RARE AND HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT ARCHIVES OF SETH G. BULLOCK, LEGENDARY DEADWOOD, DAKOTA TERRITORY, SHERIFF. Extraordinary collection of over 500 documents, letters, other papers and ephemera relating to the life of this historical Western lawman (1847-1919), on whom the popular, critically-acclaimed, Emmy-award winning 2004-06 HBO television series, Deadwood, was based.
Among the highlights of the collection are 26 autograph letters, signed; four typed letters, signed; two postcards, signed; and 13 items ephemera from Theodore Roosevelt and/or related officials and various Roosevelt family members, dated from 1901 to 1920. Without question, Seth Bullock and Teddy Roosevelt were lifelong close friends. In his autobiography THEODORE ROOSEVELT (1858-1919)- AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 1913, Roosevelt wrote, "It was while with Bill Jones that I first made acquaintance with Seth Bullock [1884]...later Seth Bullock became, and has ever since remained, one of my staunchest and most valued friends." Roosevelt often called Bullock "my typical ideal American." To honor Theodore Roosevelt after his election to the Presidency in 1904, Bullock hired 15 roping cowboys to take part in the Inaugural parade in Washington, DC. The elaborate blue and white silk ribbon with button depicting a portrait of Seth Bullock, "Captain Seth Bullock's Cowboys/Inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt/Washington/1905" with names and Western towns of the various cowboys is included among the collection.
The majority of the documents comprising the archives relate to Seth Bullock's decades-long association with Deadwood, SD, as a town-founder and leading citizen, and other aspects of his distinguished life as a cattle rancher on the Belle Forche River, a forest superintendent of the Black Hills Reserve, and a U.S. Marshal for South Dakota. Documents include the deed to the Bullock Hotel, the check Bullock wrote to pay for Deadwood's first fire engine, and hundreds of other articles of correspondence, and receipts of a similar nature. This collection is presented in several three-ring binders and in various museum slip-cases and archival boxes. Additional information available.
ESTIMATE UPON REQUEST
PROVENANCE: Purchased by the present owner in 1994 from the James O. Aplan Collection, a private museum collection in Keystone, SD, at the time of the dismantling of the museum.
