The last time you visited the Gene Autry
Museum of Western Heritage was probably during a grade school field trip. But,
if you have nothing to do or are looking for somewhere to go with family and
friends over the weekend, visit the Autry Museum and encounter various treasures
ranging from spurs and saddles to artistic tools and clothing.
The museum's "Inventing the Southwest: Fred Harvey Company and Native
American Art," is the current special exhibit worth seeing.
The Harvey exhibit is a collection of the articles collected by the company, as
well as pieces made by Native Americans as tourist trade items.
A deck of railroad playing cards containing 52 different photographs of Native
Americans, as well as white china place settings containing red Native American
animal images, were on display.
Also on exhibit were small hand-woven Hopi baskets with fine patterns, Arapaho
moccasins and Apache pottery.
Frederick Henry Harvey promoted the West as a tourist attraction in the late
1800s and early 1900s, offering the safety and comfortable services given on his
train boxcars to Southwest vacation sites. Here, Harvey used romanticized Native
American images and sites to add excitement to his advertisements, promoting the
Southwest in souvenirs and symbols.
Southwest relic collectors Jenghis Jarvel and his wife Peggy, of Northridge,
visited the museum for the first time Sunday.
"I now appreciate [the museum relics] more because they were done by
hand," Jenghis Jarvel, in reference to the Casa Grande pottery on display,
said.
According to Jenghis Jarvel, Casa Grande pottery is hand crafted, covered in cow
or horse dung which is then set on fire instead of using a kiln.
Peggy Jarvel was particularly fascinated with the woven textiles in the next
room, carefully analyzing the tight weaves of the crazy weave herringbone
patterns of the blankets.
History majors should definitely visit the museum's Los Angeles Times Children's
Discovery Gallery where children have the opportunity to dress up and learn what
it was like to live the life of a Mexican-American ranching family.
Education aide Stacey Canon said many children see an old-fashioned clothes pin
and do not know what it is. She explains to them what it was like to wash
clothes by hand, how the family got water and did other chores.
"It needs to be explained to children that there was not a 7-11 to get
water from [in 1906]," Canon said.
Special pre-visit teaching packages are available to teachers who are interested
in bringing their class to the exhibit. A short lecture is given and then
students are allowed to play with and look through the period items and
journals.
For gunslingers, there's a room dedicated to the evolution of the Colt pistol.
A
special edition engraved, gold and silver plated John Wayne Colt pistol is in a
gift presentation box, of which only 90 were made.
In another room, you have the opportunity to listen to a shoot-out with Wyatt
Earp with the push of a button or visit the wall of badges from the growing law
enforcement since the late 1800s and the decorative show gear of modern cowboys.
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The museum
located off the Interstate 5 and Highway 134 junction.
4700 Western Heritage Way (in Griffith Park adjacent to L.A. Zoo), Los Angeles
90027 Tues.-Sun., 10am-5pm; Thurs., 10am-8pm
For more information, call (213)
677-2000. FAX
(323) 660-5721
Web site, http://www.autry-museum.org
Director: John L. Gray
Special Events:
The museum hosts a regular program of demonstrations (free with museum entry),
films and concerts (admission runs $1-$5, depending on the program), and art
classes for adults and children (cost varies). Please call the museum for
details. Admission to the museum is free on the second Tuesday of every month.
When the museum
opened to the public in November 1988, its creators had been
focused for several years on the institutional mission to
explore the broad temporal, topical, and geographical elements
of the history and peoples of the West. At the same time, they
were not surprised that some members of the public would expect
the museum to be a monument to the life and personal memorabilia
of recording, broadcasting, film, and performing legend Gene
Autry.
As a
philanthropist, the Singing Cowboy had long wanted to create a
museum as a way to leave something enduring behind. Perhaps the
result of his dream goes beyond what he originally imagined.
Certainly, the American West presented within the boundaries of
the museum galleries is broader and more comprehensive than the
original plans called for. In 1985 and 1986 there was room to
dream in creating the museum. Just as with a book, the exhibits
were conceived as ways to tell a story. Objects and artworks
would be the central features describing the region we think of
as the West, from its prehistoric roots to the present. The
impact of art, performance, and advertising in manipulating
perceptions of the West would be contrasted with elements of
real experience. There was no preexisting collection, so
research and design set about filling more than 50,000 square
feet of exhibit space—at first on paper— with ideal artifacts
for telling the story. The challenge, then, was to go out and
find art and artifacts to fulfill specific roles.