AHC Events

2026 Rentschler Lecture

The Rentschler Lecture is back! Michelle Delaney presents on Buffalo Bill Cody’s adroit use of advertising to attract audiences from around the world and brand his traveling show as the authentic Wild West experience.

This year's Rentschler Lecture takes place Wednesday, February 25, 5:30 p.m. in the Stock Growers Room at the American Heritage Center.

About the speaker: Dr. Michelle Anne Delaney is the Acting Associate Director for Museum Research and Scholarship at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Previously, Delaney was Senior Program Officer and director of the Grand Challenges Consortium for Understanding the American Experience in the Smithsonian Office of the Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture. She also served as curator of photography in the Photographic History Collection, National Museum of American History. Delaney chaired the editorial committee for the Smithsonian American Women book and published her doctoral dissertation, Art and Advertising in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, with University of Oklahoma Press, both printed in 2019. An author and editor of several additional photography and history books, Delaney has curated 25 Smithsonian photography exhibitions and related digital projects. She received her History PhD in 2018, from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, and in 2024, she served as co-director for the NMAI-Smithsonian Folklife Festival, “Indigenous Voices of the Americas.”

 

 

Rails & Reels

This February, join us at the AHC for "Rails & Reels," a Thursday evening movie series featuring Westerns about railroads! We're screening the following:
• Once Upon a Time in the West | February 5
• Union Pacific | February 12
• 3:10 to Yuma (2007) | February 19
All showings are at 5:30 p.m. at the AHC. Admission is free, as are snacks! The exhibit hall will be open during each event. Come early and see "The West is Waiting," an exploration of how railroad companies used advertising to shape the American imagination of the West for over a century.