Collections

About our collection

It’s been a long time since Hollywood’s first great cowboy star, William S. Hart, hung up his spurs. Yet this silent screen superstar from the early days of motion picture history left an extraordinary legacy: the William S. Hart Museum, a gift to the public, following a career that made him one of the top-grossing film actors in the world from 1914 to 1925. The Hart Museum is a rarity in the museum world: a historic house museum with most of the original contents intact. The house contains not just the furnishings that Hart chose, but also his books, artwork, clothing and memorabilia. William S. Hart portrayed his vision of the West on screen as well as in his home, filling it with Western art, Native American beadwork and textiles as well as theatrical and film memorabilia. Will Rogers, Charlie Russell, Wyatt Earp, and Amelia Earhart are a few of Hart’s friends whose gifts are on display throughout the house. Hart bequeathed the house and its contents to the public when he died in 1946. The Museum has been open to the public since 1958 and Hart’s fascinating collection is carefully preserved.