Wendy Corr:
Well, hey there, folks. Welcome to The Roundup. We are a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and we focus on interesting people in the Cowboy State. And this state has so many interesting people, but this one, this guest, today, you're gonna remember this guest. It's gonna be a great, great conversation.
First though, I want to make sure that we give a proper shout out to the Wyoming Business Alliance. We want you to also discover other great podcasts in the cowboy state, and one of those is the “Business from the Basement” podcast with the Wyoming Business Alliance. It's a fantastic resource for anybody who is a business person in Wyoming, you're going to want to check out the podcast and all of the resources that the Wyoming Business Alliance has to offer. So don't forget to go check that out.
But after you check out this podcast, because I have known our guest here, oh my gosh. I think I moved to town in ‘98 and Rebecca West and I were part of the leadership of a small service organization called Venture club. And so that's where Rebecca and I first crossed paths at that time, Rebecca, this would have been around 2000 or so.
Rebecca West:
I think something like that, yeah, maybe a little bit before that, but around.
Wendy Corr:
‘99-2000, and you then were at the museum. You were at the Buffalo Bill. At that time, it was called the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. And you had been there for about five years. Hadn't been there too long, but she then rose up through the ranks, and now Rebecca West is the executive director of this prestigious museum that we now call the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
So I want to say hello, Rebecca West, so glad to have you as our podcast guest this week! It's been, it's been a whirlwind month for you. You've been gone a lot.
Rebecca West:
It has, yeah, and thanks, Wendy, it's always good to talk to you. And I think about the old days when we were working together for Venture Club, which was a subset of Soroptimists International, I recall, and it was always wonderful to spend time with you. So it seems like both of our careers have evolved quite a bit since then.
Wendy Corr:
They have, yes! And you’ve been on the road. Tell us about your travels. We were talking about this before we got started today, all the places that Rebecca has been just in the last month. Take us on a world tour, Rebecca.
Rebecca West:
My first trip was to New York, and there was an important fundraiser that is supported by one of our trustees, and it's the National Trust for Scotland. And you're probably thinking, What's the link between Wyoming and Scotland? But there was a really strong presence of different Scottish artists and immigrants back in the old west.
But today, if you look at not just people in Wyoming, but all over the United States, that US-Scotland connection is very much there, and the preservation aspect is there too, because the National Trust preserves castles and historic sites in Scotland, and certainly the Buffalo Bill Center of the West does a lot of preservation too.
So that was stop number one. And I also did some museum visits there. And then I went to the University of Wyoming foundation fundraiser in Laramie by way of Casper, because it's so hard to get to Wyoming from New York. So I got picked up at the Casper airport, went to the Laramie fundraiser.
Was home after that wonderful gala for a few days, and then went to Belgium, so stayed in Brussels and for an opening in Liege, which was at a museum called La Boverie and it's for the Ars Mechanica, which is a firearms exhibition that opened up several weeks ago in Liege, hosted by F.N. Browning. So that's the international arm of the Browning Corporation, as you know, that makes firearms, and we had loaned about 40 objects to the exhibition.
So it's over there with about a dozen trustees and the Cody Firearms Museum staff to help them open that up, and it's open through July. So then I came home for one more trip. I went to Danville, California to visit a museum that we've worked with in the past, the Black Hawk museum. We had helped them with their very first Old West installation. So it was time for a visit, and I was part of their spring speaker Series. So, whirlwind.
Wendy Corr:
Very much so! Did you know that this was going to be your job when you took over as the executive director of the museum four years ago?
Rebecca West:
Now, honestly, Wendy, I wasn't sure what to expect when I came on. It was April 2021, so we were just coming out of COVID, and I don't think I could have anticipated that much condensed travel. And of course, that's in part due to, maybe some of my planning needs to get dialed in.
However, the energy and the demand for our presence, just nationally and internationally, has exceeded my expectations, and that's one of the reasons why I'm going to all these different places.
Wendy Corr:
That says so much about the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and its status in the world, as such a world class Museum. Of course, it's a Smithsonian affiliate, and that gives it so much credibility and such a boost to its reputation. Rebecca, you've been part of this family at this museum for over 30 years now.
And tell us, because I think that your journey within the museum is just really, really fascinating. You didn't even start off your life in the Mountain West - you started off back East. Tell us about how you found your way to Wyoming.
Rebecca West:
Yes, it's a long and winding tale. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so yes, I am an easterner by birth, and had been out to Wyoming to, near Sheridan. When I was starting around age nine, we used to go out to Eatons ranch, over near Dayton/Ranchester, and we still go there every summer.
If you don't know about them, it's the oldest working dude ranch in the nation. It's a fantastic place, number one most popular dude ranch award, so we'll give him a shout out for the friends over at Eaton. So that was my introduction to the west.
After college, I moved out to Oregon, because I'd had a little taste of Wyoming, had some friends in Oregon and wanted to take part in the outdoor lifestyle, so I lived in Bend, Oregon for a few years, and was working for a CPA firm.
I was an art history major, right? So this was a good paying job, nice people. I was a receptionist, but it was literally sucking the soul out of me, because it was just not artistic, not creative. I thought I really need to get back into the arts.
I started sending out cold call letters. A lot of young professionals at the time were also doing the same thing, looking for jobs in Portland, Seattle, other cities like that. I didn't get anywhere with that. I saw that the Buffalo Bill Historical Center had an internship, sent a letter to Peter Hassrick, and he saw my letter.
I had gone to Dartmouth College. His father had gone to Dartmouth College. That caught his eye, and I got a phone call from him. And Peter was delightful, and he said, Would you like to work on the Frederick Remington catalog research project, researching Frederick remington's art? We're trying to do a catalog of where all the holdings are. I can keep you for six months, but I can't pay you.
And I said, Oh no, I'm in. I'm moving.
Wendy Corr:
Oh my gosh.
Rebecca West:
So I moved here to Cody in October. I believe it was October of 94 - 93, 94 - and knew no one. I happened to be paired up, thankfully, with another intern from Cheyenne, a young woman named Jackie Prosser, and she was with the PR department. Most interns come in the summer, but we were the oddball, so we came in the fall and winter.
Cody Wyoming back in the 90s, you probably remember, there wasn't a lot to do.
Wendy Corr:
Especially not in the winter.
Rebecca West:
Yes, I did a lot of outdoor camping. We'd go out to Cassie’s, play pool, do some dancing. That's where I met my husband, Chuck, is out at Cassie’s. So I started to get the museum bug here. Finished with that six month internship, they realized that I was an ambitious, young, wanting to be a museum type professional.
So they had different odd jobs, part time jobs. They had some grant funding for some storage projects, so I started getting experience with departments ranging from registration to curatorial. Even did a stint in accounting. I poured wine at night to make ends meet for different functions, things like that.
And then I started getting a bit more serious and got my first curatorial job, as a shared assistant for the registration and the Plains Indian Museum. And that was, like my first big break from there. I went to work for both the Whitney and the Plains Indian museum as a curatorial assistant, and then began to specialize.
I ended up working just for the Plains Indian museum with Emma Hanson, that was a terrific experience. Went back to school at a certain point to get my master's degree. Kept going with my master's took over as the Plains Indian Museum curator.
Wendy Corr:
You got your master's degree in Native American art, correct?
Rebecca West:
Yes, yeah, in Native American art and Native American contemporary art. And that was really rewarding, but challenging, because at the time I was working full time. I already had my daughter, Sarah, who was oh, probably six or seven when I started my master's.
By the time I completed my master's, right before, like in my last year, I was pregnant with my son, Charlie, working full time, and then my dad unfortunately got pancreatic cancer. So I had a lot going on, but I stuck with it. Got through that, and then started to get into the administration side, which was very different for a creative art historian.
Wendy Corr:
Absolutely. Yeah. You gotta use a whole different part of your brain there,
Rebecca West:
Exactly. But I was learning from some of the best directors that we had. We had some really great directors over the year, starting with Peter Hassrick, and then, of course we had, oh gosh, Byron Price, Robert Shimp, Bruce Eldridge was just a rock here for about 11 years, and then Peter Siebert.
So I was the director of the curatorial education and museum services Division. That was a big step up, while also being the Plains Indian Museum curator. And then when Peter Siebert came, he had a pretty short stint here. He did come right before COVID, and it really changed his outlook on some things.
So when he departed, I was given the opportunity and interviewed for the CEO and Executive Director position. That was in April of 2021, and that's been about four years now, so I haven't looked back, and here I am.
It’s a very odd museum story - I tell different museum professionals, do not try this at home. It doesn't work for people. I should say too, though, I had done some other internships in Pittsburgh and in Bend, Oregon with different museums to try to get a bit more taste of what other museums were like.
Wendy Corr:
You always pictured yourself in a museum just from the beginning. That's where your heart was, when it came to - this is the work that I want to devote my life to. What is it about a museum that calls to you, Rebecca?
Rebecca West:
Yeah, it's changed over the years. In the early years - my love of museums, I think, came from my love of art. My mom was an artist, my dad was an architect. So I grew up in that, really, that atmosphere of just creativity and a passion for museums and the value of arts, of all kinds. Of music, poetry, reading, things like that.
And so it went from really a creative drive, wanting to share brilliant, creative ideas for exhibitions and writing with other people. But then I think what starts to happen when you're a curator, you create and you create and you share, but at a certain point you don't always have the ability to solve the larger logistical problems of how to get that information out to the public and how to support the actual institution and the substructure of a nonprofit, to keep it going, to keep those creative projects and the outreach going.
That's now where I find the joy of museums and being a museum director - and creativity is wonderful. It's something that clearly not everyone has, but for me to be able to take that to the next level and share those great ideas of all our curators and the library and different artists is a joy, because museums have always had a place in different communities.
But what we found, even after COVID, when we had different needs, with health care - and even today, when people are wrestling with what's going on in the world and the economy and everything, is, there's still a place for museums. There always is. It fills a place in your life that you may not know is missing. It gives you a different perspective on how to interpret history arts, but also how to interpret human interactions.
So that's the joy for me now. So it has changed over the years, and museums attract those types of employees. We have so many different departments here, representing about 67 full time staff. Not all are specialized in museums, but I can say faithfully that most of them do believe in our mission, and that's connecting people to the American West. So, a special thing.
Wendy Corr:
I want to take a minute and put that spotlight on the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Because anybody will tell you, if you're going to come to Cody on vacation, you have to go to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. You have to.
And what makes this museum so unique is that it is five museums, plus the research library, that is, and each one of these museums on their own is world class, which is the - I mean, if you're a gun enthusiast, you've got the the Firearms Museum. If you are a Western art aficionado, you've got the Whitney gallery. You've got the Buffalo Bill Museum itself, which is all about the man, you've got the Plains Indian Museum. As you mentioned, you've got, where am I missing? What am I missing?
Oh, the Draper. Oh, I can't forget the Draper. Oh, Charles Preston is just going to reach through the phone and hurt me. But yes, the Draper Museum of Natural History. Sorry, Rebecca, that really is my favorite. It's just, it's, it's absolutely, just a fantastic museum - it like, springs out of the earth.
So those, plus the McCracken research library, those are all on their own, amazing museums. What is it, do you think, that you see in the future for these museums, when we are in a time where everything is so interactive?
People are glued to their iPhones, they're glued to their iPads, they want the short, you know, their attention span is this big. How is the Buffalo Bill Center of the West addressing the changing society when it comes to museums?
Rebecca West:
And it's interesting you brought this up, because this is exactly what I talked about when I went to the Black Hawk Museum in California. We love our technology. I mean, you and I are talking here digitally and able to do this recording on Zoom and share with people so easily. Technology is great. It's made a lot of our work lives easy.
But what it's also done, is it's created a whole society that wants things very quickly. They want instant gratification, whether it's knowledge or entertainment or just atmosphere. So we are working with people who demand that. And that's quite honestly, not only that they demand it, that's how students learn.
Now they learn differently than you and I did with textbooks and other means. So the challenge also, is that we realize people want to come to Yellowstone. We would very much like to be their main destination, and sometimes we are, but we have to provide not only that gratification that's expected - and there's absolutely an entertainment value that's associated with good knowledge. So we've got to keep that balance, and we need to get people in the door.
Now, the world is a big place. We know we're not going to get everybody in the door. That's why we also focus a lot on our outreach programs, whether they're students or just the general public. So we've got to juggle all these balls, and that's in addition to dealing with the five museums and the library, So six different areas of expertise and knowledge.
So it's a big job, and it's a big balancing act. So what we're trying to do, we're always keeping up with trends, but our goal now is to try to be ahead of the trends, which is not easy. And even in museums, that tend to move sometimes a little bit more slowly than other industries, we want to be ahead now, what that means is, again, going back to some of our technology, we can learn great things from visitor feedback.
We do use AI to look at visitor behaviors, when they're coming into Yellowstone - re they flying? Are they driving? We work a lot with the Park County Travel Council and other data providers to see what people are doing and how we can get them in here, because what we found is we're somewhat of a hidden gem.
If we can get people here, or at least to recognize who we are, whether it's in person or digitally, they're typically hooked. We just have to get them there. So we like to set that bait and bring everybody in. But it is difficult in a changing world.
It's also difficult because our typical, standard, faithful museum audience is getting older. It used to be 55 and up. Now that audience really is about 65 and up. They tend to be couples traveling without children, college educated, primarily Caucasian - and let's face it, that demographic, we love them, but they don't represent the whole population.
So our other goal is to really reach out to students, families, multiple generations, people who maybe hadn't thought of going to museums before that, or aren't your typical museum goers, so that means we have to adjust the content to what our audiences want. And boy, that that's really a moving target. It truly is.
Wendy Corr:
Absolutely. So who do you have on that? How are you - you've got amazing staff there. So what are their tasks, to make things and keep them fresh? Because, again, it really is a beacon for people who come to Cody, to come to the Center of the West.
But people who want to come in 2025 - they're going to want to come back in 2026. They might want to see something different. What are the things that you're doing there to keep those exhibits fresh and to keep something new happening. I mean, every year the big art show and sale, which draws people from all over, it's just such an exciting time here in Cody during that third week of September.
So what are you doing then, what's your staff doing to help keep these exhibits fresh, and to keep those fresh ideas and fresh art or fresh new information? ‘Oh, we didn't know this about Buffalo Bill.’ ‘Oh, we didn't know this about the Plains Indians.’ What are you doing there?
Rebecca West:
Yeah. Well, a lot of it starts with the collaboration between our PR and marketing department and the curatorial staff to make sure that we try to get ahead of schedules and look at, okay, so what's coming down the pike? Obviously, we're seasonal with the park. When the park opens in May, as it did last week, it's like the flood gates open and people start coming all the way through into October.
So we look at our schedules, and also try to look at different trends - and it can be as specific as, like, Women's History Month, keeping up with some of those trends and things like that, but also looking at big national events.
Next year is America's 250, so we're planning ahead for that, for the semiquincentennial, but it's making sure that when we're looking at these events, we have a good collaboration between PR marketing and then our very talented curatorial and library staff.
And what they're doing is they have a lot of strength in the collections. Okay, they know what they have, as far as paintings and artifacts, and they want to highlight those, but they're trying to look for subjects - it has to relate to our mission, obviously. I mean, we are a Western American museum that has these five different areas. So that gives us a lot of leeway, but we need to make sure that we're in touch with our audience for something that's going to interest them.
And it's a balance between, like, the tried and true, people love things like the Charlie Russells and the Frederick Remington and artists they know. But we also want to offer some innovative technology, hands on, audio-visuals, a lot of senses involved, but also make sure that we reach the audiences that perhaps have low sensory needs. So that adds yet another twist into things.
So I'll give you an example. We have opening on May 23, it's called ‘Pop goes the West.’ Everyone is familiar with the older - not everyone, but most people know the older Western artists like Russell and Remington. They're familiar with a certain type of Western art. What we've done is we've thrown, what I would say, a wonderful splash of color onto that idea.
And we have ‘Pop goes the West,’ which is an intersection of, you probably guessed it, Western art with popular culture. So you have these Western art pieces that are so bright and so bold and contemporary. It's a totally new look and genre of Western art. It's been around for a bit, but a lot of people have missed it because they're looking at the more traditional Western art.
So that's an example of trying to adjust that content for something new and exciting for audiences. Andy Warhol, most people know Warhol's work as a very popular artist. He did a whole series on cowboys and Indians.
Wendy Corr:
I did not know that.
Rebecca West:
I know, most people don't, and we have some of the pieces on loan down in the exhibit, but we also acquired last year through one of our purchase funds, an Andy Warhol, serragraph, and it is of George Armstrong Custer, and it's just as you would expect. It is a big, bold, bright Andy Warhol, and that is how that exhibition is rolling out. Has a neon neon sign work down there. It literally glows down there.
So, fun projects like that are a good way to mix things up, but then also, playing to those niche audiences, we always have something special, and we do rotate out the exhibitions within each gallery. So there may be some parts that look similar when you come to visit year to year, but we absolutely rotate out objects for interest and knowledge and also for conservation reasons. Do specialized mini exhibits in the galleries there.
And then also, we make sure to do a lot of changes in programming, different outreach content, keeping that fresh, because a lot of our members participate in the different outreach programs, and certainly they're coming back year to year, especially if they're local or regional, and we have to keep the topics interesting and new for them as well.
Wendy Corr:
You bet. I mean, one of the things that I love so much, there's so many different aspects, like, for example, the Draper. You've got the interactive nature of the exhibit itself, but you have the the lab, where people can watch specimens being logged, being cataloged, being examined. You've got the raptors, the live raptors, where people can actually go and see people handling these amazing, amazing birds of prey.
So there's these different options and opportunities for people to really make, whether it's natural history, whether it's art history, whether it's, you know, Buffalo Bill himself, to really feel that that's relevant to this day and age. And I guess that's something that - I'm gonna kind of wrap up here, because this has been a fantastic conversation, but I think that that is one of the things that makes any museum Executive Director think, how do I, how do I keep this relevant?
And we've talked a little bit about that, especially for younger people, because we want to get that next generation of people interested. How are your outreaches doing that specifically, to get those kids involved and excited about history?
Rebecca West:
Yes, and we love it when the kids come into the building. And right now, I can tell you that, since it's the end of the school year, I just looked out the door and there is this massive pile of coats and backpacks. It is so good to see.
So we have in person field trips from the local Cody - and actually the whole Park 6 school district. But also we have a program that is funded through grant sponsorship that brings in students, and they help with transportation, hotels, from all over Wyoming and Montana. So that's big, and that's K through 12.
But a really special program that started to take off, started before COVID, strengthened during COVID, it's called our digital field trips. So these are online field trips that our education department runs, and what they've done is they have this outreach center down in their education suite where they have the whole setup with the audio and the video.
But they've even gone beyond that center, and now they take iPads out into the galleries and teachers from - not just around the nation - but they do field trips, these virtual field trips in Australia, all over Europe and especially, there's a few language barriers all, obviously, but London and England and the UK and Australia are popular because they don't have to do any translations.
But they'll do these field trips live, with these school kids, and take them around, and have these curriculum standards and questions and lesson plans. And they have gotten up to almost 200,000 students that they've reached. So that's a big, big deal that has made a difference in getting the next generation of museum visitors here.
So that, number one. The other things we try to do is we want to make sure that people know we're more than just a museum. And that is one of our slogans, and it's on the banner out front - you made reference to the Raptor program, where you have live Raptors who are right there and being interpreted by their handlers.
We want people to understand that it's an exciting living place where you can interact with people, with these animals, with different audio visual elements, and it's not something that's boring or stuffy. It's not like a library where you have to keep your voice down. You can really enjoy it.
And that's especially true, and we have things like community block parties within free days, we'll invite everybody to come in and enjoy - we want people to feel comfortable here. So that is a big part of getting the next generation here and making people feel like it's their museums too, not just ours.
Wendy Corr:
Rebecca, you've done such a wonderful job keeping the flagship going, I guess, and really extending that into the next generation. I think that that's fantastic. What are you excited about coming up next? What's, for you personally - as not just Rebecca West, executive director of the museum, but what are you excited about next in your journey, in your career?
Rebecca West:
Oh, well, I'm an empty nester now.
Wendy Corr:
Oh yes, of course, the kids are grown. I just can't believe that.
Rebecca West:
So that's been a big change for me. My daughter, Sarah, is up in Missoula, Montana, working. She got married. And then my son, Charlie, is 19. He's at University of Alaska-Anchorage as a freshman. He's running. He's actually in Bellingham, Washington, at a track meet right now. So I'm excited for going into the next phase of my life.
One of my big goals this summer is, I haven't signed up yet, but Wendy, you can pressure me and remind me, I love to trail run. I want to spend more time outside. I want to sign up for my first marathon this summer. I'm hoping to do it in Anchorage, because it's level and flat.
What I'm excited for this fall is we have our annual Patrons’ Ball. I always look forward to that. And the art show, in partnership with the Cody chamber, that is an amazing synergy of people coming into town. And then as we get into 2026 next year, we're going full force for America's 250. We're doing a project called Buffalo Nation 250, and that is going to be a celebration of Wyoming's history through the eyes of the American bison.
Wendy Corr:
No kidding? How clever.
Rebecca West:
Yeah, a new idea, that we're gonna shake things up a little bit, and talk about the animal that existed before we as humans were here, from the ancient species that has truly experienced, seen, felt and been affected and rebounded during history. So it's a signal of hope and resurgence as we go into the next 250. So I'm really excited about that.
Wendy Corr:
That's fantastic. Rebecca, we are so glad that you were able to take this time for us, because obviously you are extremely busy. So we're so grateful to have this time to just peek into your world a little bit, to really get a chance to highlight the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and all of the things that it brings, not just to Cody, but really to Wyoming as well.
Because it is, in so many ways, it is the flagship museum of the state of Wyoming. I mean, would you agree with that?
Rebecca West:
I would. We've got some excellent partners down in Cheyenne and all over. We've got the Bradford Brinton and the Ucross Foundation up in the Bighorns and, of course, the national wildlife art museum in Jackson. And then down the road we have the Heart Mountain Center, and too many to name, so we're all partners in this.
But we like to think that we're one of the oldest in the state and the largest. But obviously we're all a big museum family, so we're proud to be here and proud to just keep things going as far as the arts and the cultures and the history in Wyoming, and we're planning on being here for a long time.
Wendy Corr:
Excellent. Rebecca, thank you so much for your time today. We are just just so proud, so proud of you.
Rebecca West:
Thank you, Wendy, this has been fun.
Wendy Corr:
This has been fun. Folks, I hope you had fun, because I certainly had fun, and it was great to catch up with old friends here. But we want you to tune in to, not just this episode, we've got so many other great episodes coming up too, but we certainly hope that you enjoyed this episode of The Roundup.
If you've got ideas for somebody that we need to talk to, please let us know at Cowboy State Daily, and we would be glad to reach out and highlight them in an upcoming episode. Rebecca, thank you. Folks, thank you. Have a great week.
