The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is currently presenting a new exhibition, Playing Cowboy,which explores the American West as represented and experienced through Western-themed toys. The exhibition will look at the beginnings of Western toys following the Wild West shows of the 1880s, their growth in popularity in the 1930s through the 1960s and examples of their enduring appeal today.
Lunchbox, Annie Oakley, 1955. Aladdin Industries Inc., Nashville, TN.
“Western movies and TV shows created an enormous cast of Western heroes for children to admire and want to emulate, and spurred a Western toy industry that was inescapable in the 1950s and ’60s, and still plays a role in the toy market today,” says Michael Grauer, McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture and Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art.
The exhibition is drawn entirely from the Johnie and Bob Terry collection from Springtown, Texas. Bob Terry is a renowned historian of Western toys and appeared as “Woody” in promotions for Disney’s Toy Story series. The Terrys operate Wild West Toys, a company that makes molded plastic Western figures and casts toy cap guns from the original vintage molds. More than 800 items from their collection were loaned for the exhibition, which will showcase everything from cap guns to costumes, board games to a coin-operated mechanical horse.
Kid Colt Outlaw, December 1978. Marvel Comics Group, New York, NY.
Lone Ranger and Silver, 1950s. Hartland Plastics Inc., Hartland, WI.
“Nostalgia is a strong emotion, and few things are more nostalgic than the toys we played with as children,” Grauer adds. “For those who grew up on serial and TV Westerns, carried ‘Gunsmoke’ lunchboxes and cap pistols, this exhibition will be an emotional trip down memory lane. But today’s youngsters will also see familiar examples of Western-themed toys that will also resonate with them.
The exhibition continues through May 7. Visit nationalcowboymuseum.org for more information. —
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