Autry Museum of the American West

The Autry Museum of the American West (Autry National Center) is a museum in Los Angeles, California, dedicated to exploring an inclusive history of the American West. Founded in 1988, the museum presents a wide range of exhibitions and public programs, including lectures, film, theater, festivals, family events, and music, and performs scholarship, research, and educational outreach. It attracts about 150,000 visitors annually.^[1]

Autry National Center of the American West

Former name	Autry National Center
Established	2003
Location	4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park Los Angeles, California
Coordinates	34.1487°N 118.2813°W / 34.1487; -118.2813
Type	Western and American Indian
President	Stephen Aron, President and CEO
Website	theautry.org autry.iii.com

Entrance to museum section

Tower at Autry Museum

Display of Gene Autry memorabilia, including his iconic Martin D-45 guitar, the first one made

The museum owns the iconic painting American Progress (1872), by artist John Gast

Exterior cascade exhibit at Autry Museum

In 2013, it extensively redesigned and renovated the Irene Helen Jones Parks Gallery of Art and the Gamble Firearms Gallery in its main building. In its related opening exhibit for the Parks Gallery, Art of the West, the new organization enabled material to be presented in relation to themes rather than chronology, and paintings were shown next to crafts, photography, video and other elements in new relationships.^[1]

Locations

The Autry Museum of the American West has two sites, about 8 miles (13 km) apart:

• Griffith Park 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, California, 90027
• Mt. Washington, 234 Museum Drive, Los Angeles, California, 90065 (Southwest Museum of the American Indian building and ethnobotanical garden, now closed)^[2]

In 2022, the museum opened a storage facility in Burbank, California to store its and the Southwest Museum of the American Indian's collections. The facility includes a ritual space for indigenous people to use items in the collection in ceremonies.^[3]

History

The Autry was established in 1988 by actor and businessman Gene Autry as "Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum," dedicated to exploring and sharing the comprehensive story of the American West and its multiple cultures, as well as further interpreting the West's significance.^[4] Its Griffith Park collection includes 21,000 paintings, sculptures, costumes, textiles, firearms, tools, toys, musical instruments, and other objects.^[5] The museum contains contemporary and historical exhibitions, year-round programs for children, intellectual forums, and the Native Voices at the Autry performing arts series.

In 2003, the Autry acquired the Southwest Museum of the American Indian.^[3]

The museum is located in Griffith Park directly across from the Los Angeles Zoo. The 4,000-square foot Parks Gallery was renovated in 2013 and has been organized into three theme areas: Religion and Ritual, Land and Landscape, Migration and Movement. The main location also contains two mini galleries with revolving exhibits.^[1]

The Gamble Firearms Gallery also was renovated in 2013. It now shows more of the context and place of firearms in the Old West; curators grouped firearms by themes: "hunting and trapping, the impact of technology on firearms, the conservation movement and the West in popular culture."^[1] The Firearms Gallery is part of the larger Western Frontiers: Stories of Fact and Fiction Gallery.^[1]

• The Autry's Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection of Native American art is one of the most significant museums dedicated to Native culture in the United States, second only to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian. The 238,000-piece collection includes 14,000 baskets, 10,000 ceramic items, 6,300 textiles and weavings, and more than 1,100 pieces of jewelry. It represents work by indigenous peoples from Alaska to South America, with an emphasis on cultures of California and the Southwestern United States.^[5]
• The Library and Archives of the Autry includes the collections of the Braun Research Library and the Autry Library. It is a research enterprise that supports scholarly work in Western history and the arts.^[5] In 2002, the Women of the West Museum of Colorado merged with the Autry Museum. This has broadened the scholarly and educational emphasis to include gender issues and women's experiences in the American West.^[6]

From 2004 to 2015, it was known as the "Autry National Center of the American West”. However, in October 2015, the museum began using the name "Autry Museum of the American West" to emphasize its "principal activities as a museum."^[7]

Programs

Since 1995, Native Voices at the Autry has been the only existing equity theater solely focused on producing new works by Native American, Alaska Native, and First Nation playwrights.^[8] Randy Reinholz, a member of Oklahoma's Choctaw Nation, and his wife Jean Bruce Scott have run the program for 20 years. Native Voices has produced over 34 full productions, gone on over 20 tours, with 23 new play festivals and 13 Native playwrights.^[9] This program is a crucial part of the Autry's mission to promote art history and cultures of the American West.^[8]

References

1. Brenda Rees (October 3, 2013). "Galleries of Change". Pasadena Weekly. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
2. Vankin, Deborah (2022-11-16). "L.A.'s Autry Museum spent 18 years moving 400,000 Native objects. That's just the start". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
3. Miranda, Carolina A (2022-11-17). "How L.A.'s Autry Museum is changing the ways Indigenous artifacts are held". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
4. Edward Rothstein (September 22, 2013). "A Museum Works to Reinvent Itself, as Well as the American West". The New York Times. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
5. "Museums for America" (PDF). Institute of Museum and Library Services. October 1, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
6. "Women of the West Museum merges with Autry Museum". Denver Business Journal. March 8, 2002. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
7. "What Is the Autry?". Autry Museum. May 27, 2016. Archived from the original on December 26, 2022. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
8. Gelt, Jessica (March 27, 2017). "NEA helps the Autry Museum provide a rare platform for Native American Playwrights". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
9. Weinert-Kendt, Rob (March 20, 2018). "Raising Native Voices, Then Amplifying Them. American Theater". Retrieved May 14, 2019.

Further reading

• "Your guide to Gene Autry, America's Favorite Singing Cowboy," pamphlet from the Autry Museum of the American West
• "Pocket guide: Explore the past, present, & future of the American West," pamphlet from the Autry Museum of the American West

External links

• Autry Museum Website
• autry.iii.com Autry Library
• Past Productions: Native Voices at the Autry