Matthew Kerns
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matthewkerns.bsky.social
Matthew Kerns
@matthewkerns.bsky.social
Sour and Western Heritage Award-winning author of Texas Jack: America’s First Cowboy Star.
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Unveils New Trump-Approved Exhibit: Kanye

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Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Unveils New Trump-Approved Exhibit: Kanye
QUILLBILLY NEWS WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a sweeping redesign praised by former President Donald Trump, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture announced Tuesday that it...
www.quillbilly.com
August 21, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Tin Jesus on Horseback: Buffalo Bill’s Bitter Business and Personal Feuds

Buffalo Bill Cody was a legend, but legends are not built alone. His rise to fame depended on key business partnerships, yet those partnerships were often fraught with conflict.
March 2, 2025 at 4:23 PM
On February 14, 1884, Theodore Roosevelt suffered an unimaginable tragedy—losing both his wife and mother on the same day, in the same house.
February 15, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Episode 4 of 6 in a series on the 1862 Dakota War I wrote for Legends of the Old West.

youtu.be/IVRTtGbTJz0?...
LEGENDS OF THE OLD WEST | Dakota War Ep4 — “The Turning Tide”
YouTube video by Legends of the Old West Podcast
youtu.be
February 5, 2025 at 3:10 PM
On the morning of August 18, 1862, Dakota warriors launched a devastating attack on the Lower Sioux Agency, igniting the Dakota War. For years, the Dakota had endured broken treaties, starvation, and the callous exploitation of corrupt traders.
January 23, 2025 at 11:03 PM
On January 10, 1917, 108 years ago today, William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody died. The shadow his life and legacy cast over the popular understanding of the American West is immense. Westerns aren't set in the American West; they're set in Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
January 10, 2025 at 2:27 PM
On the evening of September 18, 1854, a large group gathered at Major M.P. Rively’s store on Salt Creek, near Leavenworth, Kansas.
January 6, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I’m nervous about New Year’s.
I guess I have Auld Lanxiety.
December 31, 2024 at 6:55 PM
Images like this have recently made the rounds on social media, with claims that they depict “Wild Bill” Hickok and “Buffalo Bill” Cody. However, these images are not authentic photographs—they are AI-generated renderings that bear little resemblance to the historical figures they claim to portray.
December 28, 2024 at 8:52 PM
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West presented itself, both in Europe and in America, as an authentic historical exhibition, showing the “Drama of Civilization” as it unfolded in the frontier West. Central to this story, and to the Wild West, were the show’s Lakota performers.
December 15, 2024 at 6:01 PM
5 authors I’ve read 5 or more books by:

Edward Abbey
Bill Bryson
Kurt Vonnegut
Piers Anthony
Christopher Moore
November 20, 2024 at 2:12 PM
Doc Holliday Bourbon captures the Wild West vibe, but the label features a misidentified photo often mistaken for John Henry Holliday. Dive into the true story of Doc, the photo’s origins, and why preserving his authentic legacy matters. #WildWest #DocHolliday

open.substack.com/pub/matthewk...
Not Doc
When History Gets Misplaced: Misidentified Photos of Doc Holliday
open.substack.com
November 20, 2024 at 2:10 PM
Hollywood has never made a love story better than this one.

He was a cowboy and she was a ballerina.

John Baker Omohundro grew up in a fine southern plantation home in Palmyra, Virginia, and Giuseppina Antonia Morlacchi was born in Milan, Italy.
November 15, 2024 at 12:01 PM
Hollywood has never made a love story better than this one.
He was a cowboy. She was a ballerina.

matthewkerns.substack.com/p/the-cowboy...
The Cowboy & The Ballerina
From the Prairie to Pirouettes: The Unlikely Romance of a Wild West Cowboy and an Italian Prima Ballerina
matthewkerns.substack.com
February 14, 2024 at 2:54 PM
Last year, nearly five million tourists visited Yellowstone National Park. When Texas Jack Omohundro led the Earl of Dunraven and his friends through the park 150 years ago, in 1874, they were the only ones there. This is Jack's account of that trip.

matthewkerns.substack.com/p/texas-jack...
Texas Jack in Yellowstone
Texas Jack's account of his 1874 trip to Yellowstone National Park with the Earl of Dunraven.
matthewkerns.substack.com
February 10, 2024 at 11:06 PM
128 years ago, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West visited Chattanooga, Tennessee.

matthewkerns.substack.com/p/when-the-w...
October 26, 2023 at 1:40 PM
Three newly identified images of Texas Jack Omohundro in November 1872, just a month before he and his friend Buffalo Bill Cody left the prairie to star in the stage show that would make them legends.

open.substack.com/pub/matthewk...
Texas Jack at Fort McPherson
In these from November 1872, one can glimpse a moment in time, just before two iconic figures of the American West, Texas Jack & Buffalo Bill, transition from untamed prairie to theatrical limelight.
open.substack.com
October 23, 2023 at 2:12 AM
Defying Death and Shaping a Nation: Unraveling the Riveting Journey of Theodore Roosevelt, the Indomitable Cowboy President.

matthewkerns.substack.com/p/it-takes-m...
It Takes More Than That to Kill a Bull Moose!
Defying Death and Shaping a Nation: Unraveling the Riveting Journey of Theodore Roosevelt, the Indomitable Cowboy President.
matthewkerns.substack.com
October 14, 2023 at 5:03 PM
The chill New England winter of 1868 was set ablaze when Morlacchi introduced America to the fiery Can-Can dance, inflaming the passions of Puritan Boston.

matthewkerns.substack.com/p/the-scandalous-can-can
October 12, 2023 at 2:21 PM
The star of the first American stage western wasn't a lawman, cowboy, or gunslinger—it was a beautiful Italian ballerina. Wooed by aristocrats & robber-barons, she instead fell in love with her cowboy costar.

matthewkerns.substack.com/p/the-peerless-morlacchi
October 8, 2023 at 2:21 PM