{"id":40177,"date":"2026-06-02T18:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/rare-sitting-bull-buffalo-bill-contract-heads-to-buffalo-bill-center-of-the-west\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T18:33:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:33:01","slug":"rare-sitting-bull-buffalo-bill-contract-heads-to-buffalo-bill-center-of-the-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/rare-sitting-bull-buffalo-bill-contract-heads-to-buffalo-bill-center-of-the-west\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare Sitting Bull\u2013Buffalo Bill contract heads to Buffalo Bill Center of the West"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A rare 1885 contract between Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill. (Courtesy photo)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

CODY, Wyo. \u2014 A rare 1885 contract between Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill Cody is coming to Wyoming for the first time after a longtime museum supporter paid $136,000 to secure the document for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, according to museum officials. The contract will join other cornerstone artifacts in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West\u2019s permanent collection.<\/p>\n

The contract, considered one of the most significant surviving records of the Wild West show era, was purchased at auction by philanthropist Naoma Tate. She said she stepped in to ensure the artifact would be accessible to the public rather than remaining in private hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just wonderful this is coming back to the story,\u201d Tate said, according to an interview with Cowboy State Daily. \u201cThere is a difference in the presence of the real, and this will help us tell the story better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The handwritten agreement outlines the terms under which Sitting Bull joined Cody\u2019s 1885 season, the most successful in the show\u2019s history, according to Buffalo Bill historian Paul Hutton. The contract includes weekly pay, hiring of family members, an interpreter of Sitting Bull\u2019s choosing and exclusive rights for Sitting Bull to sell his own photographs and autographs \u2014 an unusually modern provision for the time.<\/p>\n

Hutton, who is curator at the Buffalo Bill Museum, said the document is \u201ca piece of the true cross\u201d for the institution. The museum had twice attempted to acquire the contract in previous years but was unable to meet the asking price, according to Hutton. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where it belongs,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a touchstone to the past and shows how quickly the great events of history \u2014 like the Battle of the Little Bighorn \u2014 turned into show business and celebrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The contract\u2019s provenance stretches from the collection of North Dakota congressman Usher Burdick to a small museum on the Crow Reservation, then to German businessman Jochen Zeitz, who purchased it at a Dallas auction, according to auction records.<\/p>\n

Tate, a longtime donor to the Buffalo Bill Center, said she views the acquisition as part of a broader mission to preserve Western history in a state where museums rely heavily on private support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t get a lot of government funding,\u201d she said. \u201cThese things are valuable because of their history. My mission is to tell our story through the documents and objects of the past,\u201d according to Tate. <\/p>\n

The contract will go on display at the Buffalo Bill Museum once it arrives from the auction house. Hutton said special programming is planned to highlight the artifact and the complicated relationship between Cody and the Lakota performers who traveled with his show.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is more than a document,\u201d <\/p>\n

Hutton said. \u201cIt\u2019s a window into Sitting Bull\u2019s agency, Cody\u2019s nostalgia for the West and the world these performers navigated.\u201d <\/p>\n

The post Rare Sitting Bull\u2013Buffalo Bill contract heads to Buffalo Bill Center of the West<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A rare 1885 contract between Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill. (Courtesy photo) CODY, Wyo. \u2014 A rare 1885 contract between Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill Cody is coming to Wyoming for the first time after a longtime museum supporter paid $136,000 to secure the document for the Buffalo Bill Center <\/p>\n

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Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> June 2, 2026<\/p>\n

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