The Life and Legacy of Annie Oakley title: Oklahoma Western Biographies ; V. 7 author: Riley, Glenda. publisher: University of Oklahoma Press isbn10 | asin: 0806126566 print isbn13: 9780806126562 ebook isbn13: 9780585156064 language: English Oakley, Annie,--1860-1926, Shooters of subject firearms--United States--Biography, Frontier and pioneer life--West (U.S.) publication date: 1994 lcc: GV1157.O3R55 1994eb ddc: 796.3/092 Oakley, Annie,--1860-1926, Shooters of subject: firearms--United States--Biography, Frontier and pioneer life--West (U.S.) Page i The Life and Legacy of Annie Oakley T O W B HE KLAHOMA ESTERN IOGRAPHIES R W. E , G E ICHARD TULAIN ENERAL DITOR Page iii The Life and Legacy of Annie Oakley By Glenda Riley UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS : NORMAN AND LONDON Page iv Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Riley, Glenda, 1938 The life and legacy of Annie Oakley / Glenda Riley. p. cm.(Oklahoma western biographies ; v. 7.) Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index. ISBN: 0-8061-2656-6 1. Oakley, Annie, 18601926. 2. Shooters of firearmsUnited States Biography. 3. Frontier and pioneer lifeWest (U.S.) I. Title. II. Series. GV1157.03R55 1994 796.3'092dC20 [B] 94-10260 CIP The Life and Legacy of Annie Oakley is Volume 7 in The Oklahoma Western Biographies. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources, Inc. Copyright © 1994 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the University. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the U.S.A. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Page v For Bess Edwards, Annie's guardian angel, who is generous of time and spirit Page vii Contents List of Illustrations ix Series Editor's Preface xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction: A Heroine for All Time xv 1. "We Managed to Struggle Along" 3 2. "The 'Show' Business" 27 3. "The Birds Were First Class" 63 4. "To Be Considered a Lady" 112 5. "Girl of the Western Plains" 145 6. "Why Did I Give Up the Arena?" 176 7. The Legend 206 Conclusion: Who Was Annie Oakley? 231 Note on Sources 237 Index 243 Page ix Illustrations Annie Oakley, Frank Butler, and poodle George 95 Annie Oakley with shotgun, ca. mid-1880s 96 Annie Oakley with some of her early guns, medals, and a 97 loving cup Buffalo Bill Wild West lithograph advertising Annie 98 Oakley Annie in 1896 at age thirty-six in New York City 99 Annie and Frank's home in Nutley, New Jersey 100 Annie Oakley, ca. 1900 101 Annie's husband, Frank Butler, in New Jersey in 1902 102 Annie as star of The Western Girl in 1902 103 Annie Oakley breaking five targets thrown in the air at 104 one time Annie with lariat 105 Dave holds an apple for Annie Oakley 106 Annie and friend Eddie Hoff, age seven, of New York, 107 1922 Annie shooting with her left hand, probably in 1926 108 Letter written by Annie Oakley in 1923 109 Annie's and Frank's graves near Brock, Ohio 110 Painting showing Annie Oakley shooting from a 111 sidesaddle Page xi Series Editor's Preface Glenda Riley's well-researched, smoothly written biography of Annie Oakley accomplishes three large goals. In addition to providing an illuminating story of an intriguing person, Riley uses Oakley to comment provocatively on gender roles of her times. The author also demonstrates how Annie becameand remainsa central figure in illustrating the Wild West. More convincingly and more interpretively than any previous biographer, Glenda Riley details the mythos Annie Oakley created of herself for her audiences. Summarizing Annie's adroit uses of guns and horses, her avoidance of villainy and her assumption of heroism, her modesty and femininity, and her symbolic marriage to a lively and adventuresome West, Riley supplies a pioneering work of one individual's participatory role in molding and epitomizing the Old West. Dozens of earlier biographers achieved this goal in treating Buffalo Bill Cody, General George A. Custer, and Wild Bill Hickok, but Riley's work is the first scholarly biography to do so for a female figure. Equally noteworthy is the author's use of Annie Oakley to clarify gender roles in the decades surrounding 1900. Annie opened the tightly shut door of respectability for women as users of guns. After her, the handling of weapons, hunting, and shooting became more acceptable activities for women. Indeed, over time Riley's Annie Oakley became an oxymoronic character: a feminine-gunman and lady-marksman, skilled at men's occupations without abandoning her Victorian gentility. Obviously Annie greatly enlarged the meaning of Buffalo Bill's Wild West when she became a vivacious metaphor for a lively but