Our Collections Online provides integrated searching of the collections of the Autry National Center—including more than 40,000 images.

Please explore the Learn More section to learn about some of the themes explored in our galleries-the Related Records button will get you to the images. And don't forget to click on the object name to see the full records, where you will find subject links to other records within the database.

New records and images are added every month, so check back for more!
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  • Do a keyword search by typing any object name, subject, or topic. (Plural and singular versions of a term may retrieve different results; try both separately or use the asterisk (*) for truncation.)
  • To find extended Content or to help narrow search results, click on the subject records in the search results or the Learn More section on the top menu bar.
  • Click on the object name in the search results to see all images associated with an object (esp. lobby cards, rope).
  • Use the page numbers in the search results to skip to the next object type.
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Publications of the Autry National Center:
  • West-fever by Brian W. Dippie; introduction by James H. Nottage (collection highlights)
  • Western Amerykanski: Polish Poster Art and the Western, edited by Kevin Mulroy (Polish posters)
  • How the West Was Worn, by Holly George-Warren and Michelle Freedman; foreword by Marty Stuart; introduction by James H. Nottage (text related to the How the West was Worn exhibition can be found in the Learn More section)
  • Southwest textiles weavings of the Navajo and Pueblo by Kathleen Whitaker (including scope notes, see subject records)
PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES:

    Early 20th century California

    California natural history
    • Lantern slides of landscapes throughout California, including the San Gabriel Canyon and Yosemite.
    • Historic photographs (portraits and family portraits, ranches, military, farming and agriculture, houses and schools, flora and fauna, 19th-century cyanotype photograph album from the Arizona Territory with 180 photographs

    North American Indians
    • Photographic documentation of California Indians, including lifestyle (houses, schools, food preparation) and demonstrations of how cultural items were made and used by various Southern Californian tribes.
    • Photographic documentation of the removal of the Cupeño Indians from Warner’s Ranch to the Pala Reservation, including research done by the Warner’s Ranch Commission to analyze the arability of the land and measuring water flow
    • Photographic documentation of archaeological sites and excavations from central and southern California
    • Photographs from the Hopi Reservation
    • Photographic documentation of Plains Indians lifestyle and portraits from the late 19th to early 20th century, including photographs by Edward S. Curtis, Frank A. Rinehart

    Rodeo photographs

    19th-century mug shots


Art
  • Eva Scott Fenyes’ watercolors of missions and adobe houses, dating between 1898 and 1930
  • Carl Eytel's drawings of the Southern California desert, by Carl Eytel used in George Wharton James’ The Wonders of the Colorado Desert, 1905
  • Works by other Western artists including Joe de Yong, Will James, Maynard Dixon, Charles Russell, Albert Bierstadt, John Woodhouse Audubon, George Catlin, Charles Bird King
  • Ledger drawings by Howling Wolf (Cheyenne) and Zo-Tom (Kiowa). These drawings were created by the artists while incarcerated at Fort Marion, Florida in 1876


History of the Museums
  • Photographs of the Southwest Museum under construction and original galleries
  • Hand-painted posters (1930s-1950s) advertising Southwest Museum lectures by H. Arden Edwards, artist and founder of the Antelope Valley Indian Museum
  • Works by the Works Progress Administration, circa 1930s and 1940s.
  • Photographs of the opening of the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, now known as the Museum of the American West


NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN ART AND ARTIFACTS
    California Indians
    • Baskets made by Pomo Indians, including miniature and feathered baskets, from northern California

    Southwest Indians
    • Textiles created by Navajo and Pueblo Indians, including those featured in Kathleen Whitaker’s, Southwest Textiles Weavings of the Navajo and Pueblo, 2002.
    • Hopi Katsina dolls
    • Zuni fetishes

    Plains Indians
Ranching and cowboys:

Saddles, throwing rope, branding irons, spurs, firearms, clothing and dress, photographs such as Tracy Ranch in California.

Rodeos:

Photographs, trick roping, clothing and dress.

Firearms:



Music and Musical instruments
  • Listings for sound recordings of Native American songs, Hispanic songs, Western music, including listings for sound recordings of Southern California Indian songs by Charles Lummis and Maidu songs recorded by Frances Densmore.
  • Sheet music


History and life in the West: Movies and motion picture industry
  • Over 1,200 movies catalogued: see subject records
  • Posters, lobby cards, costumes, television and movie props
  • Items from silent Westerns, Western serials, Western movies, foreign Western movies, and Western television programs.
  • Costumes and costume design, including Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors, Edith Head, and Margaret Miele
Other selected themes:

  • African Americans, Hispanics, North American Indians, women, cowboys, cowgirls, landscapes, seascapes, religious imagery
  • Ephemera and books: Brochures, postcards, crate labels, trade catalogues, dime novels, collectible cards (arcade cards, baseball cards, cereal cards, lobby cards, trade cards), comic books, books (see library records for images of book covers and )


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The Autry Collections Online catalogue is made possible in part by generous grants from The Ahmanson Foundation, The Getty Foundation, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in Autry Collections Online do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
This is an MWeb museum website (html, javascript & system copyright 1997-2004 Systems Planning).


Project Manager:
Rebecca Menendez

Designer:
Tony Bailey

Imaging:
Carmel France
Carter Mull
Terry Moore
Barry Gernstein
Mayfield Marshall
with special credit to Susan Einstein

Cataloguing:
Laura Taylor Kung
Kathleen Brzezinski
Nicole Sieminski
Scott Frank
Catherine Butler
Kathleen Chapman
Kelly Conn
Holly Isaacson
Kate Bergeron
Anne Kindseth
Christina Chiang

Content:
Cheryl Miller
Marva Felchlin
Kim Walters
Cindy Culver
Louise Pubols
Amy Scott
Steven Karr

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