Kitchen Canvas Prints
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, Annie Oakley, and Aunt Hatte: The Spirit Behind Camp Tipi Mitawa
The Wild West Comes East - 1890's to 1910
In 1883, William “Buffalo Bill” Cody created Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, a spectacular traveling show that brought dramatized frontier life to audiences across the United States and Europe. The show featured real cowboys, trick riders, sharpshooters, and Native American performers—particularly from the Lakota (Sioux) nation—whose tepees (tipis) became a lasting symbol of the “Wild West.”
Annie Oakley: America’s First Female Superstar
Annie Oakley, born in Ohio in 1860, rose from humble beginnings to international fame as a sharpshooter in Buffalo Bill’s show. She amazed crowds with her accuracy, grace, and poise—breaking stereotypes about what women could do in the 19th century. At the height of her career, she was the most famous woman in the world.
Aunt Hatte: Sharpshooter
Like Annie Oakley, Aunt Hatte, the founder of Camp Tipi Mitawa, was a skilled sharpshooter. The well-known photograph of her holding a rifle reflects both her confidence and the era’s fascination with frontier marksmanship. Although family stories once described Camp Tipi Mitawa as a “hunting cabin,” no records or logbook entries mention hunting—suggesting instead that the rifle symbolized her spirit of adventure and independence, much like Oakley’s.
Why “Tipi Mitawa”?
The camp’s name, Tipi Mitawa, means “My Tepee” in Lakota, the language of the Sioux people who were featured in Buffalo Bill’s show. This is distinct from the Algonquian language of the Abenaki tribes native to New Hampshire, who lived in wigwams rather than tepees.
The use of a Lakota name—rather than a local Native one—strongly suggests that Aunt Hatte drew inspiration not from local Indigenous culture, but from the popular imagery of the American West made famous by Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Annie Oakley.
A Legacy of Imagination and Independence
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show toured through New England in the late 1800s and early 1900s, captivating audiences with its blend of spectacle, culture, and myth. A Wild West poster once hung in Camp Tipi Mitawa’s kitchen for nearly a century, reinforcing the connection between the camp’s founding vision and the show that celebrated frontier life.
