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“dedicated to preserving the rich history of the North American fur trade”
The Museum of the Fur Trade is dedicated to preserving the rich history of the North American fur trade. Located three miles east of Chadron, the museum stands on the site of James Bordeaux’s trading post which was established for the American Fur Company in 1837. The museum’s research program uncovers information about the materials and the methods of the fur trade as it was carried on from Greenland to Alaska and from Hudson’s Bay to the Gulf of Mexico during the five centuries of active trading with native people. Then the museum’s acquisition program finds and acquires the actual artifacts needed to illustrate those diverse stories through the museum’s exhibits. The collection of over 6,000 primary objects has been gathered together one piece at a time. The trade goods collection consists not of the things that Indians made, but of the things Indians used to make things. Native people purchased the prosaic and the exotic, the utilitarian and the superfluous. Traders provided the weapons to hunt and make war, the paint used to decorate the face, clothing, equipment, and everything in between. And all these are represented in the Museum of the Fur Trade.
I made a special trip just to see this museum and it was worth every ounce of effort. In this museum you see the overwhelming impact of fur trade on western manifest destiny, pre and post American... Read more
Most people today probably have no idea just how much the fur trade influenced who came to where and did what - not just within the U.S. but also from many other parts of the world - contributing... Read more
Having published about gunpowder manufacture on the American frontier for a college requirement, I was pleased to examine the displays in this museum, and the reference library. The museum covers... Read more
Museum of the Fur Trade
Hours
- Sun - Sat: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
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