Girls on Wheels members Nancy Burns, Karen Dipietro, Cassie Richardson, and Vicki Baker found boots, class, and a little sass at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.
Vicki Baker
No part of America is immortalized as much as the West. It’s the land of vast ranches, dusty cattle drives, and a merciless landscape. All too frequently, though, that image is dominated by the male rancher and rough and tough cowboy. Cowgirls’ voices are seldom heard.
Seeking a glimpse of the other side of the story, Girls on Wheels (Nancy Burns, Karen Dipietro, Cassie Richardson, and Vicki Baker) visited the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. The museum pays tribute to the independent spirit of women, their trailblazing efforts, and their fearlessness helping shape the American West. Women have been an incredibly important part of the West—always there, always involved.
Still have your doubts, cowboys? Well, seeing is believing. “Anything you can do, I can do better,” so sang Ethel Merman as cowgirl Annie Oakley in the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. Today, Annie doesn’t need to yodel her accomplishments to the world. The Cowgirl Museum does that for her.
We were awed immediately upon arrival. Painted on the side of the building was a mural of cowgirls on galloping horses. Carved panels depicted women working cattle. And at the museum’s entrance was a life-size bronze statue of a young woman standing with her horse. Inside, an even greater story unfolded of the cowgirls’ resilience and grit.
A high-tech mobile suspended above us in the Grand Rotunda projected onto moving digital tiles photos and videos of Hall of Fame honorees. On the opposite sides of the tiles was the Hall of Fame motto “The women who shape the West, change the world” amplifying women’s roles in Western lifestyle yesterday and today.
Housing over 10,000 artifacts and photographs, the stories of more than 750 women were told: pioneers, artists, writers, entertainers, humanitarians, business women, educators, ranchers, activists, musicians, conservationists, political figures, and rodeo cowgirls. Guide for the Lewis and Clark expedition Sacagawea, painter Georgia O’Keeffe, writer Laura Ingalls Wilder, founder of the Nocona Boot Company Enid Justin, Hollywood icon Dale Evans, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor are all recognized.
It goes without saying that cowgirls always had great style! Boots, spurs, and hats provided a distinct picture of the American cowgirl. From Calamity Jane to Dale Evans to Beyoncé, it’s been down-home, glitzy, demure, and provocative. That image has definitely changed over generations as women paved their way in a world built for men.
A special exhibition, “Soldaderas to Amazonas: Escaramuzas Charras,” tied modern-day escaramuza charra to the soldaderas of the Mexican Revolution, those women who fought against oppressive Mexican government forces. The gallery showcased Adelita-inspired dresses, sombreros charros, rebozos, boots, and matching tack.
Girls on Wheels were initially drawn to the romantic allure of the women of the Old West. Instead, we discovered determination and fortitude were common threads among all the women. The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame lifted these women who conquered the West from the shadows of history and recovered their lost voices, loud and clear.