bills wild west. speaks.k he was left behind in england at the end of buffalo bills 1888 season. the party of stranded indians made their way to london where they proposed to take in the package home. they met up with mexican joe. season, mexican joe took his trip to paris. first, to publish in 1942, the stories are paraphrased by a number of authors. they have offered fresh perspective the owned the occasional objective and confusions of their own.

the lack of research has been up until no deplorable. this becomes intolerable. i would like to focus your attention in one particular passage from black elk speaks, from paris, we went into germany wasfrom there, there something shaped at the top like a teepee. the accompanying footnote says that he apparently visited naples. one day, that volcano is going

to blow. when yellowstone finally goes off it will be like that. [laughter] i finally visited naples. i learned a bit from pompeii. this is pompeii. but in the background is a pee shaped at the top. the only clarification is that vesuvius corrupted with devastating in fact -- devastating effect in 1789 ad. sometime later, the timescale is not adequately explained. hawk had to, black

be left behind in the care of the family of a girlfriend he had met in the city. some time later he hooked up again with buffalo bill when he came to paris for the 1889 season. hitalo bills famously game -- famously gave his former employee $90 for fair home. the following year old a black elk became central in 1890. this raises certain questions in my mind. is the account of what blackout taught him the final? can we see the limited objective of a more definite timeline? can we find intrinsic evidence which would enable us to commentary? iable does the story contradicts historical record or vice versa?

how many indians were left behind? mexican joe take blackout did totally? so, 20 minutes in which to just impress a bunch of people i see on the history channel. i must condense this. this incidentally is in the print on my version of the book, buffalo bills story.

it is available via my website. we have a link to the relevant page. the first and most obvious sixthal source is the grandfather, composed of the original interview transcript. there are conflicts and important points of detail with almost every connection. many passages are without direct equivalent, and we have to conclude they were poetic interpretations. i would also contend that mistakes were made in the translation process, and particular confusion of the elementary points of european

geography. blackout unquestionably dissipated in buffalo bill's tour of england. here we are in london. that's the detail that shows blackout. this is another picture which you will all be familiar with. the wild west spent nearly six months -- in birmingham in november, 1887.

shortly before two lakota bill'sns from buffalo company appeared before a magistrate, and were convicted of offenses related to junk in this arising from two separate incidents from the previous evening. someone did damage to the arresting officers uniform. the point of this anecdote becomes apparent when we read the statement in the introduction. contracts -- he signed two contracts with buffalo bill that year, 1886.

neither of the blackout narratives mentions this brush with the law. this information of a fondness for alcohol casts an entirely new perspective on his personality, probably a reevaluation of the experience and the manner in which he came to be left behind. i went to the manchester racecourse. it opened in december 18, 1887. "the manchester times" provides

a graphic account. every member of the trip including indians, seem to have friends. this was the start of blackout great adventure when he and his friends rejoined the company. agree that they managed to lose themselves. blackout was joined by two other lakotas. there was a single performance given saturday.

if there is one contribution here, it is that the wild west needs accountants. [laughter] this great institution holds a carbon plan outlining arrangements for the passage home. with the exception of a chief, indians were not individually named. a total of 51 indians were expected to travel. the passenger list reveals 47 actually did make the crossing. four adult indian males were accounted for. this is confirmed by an outstanding feature appearing in the news about buffalo bill.

it is difficult to ascertain exactly what an indian thinks, but they have their ideas very much enlarged by england. -- four of them have been so enamored with civilization they do not adhere to the rollcall.

mexican joe was appearing that spring. reenlisted with buffalo bill. this is the actual -- that wasn't meant to happen. pedro's name is on that. there is a picture of mexican joe. pedro was presently known only as willis. this is the bit that bothers me. -- here's columbo

they left thee -- manchester on the morning of friday the fourth and didn't sail until sunday the sixth. blackout have the whole of friday and saturday to get the next train. obvious the boat was sailing that night. i would let to make the specific accusation that pedro and willis kept that from the. i think there was a degree of manipulation. they were already in contact with mexican joe and actively lining up recruits. mexican joe was in wild west country while that was unfolding. not very impressive version of

the show played on the first of may. mexican joe did not know what was just around the corner. june, mexican 12 joe was the main attraction. here's some pictures of mexican joe. this was him and liverpool not long after they arrived dashcam liverpool not long after they arrived. that's a surviving photo from the grandson of the gentleman on the top right. that is a poster i got from a relation by marriage.

this is a novel from the earliest parts of the 20th century by mexican george shelley. alexandra palace was one of great entertainment complexes of the late victorian age. another of the grand attractions there was a weekly spectacular, of theic representation 1834 novel "the irruption of -- eruption of pompeii."

mexican joe did not go to germany. the show opened in exhibition in brussels, belgium. this clear impression for a narrative was more or less a perpetual tool of the europeans for eventually coming to paris. this person came with an open mind and was prepared to speak an additional truth. the point where the wheels came 1888he wagon is in october , when mexican joe opened in

england. as far as i am able to determine, he never crossed the channel again. are therefore left with just one brief window of the three weeks in which mexican joe and been a brieft have george maples -- brief tour to naples. given the state of the rental rate network -- the state of the railway network at the time, this would have been impossible. i went to rome for a couple of weeks and looked up the relevant dates. there is no sign of mexican joe.

blackout mentioned a fire in ofmingham on tuesday the 26 ,ebruary, 1888 -- i'm sorry 1889. in that context he mentions other indians were left behind. you may want to see the full text because i have to cut it short. please email me and i will send you the transcript. i would like to content that mexican joe's show never went to natalie -- never went to napoli.

you went to pompeii and london, that informed his involvement in the movement. thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for being with me. [applause] >> fascinating. never underestimate the value of a question mark. you never know where that is going to leave one. our next presenter, well known to many of you. his father had been the editor of "the cody enterprise." associate advisor of "the buffalo bill papers." he is the author of several newspaper plays about buffalo bill, and his presentation this morning is entitled " after-hours, buffalo bill in london."

[applause] >> thanks, bob. from 1966 to 1972 my father was , in charge of the buffalo bill foundation. i attended the groundbreaking and the opening, and i wondered if anyone else in the room was there. wow. there you go, ok. i would like to say just how proud i am to be an editor of the papers of william f cody. the 2000 bbc w fellowship changed my life. i want to thank jeremy and frank and doug for including me today, and for supporting my mission

out west. as it covers the opening of the whitney still going strong, the enterprise is covering this historic event today. i very happy to see them. had this notion the other day and just went with it, so here we go. the success of the pbs masterpiece series of "downton abbey" broke the mold. i had this idea that would be funny if buffalo bill would show run offthe granthams and with lady mary. [laughter] who needs "downton abbey" when we have in london? buffalo bill i worked in the film industry for over two

decades. my colleagues tend to call him wild bill cody. they know he was a buffalo hunter and maybe a pony express rider. to be honest with you, i didn't know a lot about cody either until a friend gave me an 1888 first edition of buffalo bill's story of the wild west. in it, cody identifies a list of themes from the director.

for the casting agents, he offers care to breakdowns for mr. henry irving and bram stoker. productionr the designers, the theater, the oral court. if you look at this, it's essentially an outline for an episode. hard work lines of the season of notables.who it was here that i first read his words. i was dying and mr. and mrs. oscar wilde. i wonder, who else is there? what do they wear? what could they possibly have to discuss? what was served? downtont, who needs " abbey" when we have the wild west in england?

i think you would like an inspired costume drama. we know that he never did anything that could be launched on multiple platforms. i thought it might be a fun exercise called, buffalo bills in the west and cody -- surrounded by thousands of scholars, william f cody thousands -- ruminating on a idea from us. here we will describe the location of the management performances and said the scene for where cody was entertained. the name henry irving pops up introduction. by way of without question, cody credits irving for paving his way to london. cody wrote irving twice that summer to reassure him of his gratitude. they remained friends for years. 's is evidenced by cody invitation to visit the ranch. who was henry irving? allow me to set the stage.

"the finest horses and turnouts in the world are on view, bringing an audience of all strata of london society. royalty, the parliament, the bench, the bar, literature, art, music, and folk merely in the swim. the gallery was so long ago by the sternest critics. we ascended the steps and enter the heavily carpeted vestibule from an immensely wide staircase leading to the back of the circle. on each side of the staircase stands a program attendant. program is almost innocent of advertisement.

we are still in the days of no fees. at the top of the staircase, a tall red bearded man in an dress greets evening us. he is bram stoker. there is a curious hush of expectancy. the overture finishes. the lights die down. the curtain rises. at last, the interests of the well-known figure, the tones of the familiar voice, and the lyceum rulers in greeting." henry irving is today regarded as one of the greatest shakespearean acting managers and history, credited for reviving theater after restoring the lyceum before the wild west into london. lyceum'sarded as the

golden age. irving also overcame a serious speech impediment by stubborn repetition. his famous dragon of his foot strict his audiences into underestimating him, sterling drag blues -- his famous of his foot tricked his audiences into underestimating oos, turning early b into cheers. irving engaged bram stoker, and extremely tall, athletic clerk from the dublin civil service, as his business manager. had written a discerning critical article of a performance. irving asked him to his room to discuss it. later in the evening, irving spellbound stoker by a private recitation which reduced him to

"a violent bit of hysterics." as evidenced by his conference of and admiring personal reminiscences of henry irving, stoker's devotion to him could border on the saccharine. he was also exceptionally industrious and organized. he would write anybody who corresponded with walt whitman. yes, the same bram stoker who eventually wrote "dracula" if you years later, which henry irving, assuming he was the inspiration for the vampire, would dismiss as dreadful. [laughter] bill cody brings the wild west to england to be concurrent with queen victoria's golden jubilee. stoker was on the passenger list

coming and going from boston and liverpool that same season. why does buffalo bill appear on the benefit program was bram stoker? when cody wasn't on the passenger list -- and i wonder, did the meeting with cody aboard him to do a bit his ship? stoker described kerry as having fascinated every man, woman, and child she met. .he was down to earth observation tong be made is the utter competition of their private lives, attributes they shared with cody. i love that photo. was first married at age 16 to a middle-aged painter named jw watt. she returned home within a year.

still married, she entered into relationship with edward godwin and had two children by him. lifeost significant partnership was henry irving, which spanned from 1878 until his death in 1905. henry irving and bram stoker each had unhappy wives but never divorced. the lyceum theater was there true love. life in the theater often sponsor intense relationships -- often responds -- often spawns intense relationships. when irving died, stoker was not included pallbearers. among the akin to a grieving partner, stoker received -- condolence

telegrams from around the world including the epicenter for wild , west general managers, whose life mission was devoted to william f cody. "the pacific for your friend irving." a little over a decade later, burke would die three months after the death of cody, whose centennial we celebrate this year. bram stoker would die not knowing the eventual success of wouldracula" franchise assure more posthumous fame than irving or buffalo bill. in 1982, lecturing on aestheticism, oscar wilde's ofrica tour consisted of 1/3 the american west. according to "the brooklyn daily eagle," both were in new york on january 9, 1882. cody was at the grand opera house and wilde at chickering

hall. the fascinated if not derisive press he received a short packed houses for a while. of cody's impending visit to england in 1887, wilde roast -- wilde wrote that he had no doubt london would appreciate the show. at the time, oscar wilde had married for three years with two young sons. he was just famous for being infamous. he quickly exhausted their assets to create a suitable residence in london's fashionable chelsea district. it was attractive, intelligent

-- his wife was attractive, intelligent, and i'm prepared for life with oscar wilde. constance twice communicated with cody, first through this formal indication, followed by her personal note imploring him to come. this is in the collection of the bbcw. we know that cody attended through and expense reimbursement. cody's mother was a writer and activist and intellectual. she fell on hard times after the death of her disgraced husband. she moved to london to be near her two sons and start over. it seemed unlikely she would have missed any of the affairs. invitations to cody often -- unlike henry irving, these

were not popular because a starting artist could begin renting a glass and simple meal and a chance to discuss one's work. shaw described her salons as "desperate affairs." oscar wilde often attended, striking an attitude of boredom. lady jane was comfortable enough to be directly in touch with cody to ask for favors. here is a note where she sent a gift and thanked him for the to get forwarded. forwarded.ets the hostess host to tempt cody with the promise of beautiful girls. article in "london

"i wasr," someone wrote dazed by the great people. i had come to the conclusion that it is easy to be great in london. no one is invited to these homes unless they have done something. the solemn young man began to talk to me. how did you get here, he asked. several replied, i am an american. nearby eatingtood tutti-frutti. [laughter] the president of the welcoming committee was the younger son of withuke of sutherland, close ties to queen victoria, best known for the statue of william shakespeare. he toured the american west.

in his old diaries, he recalls meeting the state of nebraska was john whitley. 's first description of cody describes them of having "splendid physique." his royal highness i attended her performance and insured her success. i enjoy finding this note inviting cody for supper. cody was invited to the production of "a midsummer night

stream." -- midsummer night's dream." they created stricter sodomy laws which would ultimately ensnare oscar wilde later. cody met the prince of wales, and irving invited cody to dinner at a club the day after his arrival. cody had been entertaining in america's finest gentlemen's clubs. to be in the company of leading british actors and critics must have been a high honor. also invited to the lyceum for theatrical entertainment and late-night suppers. for large gathering, dinner in the round was arranged on the main stage. morepreferred the lyceum's

intimate rooms. ellen terry, when john singer wanted to paint a painting of ellen inhat of -- of character as lady macbeth, henry irving bought this portrait and hung it at the back of the room. i would love to imagine everybody seated and ellen terry sitting under her painting like a scandinavian queen with

buffalo bill cody and her side. -- at her side. i would like to close with a few comments. when i parachuted -- we have heard this line in cody, wyoming years ago -- i recall my fond memories of growing up in cody. my concern about coming back to wyoming as a gay man included editorials,my dad's columns, and photographs, which are recovered, and responded with a warm three-page letter, , "if you're thinking about coming to wyoming, come on back. it is home." we were to include all of the diverse stories of the american west.

inclusion is how we expand visitor should and viewership -- visitorship and viewership. why is cody relevant, and who will be your audience? , including more stories about more diverse people in the american west, we create more visitorship for this space and more interest for a story about cody going forward. -urban the vast rural divide, i was invited to the ronald reagan library to tell them about my affection for william f cody. [laughter] best travels to the western museums across the country, i never failed to close with "i wanted to come to the

west as who i am, and buffalo bill led the way." thank you. [applause] >> thank you so very much. what a great presentation. i have a sneaking suspicion there are some questions, but i have a question before a question, and that is, do we have a microphone? >> we don't. if you could repeat the questions. >> all right. i will do my best. let's do things maybe a little bit different because i would like to get more questions on the floor. we are sometimes running out of time for questions. could i get three questions? sequentially, and then i will ask to respond to them.

>> [indiscernible] my own experiences suggest those in europe have very different perspectives than many of those who look at the issue from an american perspective. [indiscernible] howhe question is about people working on the wild west in europe cover the subject in ways that are different from american scholars. else?ng anyone else have questions we want to take up? up.will have to speak

>> [indiscernible] what was your favorite piece of ?vidence that you did find [indiscernible] >> a question about a european luminary writing to another, not expecting that correspondence to be made public. let me get one more. i love to get. as many questions out here in the beginning as we can yes -- i would love to get as many questions out here in the beginning as we can.

>> [indiscernible] >> so is there an optimism to be found in buffalo bill, a kind of common uplifting message of international appeal that -- it reallycends becomes this kind of congress of m.thusias i will invited three of you to come up and take the microphone because otherwise people will not be able to hear your responses. if you could be so kind.

>> why don't we start with the question about working in european archives and how that maybe is different from the american archivists, so please. >> i totally agree to the question. i say a resounding yes. i would not be here if i had not taken up this great interest in buffalo bill. i've made some wonderful friends here. can't think of anyone here i got a bad word to say about. it was a frontier show, all about racial frontiers, and yet it transcended frontiers and created cultural interactions

you couldn't begin to believe like kicking bear befriending a presbyterian minister in glasgow, and that informed his unfolding spiritual consciousness. i would like to leave you with something i was told by a very wise old rabbi who helped me down the road. say what you will against the jews, but never forget we invented saturday's. -- invented saturdays. [laughter] >> regarding the question directed to me, afraid of got nothing. got nothing. i've me is the primary recent scholarship on bram

ander and henry irving ellen carey, and also a wonderful biographer who wrote "wilde." in none of these is william f cody or the wild west mentioned. i just found that so fascinating . it made me wonder if it was possible -- you all are scholars , i am an accidental historian -- good scholarly bias of cody be at play in that? i will throw back a question that you -- question at you. >> thinking of chris's question about european and american scholars, i'm not sure i could answer that either. part of it comes back to the question of cody's studies of accu medical tradition a -- of

tradition. that there's so much variety in the kinds of people that contributes it out because students who attribute -- i would be hesitant to attribute to something like this, that could be as much to do with their ethnic background, or within professional academics , the framingrself their received or the library orientation. there are so many other factors at play. that said, i think maybe some of the kinds of questions posed may differ. i think about my own preoccupation with the as a way ofl tours better understanding american national self-definition versus the tracing the impact of the wild west on europe. for european scholars, it could

-- they are almost obliged to start with the local archival accounts because nobody has really done that yet. they are on the front lines of producing that documentary record. i think if anything, that could be a key difference that is very much functional to what they are and what their opportunities are. -- infalo bill in projectwas part of a dedicated to exploring the influence of popular culture on reception. the book got started looking at the impact side. what was the impact of the wild west and other popular american culture on europe.

is one of a handful of americans involved in this project, it became very clear to me that the europeans were not especially interested in talking about impact. they weren't interested in hearing about how the american shows and pop culture had an impact on europe. what they want to talk about was how europeans, different groups of europeans, actually responded to the show in different terms. it was this quite interesting mix between export an emphasis on export an emphasis on reception. that is the fulcrum around which buffalo will in bologna on turns. buffalo bill in bologna turns. let's turn to other questions. yes. [inaudible]

>> i will repeat the question. of anxiety inse the show's reception, and does it actually produce three stabilization -- produce destabilization? ask our panelists to respond.

in onu want to weigh that? >> sure. is somebody who has written about -- >> could you come up to the microphone please? >> absolutely. >> i think they are trying to record. >> oh. [laughter] >> in my response to the question about anxiety, i will defer to louis and have you explain. >> i am always up for talking about anxiety because it is so entertaining. as somebody who has written -- i wrote an article once called "buffalo bill meets truculent," about-- meets dracula," his influence on bram stoker. is it the american who kills dracula in the novel?

i think he is really based on buffalo bill. when you read that newspaper coverage of buffalo bill and levin, there is a huge amount of anxiety about how powerful the americans suddenly are -- in london, there is a huge amount of anxiety about how powerful the americans suddenly are. it is the number one steel producer in the world and the americans will supersede them. there has been a lot of tension between britain and the united states, numeral be a lot more. there's a lot of anxiety about that these very warlike people have come from the frontier. they are entertaining, but they have a lot of guns. they are convinced that they never lose. they are absolutely convinced of this, and that is really worrisome for a lot of people that fear the british empire is on the decline. the other point i would make is --t i do think henry irving

i agree that there is so many people in the orbit of the wild west show it is hard to keep track -- but henry irving is the primary cultural broker. he was not only england's leading shakespearean actor, which in england, that's kind of being the repository for culture, the culture of the nation. that's really something. he's not only that, he's an -- he had been offered a knighthood by queen victoria and turned it down because he said it would give him an unfair advantage in the marketplace that he had rivals in theater, and that he wanted to be judged by performance, not by the accolades. had to explain that to the queen, and that took some doing. he is the one in my reading of the sources who persuades her to issue a command performance for ofs essentially what a lot people are calling a circus. she loved the circus, but didn't like people to know that so much.

when he said, you really can have this as a command performance and pushed it, she went for it because it was henry irving. cultivating that friendship with him was one of -- again, cody is -- there is a whole line of scholarship that says it is the publicists around him who are so good and build him into what he is. no. i really think he had such a sensibility about who to cultivate and how. we heard a great talk about captain jack crawford. i can't imagine him ever finding a way to cultivate henry irving. it would be preposterous. it would have been just as preposterous on the face for cody to do it, but he did. because he was that kind of performance genius and kind of also a genius of people. he really was. anyway that's my response. ,i will let you guys go back to this. [applause] any speakers care to respond

to the question? >> [indiscernible] [laughter] >> that's probably a good place to end. let's thank our panelists. [applause] thank you, gentlemen. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [applause] --[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] announcer: you're watching "american history tv," all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. like us on facebook.com/cspanhi story. of open thend ceo books. this ea spent $20 million on a high-end art portfolio.

27 foot christmas trees costing the amount of cars. sculptures priced like five-bedroom homes. wo sculptures for $700,000 or $700,000 procured by the center that treats blinded veterans. this is the kind of waste in our government. announcer: tonight on c-span's "q and a." american history tv is on c-span3 every weekend, featuring museum tours, archival films, and programs on the presidency, the civil war, and more. here is a clip from a recent program. of may 28, morning 1945, this would end herbert hoover's 12 year isolation from the white house.

a meeting in the oval office would last 55 minutes. the creative friendship would last until hoover's death in 1964. hoover was asked to write -- and he loved to write memorandums -- and it was several pages. this is just a couple sentences. "i saw president truman this morning. he asked me to tell him what i thought of the food situation. i replied the situation was degenerating all over the world, partly due to the war and partly to mismanagement. he had to take it as it is and there is no time to bother with recrimination as to what might have been." subsistencences -- meant hunger, and hunger meant communism. truman would always be brief, pithy. he would write, "dear hoover, thank you for your memorandum. it will be very useful to me.

ps, i appreciate it very much your coming to see me. it gave me a list." at his private writing, truman would write "saw herbert hoover day before yesterday and had a pleasant instructive conversation on food and the general troubles of u.s. presidents, two in particular. we discussed our prima donnas and what makes them. some of the boys are having problems with their dignity and prerogative. it is hell when a man gets in close association with the president." truman likes to use hell a lot in his writing. historians have faulted him for the exact details of this meeting. certainly he recorded the spirit of the occasion. the call, the respect, the urgency, the drama, and even the humor. he noted that hoover rumor the way to the oval office. that hoover remembered the way

to the oval office. announcer: watch this and other american history programs on our website, where all our video is archived at c-span.org/history. >> questions frame their journey through the gayry. -- gallery. how do people become revolutionary. back to statute of king george iii they should be able to answer those questions. thesecond question how did revolution survive its darkest hour. aboutall this language