They ain't just pretty to look at. Photos contain history, and the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts is pushing for the conservation of old rodeo photos that illustrate the West's vast history.
The ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, "educates the public about rodeo, its history and impact on Western American culture, and provides recognition to rodeo notable of the past and present and serves as an inspiration for the future." One important recent and ongoing undertaking in the service of that mission: the Panoramic and Oversized Photo Preservation Project.
The photographic journey started four years ago when exhibits and collections coordinator Megan Winterfeldt found 120 oversize and panoramic historical cowboy photos, dating 1917 to 1959, rolled in paper tubes on a dusty shelf in the collections building. The photos captured some of the sport's earliest superstars, including Jim Shoulders, Casey Tibbs, and Gene Autry. She knew she's discovered a treasure, but many of the images were in severe disrepair.
"I knew I didn't have the skills to restore the images myself, so I turned to the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts," Winterfeldt says. "They helped me write a grant to secure restoration funding, which we got in 2019 through the National Park Service's Save America's Treasures program, a cost-sharing grant. We also sold some old NFR posters in our gallery to jump-start the project. The first donation we received toward the project was from Hall of Fame stock contractor Cotton Rosser, who recognized himself in one of the images."
The CCAHA started with the photos least in need of refurbishing — about 75 percent were completed this June. "The images should be up to the website by late fall, with a small display in the museum this November. Most of the photos in this series contain a lot of competitive cowboys, along with rodeo clowns, rodeo vendors, and even family members. The image with mounted cowboys all in a line was taken at Prescott Frontier Days in 1919 and was in the worst condition of all the photographs; it had two large cracks and was missing the entire upper right side."
Another of the restored images features more than 100 competitors, family members, and rodeo staff taken in 1953 at Madison Square Garden. Notable competitors include Tibbs, whose larger-than-life landmark bronze statue welcomes visitors to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum, as well as saddle bronc rider William "Bill" Ward. The third image that has been conserved is from the 1923 Madison Square Garden Rodeo.
Conserving the photographs requires that they be humidified, flattened, cleaned, mended, stabilized, retouched, and digitized. To continue the work, the ProRodeo Hall of Fame must raise $95,500 to match federal grant funds and is seeking donations. To find out how you can help and for more information about the rodeo photo conservation project, visit prorodeohalloffame.com.
