Autry National Center

Collection Spotlights

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  Capturing California’s Romantic Past: The Watercolor Works of Eva Scott Fenyes
  The Braun Research Library Collection houses more than three hundred watercolors of California adobes and California missions created by Eva Scott Fenyes. These works date from 1898 to a week before Mrs. Fenyes’s death in 1930.

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  The Colt Revolver in the American West
  The Colt revolver had a dramatic impact around the world, but its greatest influence was in the American West in the second half of the nineteenth century. This online exhibition features slideshows and the stories behind 130 Colt artifacts in the Autry's collection.

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  Spanish Songs of Old California
  Charles Lummis, founder of Los Angeles's Southwest Museum, dedicated much of his life to preserving cultures that he felt were vanishing. Like a number of Americans at the turn of the twentieth century, Lummis was convinced that Native Americans’ lifeways were on the road to extinction, and that Hispanic cultures in particular were doomed by modernity. Unlike many of his contemporaries, however, Lummis lamented these developments and worked to preserve at least some records of Indian and Hispanic cultures.

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  Opera in the Autry Collections
  This online exhibition draws on the collections of the Braun Research Library, the Autry Library, and the Autry. Featured items include a rare 1912 recording of French tenor Augustarello Affre recorded in Los Angeles by Charles F. Lummis and the libretto from La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) with music composed by Giacomo Puccini.

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  History and Cultures of Mexico and the Southwest
  The Autry National Center’s permanent collection of colonial Latin American artifacts includes objects that exemplify the material culture of New Spain's northern frontier or "borderlands." The traditional arts of the borderlands, which developed over generations, reflect regional diversities.

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  More Than a Dream: Aviation Development in Southern California
  This online exhibition is from the collections of the Automobile Club of Southern California Archives.

Collections out on loan

Museums and cultural institutions interested in borrowing objects from the Autry, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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  Indian Roadmaster Motorcycle

  Restored 1948 Indian Roadmaster Motorcycle. Black with red accents and chrome trim. Leather tassels hang from the ends of the hand grips. The seat skirt and saddle bags are trimmed in black leather fringe. Autry National Center; 97.70.1.1.
  
  On loan to Steel Ponies Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, IN. March 10, 2012 - August 5, 2012.

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  Nathan Turk Outfit

  Burgundy and yellow wool western women's pantsuit made by Nathan Turk. Fabric label reads, "N. Turk/13711 Ventura Blvd./Van Nuys,/California/Individually Styled.” Donated by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to the Museum of the American West, Autry National Center; 2004.88.5.1-(.2)
  
  Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA
  
  On loan to California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. October 1, 2011– June 3, 2012

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  Geronimo Cigarette Card

  c. 1930. Card no. 32 in a set of 50 issued by the British American Tobacco Company and picturing North American Indians. Donated by Mr. Richard Oblander, Autry National Center; 93.80.1.32.
  
  On loan to Beyond Geronimo: The Apache Experience Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ. February 11, 2012 – January 20, 2013

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  Pio Pico's Dictionary

  19th century. Spanish-English Manual of Conversation. Book bound in red leather with gold design along edges of cover and "Pio Pico" in gold lettering on front center of cover. "Manual de la Conversaction" printed in gold lettering on spine. Acquisition made possible by the Ramona chapter, Native Sons of the Golden West. Autry National Center; 93.21.119.
  
  On loan to LA Starts Here! LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Los Angeles, CA. April 19 2011 –December 31, 2012

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  Ute water bottle basket

  Water jar, coiled basket, early 1900s. Once covered wholly with piñon nut gum, the inside is still lined with gum. It has braided black horsehair loops and the carrying strap is faded blue denim. Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection; 283.L.33
  
  On loan to the Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum Inaugural Exhibition, Ignacio, Colorado, June 2011–June 2014

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  Chumash basket

  Chumash or Fernandeño basket with pedestal base, juncus coiled on a three-rod juncus foundation, design in black-dyed juncus, late 1800s to early 1900s. The Caroline Boeing Poole Collection, Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection; 811.G.754
  
  On loan to California Indians: Making a Difference at the The California Museum, Sacramento, California, March 31, 2011–August 31, 2012

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  Sunset on the Plains

  Undated painting by Albert Bierstadt, oil on canvas. 88.108.22
  
  On loan to the American West, a permanent exhibition at the Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, Georgia, September 2009–September, 2012

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  Helmet

  Cabasset, Spanish. late 16th–early 17th century. Metal, leather. 88.127.33
  
  On loan to:
  
  A Song for the Horse Nation, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall, Washington, DC. October 29, 2011–January 7, 2013;
  
  Missouri History Museum, St. Louis, MO. March 9, 2013 – June 2, 2013;
  
  The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, Austin, TX. July 6, 2013 – September 29, 2013;