Online Research Tools

Collections Online

The Autry’s Collections Online is a database containing data and images of items from the collections of our museums and libraries. It is the public interface to our ongoing digitization program, which seeks to digitize our entire collections. Collections Online currently includes records and images for over 50,000 items.

Materials found online include art, artifacts such as tools and utensils used in daily life and ranching, decorative arts, firearms and armaments, clothing and accessories, cultural materials including our large American Indian ethnographic collections, historic photographs and photographs from Western movies, manuscript collections, ephemera, and books.

Each year our digitization program strives to delve deeper into the collections to allow the public to see and learn about the wide variety of items in the Autry’s holdings. Your research project may require “researcher level” access to view catalog records not yet in the public view. Please contact a librarian to request an ID and password at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Library catalog

The Autry’s Library catalog is a more traditional research tool than Collections Online. The Library catalog provides access to records for more than 80,000 books, journals, sound recordings, video recordings, ephemera, and manuscript collections. Users will find search results in a familiar library catalog format and can create, save, and send lists of resources for future use. There are also links to OCLC WorldCat, a bibliographic database that enables users anywhere to locate a book in a local library.

COLLECTIONS ONLINE

Learn more about the Autry's collections and explore our Collections Online database to see images of the fascinating art, objects, photographs, and documents in our collections. Your research project may require “researcher level” access to view catalog records not yet in the public view. Please contact a librarian to request an id and password at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

About the Collections
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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 .

Roy Roger’s Guitar

This is Roy Rogers' first guitar, which he purchased from a second hand shop in Cincinnati, Ohio, for $20. This guitar was presented to Roy Rogers on an episode of the television show, "This Is Your Life," in 1953. The guitar is a six string acoustic guitar. A rectangular shaped label on the inside of the body reads, “AIDA / MANDOLINS AND GUITARS / FRITZ HAUCK SOLE AGENT / CINNCINATI, OHIO.” A circular shaped label on the inside of the body reads, “H-Y-G-R-A-D-E / MUSICAL / INSTRUMENTS / FRITZ / HAUCK / CINNCINATI.” Donated by Lora and Robert U. Sandroni, with additional support provided by Stuart Simon and Jo-Carole and Gary M. Zechel. Autry National Center; 2010.44.1.1

On loan to Guitars! Roundups to Rockers Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, IN. March 9 – August 4, 2013.
Vernier Compass

J. Young Vernier compass with box. Ca. 1856. Round compass with rectangular extensions, separate stand, two sighting bars, and round brass cover. Autry National Center; 87.64.2.1(-.2)

On loan to Outnumbered: Nineteenth Century American Landscapes Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. December 1, 2012 – December 31, 2013
Navajo blanket-sarape

Early classic-style (beeldlei), 1840-1860. Plain, weft-faced tapestry weave with lazy lines. Woven of 1-ply, Z-spun, native handspun churro wool, and 2 and 3-ply, S-spun (sxs), raveled, worsted wools. Dyes are indigo blue, lac and cochineal. The white is churro wool with no dye. Gift of Charles Fletcher Lummis. Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection, Autry National Center; 457.G.5

On loan to Red, White & Bold: Masterworks of Navajo Design, 1840-1870 Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO. May 19, 2013 – September 22, 2013.
Wailaki sieve basket

Wailaki sieve basket, Smith River area, hazel shoots open plain twined over hazel or willow warps, section of openwork crossed warps, circa 1890. Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection, Autry National Center; 1847.G.1.

On loan to California Indians: Making a Difference The California Museum, Sacramento, CA. March 31, 2011 – August 31, 2013
Gene Autry's Bluebird Boots

Man's blue, tan, white, and maroon cowboy boots designed and manufactured by Olsen-Stelzer, circa mid-1930s. Worn by Gene Autry. Square toes; 2 1/8-inch walking heel; blue heel and toes with red cutouts; remainder lower is tan; white uppers with cutout designs of bluebirds and flowers; upper scalloped edge with cloth pulls has blue band with red arrows, hearts and diamonds. Mr. Autry said these boots were the very first pair of custom-made boots he owned. Donated by Mr. and Mrs. Gene Autry. Autry National Center; 91.221.141.1-.2.

On loan to Oklahoma @ the Movies Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City, OK. May 2012 – May 2014.
Hair Ornament

Spanish style woman's large yellow and brown tortoise shell hair comb manufactured circa 1850-1900. Worn by a member of the Ruíz and Sepúlveda families and would have cost the equivalent of several hundred dollars. Decorative carving at top with five teeth. Donated by Barbara Schade and Jacqueline Blew in memory of their father Gabriel Eulogios Ruiz, Autry National Center; 2002.53.27.

On loan to LA Starts Here LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Los Angeles, CA. April 19 2011 – November 12, 2013
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