By Kalin Krohe, Panhandle Post
The Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron will be featured on the nationally televised show, "Red Steagall Is Somewhere West Of Wall Street".
On March 1 the museum and Bean Broker Coffeehouse and Pub will be screening the TV show at 7:30 p.m.
The museum has a vast amount of history including over 6,000 pieces. It is the most extensive collection of artifacts covering the fur trade period in the world. The museum was started in 1955.
"The museum was started by a bunch of people spearheaded by Charles Hanson and they wanted something that would show the history of the west," Museum of the Fur Trade Director Nakaya Fester said. "They started with the broad scope, narrowed it down to the fur trade and then they decided they wanted to do it on an actual site...at a site of a trading post. So they looked around...you know three or four different places before deciding on here in Chadron."
The museum is located on the site of the Bordeaux Trading Post. There is a reproduction of the 1845 post outside of the main building.
Fester told Panhandle Post that the museum is known worldwide because of the research the museum does. That's also a way they reach out to people involved in history outside Nebraska.
"Lots of museums focus on fur trade type stuff of their specific area," Fester said. "We focus on the entire North American Continent...500 years of history. We cover the whole fur trade era. We've gone outside for a lot of research, but we've also done enough that people focus on us for research. We have a library, it has at least 10,000 volumes that relate to the fur trade in some manner."
The museum also has a big publication department.
"We have books...they're sketch books, but they're basically pattern books for different costumes, outfits and tools. We've working on a six volume encyclopedia set. Each book is a different aspect of the fur trade so we have firearms, clothing and textiles, provision...that kind of stuff. We also have publications. We have one that just came out about Spotted Tail, the Brulé [Lakota] Chief. Ciboleros is another one that just came out. It's about Spanish buffalo hunters."
Fester said the TV show "Red Steagall Is Somewhere West Of Wall Street" contacted the museum first.
"When I talked to them I thought it would be an interview kind of like this," Fester said. "When they showed up they wanted three 8-minute segments of the fur trade. Our historian Jim Hanson was out at that time and I can't do that. I can talk about the museum for maybe 8-minutes, but I can't talk about the fur trade. This episode is going to look a little different than most of his[Red Steagall]. They took footage of the museum, but he's going to do a voice over. We took some of our publications and is using that to create the story of the fur trade."
Fester said the museum is really excited to be on the television show.
"We're hoping that it helps get a little more national coverage for us and brings in some of those people for farther places," Fester added. "It brings outside people to not just us, but the whole of Chadron. It lets people know that we're here. We do a lot of sales on our website...so it just increases traffic to the community."
The museum encourages the Chadron community to check out what they have to offer.
"When people think of the fur trade they think largely of weapons and tools...we cover a whole larger variety than that," Fester said. "We have clothing and textiles, we have Native American items, we have quite a few unique items. We have a Chief sword...they were the governors of the Hudson Bay Company...18 of them were made; only two known of existence. One of them here. We have quite a few items like that, where there is only one or two known and we have one copy. We're a pretty unique place and we like to share that with people. We hope they come and see us."
The Museum of the Fur Trade is located three miles east of Chadron on Highway 20. They're open May 1 to Oct. 31, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily. In the winter you can schedule an appointment to visit the museum by calling (308) 432-3843.
