Wednesday, April 4, 2001

Limit: 47 people

This tour is wheelchair accessible

Skillfully blending scholarship and showmanship, the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, founded by Gene Autry, is dedicated to preserving the real and imaginary history of the Wild West. Its amiable setting in heavily used Griffith Park (the largest city park in the U.S.) contains the sprawling 140,000 square foot museum built in 1987. The permanent collection is housed in 7 themed galleries called "Spirits," covering everything from extraordinary saddles (Spirit of the Cowboy), and the "Mountain of the Holy Cros"s by Thomas Moran (Spirit of Romance ), to a charming H"opalong Cassidy children's room (Spirit of Imagination). A sculpture court is surrounded by Guy Deel's "Spirits of the West master mural. The special exhibition on view will be "Out of the Mist: Treasures of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Chiefs."

The Autry offers an entertaining and educational opportunity to discover the legacy of the American West. To a great degree, the story of the West is a contrast of the historical with the mythological. This tour will bring you a taste of that story. We will visit the Research Center, which supports the scholarly, interpretive, and educational activities of the museum in the broadest sense. Through its collections and research services, the Center is at the heart of the museum's interpretive activities and supports its curatorial, programming, and publishing endeavors. An excellent cafeteria, an auditorium, and a delightful shop are some of this attractive museum’s amenities.

last revised 3/19/01