• Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center
• Archive & Finding Aids
Introduction |
 |
Container List
Series 1, Books
and Booklets
Series 2, Clippings
Series 3, Correspondence
Series 4, Periodicals
Series 5, Postcards
Series 6, Scrapbooks
Series 7, Subject
Files
Series 8, Photographs
Images
1
Images
2
GUIDE to the
GERALD J. MCINTOSH WESTERN EPHEMERA COLLECTION, 1877?-1977
GERALD J. MCINTOSH (1894-). Collection, 1877?-1977.
13.6 cubic feet (12 document boxes, 4 flat boxes, 2 small boxes, 2 oversized
folders).
Location: 0215-0219; 0687; 0699; Flat File 2, Drawer 3.
Introduction:
Collection of western-themed books, magazines, and ephemera
assembled by Gerald J. McIntosh of Little Rock, Arkansas. While the collection
covers a wide variety of western subjects, the primary focus is on western
dime novels, performers such as William F. “Buffalo Bill”
Cody, songs, poetry, and humor. The collection also includes a document
of uncertain provenance that purports to be an 1877 letter of recommendation
written by General Nelson A. Miles for Army scout Raymond “Arizona
Bill” Gardner.
Biography:
Gerald J. McIntosh was born in 1894 and moved to Indian Territory
in 1904. In 1919, McIntosh moved to Little Rock, Arkansas where he was
employed as a tie and timber inspector for the Rock Island Railroad, a
position he held throughout his working life. Partly because of his early
days in Indian Territory, he was a lifelong collector of books, periodicals,
and ephemera relating to the West, and he donated a substantial portion
of his collection to the museum. Additional materials related to dime
novels were donated to the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville in May
1968.
Scope and Content:
The collection is arranged into eight series, Books and Booklets,
Clippings, Correspondence, Periodicals, Postcards, Scrapbooks, Subject
Files, and Photographs. Mr. McIntosh was apparently very concerned that
his donation be acknowledged in the future, unfortunately this caused
him to ink his name and place address labels in conspicuous locations
on many collection items. The container list includes item level accession
numbers for many items, which reflects cataloging prior to the creation
of this finding aid.
Books and Booklets (ca. 1886-1957) series is arranged into four subseries, Big Little Books, General Interest books, Poetry books, and Songbooks. In addition to traditional published materials, there are a number of homemade booklets, which Mr. McIntosh created by binding together materials from magazines and other sources. Because so many of the books and booklets have no discernable author, the series has been arranged by title.
The Big Little Books subseries includes several Buffalo Bill titles, a Tom Mix story, a tie-in book for the Cecil B. DeMille film The Plainsman, and two books written and illustrated by Red Ryder creator Fred Harman. Highlights of the general interest books include several very rare Buffalo Bill titles, including a Ned Buntline adventure and an 1887 British book by William F. Henry. Other significant titles include promotional booklets for the John B. Stetson Hat Company and the Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company written by Frank Romer, a promotional booklet for the Savage Arms Company supposedly written by W. B. (Bat) Masterson, and an early collection of J. R. Williams’ Out Our Way cartoons. Also included are a number of early 20th century paperback western novels published by the Medal Library.
Poetry books include the book Lariettes signed by poet, scout, and performer Captain Jack Crawford and an inscribed manuscript copy of Trail Dust of a Maverick by cowboy poet E. A. Brininstool. Songbooks and sheet music include bound copies of the Wild West Weekly feature “Fiddlin’ Joe’s Song Corral,” to which McIntosh contributed, a rare inscribed first edition of the 1908 Jack Thorp book Songs of the Cowboy, a 1913 book of songs by Indian music composer and popularizer Thurlow Lieurance, and a book of cowboy ballads collected by musical folklorist John A. Lomax.
Clippings (1938-1977) series features a wide variety of newspaper and magazine clippings, primarily on western themes, originally collected in envelopes by Mr. McIntosh. Included are many cowboy humor cartoons from Cow Pokes by Ace Reid and Out Our Way by J. R. Williams, and articles on a number of figures associated with the west such as William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Wyatt Earp, and Belle Starr. Articles about performers such as Gene Autry and Will Rogers are also included. Other subjects covered include cowboys, American Indians, rodeo performers, former Oklahoma Governor “Alfalfa Bill” Murray, outlaw and actor Al Jennings, western film and theater, western history, and advertisements that use western themes and images.
Correspondence (1877?-1971) series is one of the smallest in the collection. It includes McIntosh’s correspondence with Wild West Weekly magazine about his submissions to the “Fiddlin’ Joe’s Song Corral” column, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame about his donations, and with singer-songwriter Kitty Lee.
The most intriguing and problematic material in this series concerns Raymond Gardner, also known as Arizona Bill, an Army scout during the Indian Wars. There are two letters written by Gardner and a document written on ledger paper that purports to be a letter of recommendation for Gardner written by General Nelson A. Miles, dated December 14, 1877 in Montana Territory, which mentions his service in the “Nez Perce Raid & Campaign.” Army scouts Captain Jack Crawford, William F. Cody, and others also purportedly signed the document at later dates. However, there are several factors that argue against the authenticity of this document. First, comparisons with authentic Miles and Cody signatures show little similarity with the signatures on the document. Second, although different nibs were used, the ink color appears to remain the same for all signatures, even though one of the signatures was supposedly gathered two years after the initial document was created. Finally, the authentic Arizona Bill is buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery under the name Raymond Hatfield Gardner, and both the alleged Miles document and the letters clearly state that Arizona Bill is Raymond Earl Gardner. On the other hand, the authentic signatures of Miles and Cody that we have for comparison are some 30 years later than the document, and signatures do change over time. It is possible that Gardner had two middle names and used them at different times. The May 1929 issue of Frontier Times includes a notice about Army scout Raymond Gardner and three burros arriving in Burnet, Texas on a cross-country trek. In 1927 McIntosh to ran into him in Arkansas under similar circumstances, and photographs of Gardner in the collection appear very similar to authentic photographs of Arizona Bill. This document and supporting letters are either among the most interesting pieces in the collection or are counterfeit, but it is hard to say which.
Periodicals (1878-1967) series is the largest in the collection. The series includes three subseries, Comic Books, Dime Novels, and general interest Magazines and Newspapers. The series is arranged by periodical title. The Comic Books subseries features a small selection of post-World War II comic books on western themes including three Buffalo Bill comics and a late-1960s Turkish language graphic novel chronicling the adventures of Tom Mix, or, as the title has it, “Tom Miks.”
The Dime Novels subseries includes more than 60 different titles dating from 1880 through 1926, although about a quarter of these are reprints dating from the mid-1940s. Some of the earlier titles in the Magazines and Newspapers subseries could have arguably been placed in the Dime Novels subseries, but, in general, only those publications with a single fictional story told in the florid dime novel style have been placed in Dime Novels; all others are found in Magazines and Newspapers. Highlights of the Dime Novels include titles featuring the fictional adventures of real and fictional characters such as Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, Deadwood Dick, Calamity Jane, Jesse James, Diamond Dick, and Frank Merriwell. Dime novel publications include Beadle’s Dime Library and Half-Dime Library, Buffalo Bill Stories, Deadwood Dick Library, Detective Library, Rough Rider Weekly, and Tip Top Weekly. Many of these titles are notable for their cover artwork.
The Magazines and Newspapers subseries primarily includes periodicals dealing with western themes, but also includes some non-western publications. Highlights include a 1929 serial presentation of Buffalo Bill’s life from Ace High Magazine, the first seven numbers of Top Notch Magazine, the first issue of Liberty magazine, several domestic and foreign World War I-era titles, a magazine commemorating Charles A. Lindbergh’s 1927 trans-Atlantic flight, the 1906 Boston Post newspaper covering the San Francisco earthquake, and an 1878 New York newspaper with an article about Chief Joseph’s life at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Postcards (1909-ca. 1960) is a small series consisting primarily of western-themed images from the first two decades of the 20th century. Included are images of cowboys, American Indians, the 101 Ranch, Wild West performers such as Buffalo Bill Cody, and a series of nine cards advertising Bull Durham tobacco.
Scrapbooks (1879-1967) series includes 20 scrapbooks assembled by Mr. McIntosh. The books primarily concern cowboy and western poetry and songs and cowboy and western humor. Five scrapbooks document the cowboy humor cartoon Out Our Way by J. R. Williams. There is also a scrapbook about the life and death of Will Rogers. In addition to the newspaper and magazine clippings that comprise most of the scrapbook content, McIntosh also typed material gleaned from a variety of sources and glued the pages in the books. The scrapbook pages and much of the material in the scrapbooks are highly acidic and fragile.
Subject Files (ca. 1890-1970) series includes memorabilia and material about a variety of topics of interest to Mr. McIntosh. Notable in this series are a set of 1915 advertising cards for Arbuckle’s Coffee, three decorated envelopes advertising the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, a 1914 political advertising card promoting Al Jennings for Oklahoma governor, a 1915 promotional brochure for Jennings’ film Beating Back, a prospectus from “Alfalfa Bill” Murray’s Bolivian colonization venture, posters for the 1914 Sells-Floto Circus with Buffalo Bill Cody and the 1912 Cowboy’s Reunion in Bromide, Oklahoma, a 101 Ranch program from 1915, and seven souvenir lithographs from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.
Photographs (ca. 1900-ca. 1940) series includes snapshots, negatives, and a real photo postcard showing Raymond “Arizona Bill” Gardner; a signed photograph of Gordon W. “Pawnee Bill” Lillie; and ten photographs taken at an October 8, 1915 101 Ranch performance in Ada, Oklahoma.
Subject Terms:
Personal Names:
Buffalo Bill, 1846-1917
Buntline, Ned, 1822 or 3-1886
Crawford, Jack, 1847-1917
Gardner, Raymond Hatfield, d. 1939
Jennings, N. A. (Napoleon Augustus), 1856-1919
McIntosh, Gerald J., 1894-
Miles, Nelson Appleton, 1839-1925
Murray, William H. (William Henry), b. 1869
Pawnee Bill, 1860-1942
Rogers, Will, 1879-1935
Williams, James Robert, 1888-1957
Corporate Names:
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Company
Miller Bros. & Arlington 101 Ranch Real Wild West (Organization)
National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center
Sells-Floto Circus
Subject Headings:
Advertising—Circus
Caricatures and cartoons
Comic books, strips, etc.
Cowboys
Cowboys—Humor
Cowboys—Songs and music
Cowboys’ writings
Dime novels
Indians of North America
Indians of North America—Humor
Outlaws
Outlaws in literature
Periodicals
Photographs
Poetry—West (U.S.)
Postcards
Rodeo
Rodeo performers
Scrapbooks
Songs—West (U.S.)
Wild west shows
Wit and humor
Processing Note:
Mr. McIntosh donated the collection between 1965 and 1972. Charles
Rand initially arranged some of the collection in 1997; Jonathan Nelson
processed it in 2004.
Ownership and Literary Rights:
The Gerald J. McIntosh Western Ephemera Collection is the property
of the Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center, National
Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Literary right, including copyright,
belongs to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, with the
exception of copyrighted artwork images and published literary works,
which are the property of the respective copyright holders. It is the
responsibility of the researcher, and his/her publisher, to obtain publishing
permission from individuals pictured, relevant copyright holders, and
the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Restrictions on Access:
The collection is open for research. It is advisable for researchers
to discuss their proposed research with staff prior to visiting the Center.
Preferred Citation:
Gerald J. McIntosh Western Ephemera Collection, Box ##, Folder
##, Dickinson Research Center, National Cowboy & Western Heritage
Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
