Mayme Stroud Riding BlackBird
Cowtown is home to a fairly new museum: Cowgirl Hall of Fame. The picture above was scanned from an old postcard that my great grandmother had hidden in her Sears and Roebuck oak dresser that I inherited after her passing. A few years ago, I submitted the necessary paperwork to nominate Mayme to the Hall of Fame. I also was fortunate to share a couple of emails with a great nephew of Mayme's who was trying unsuccessfully to get this deserving cowgirl on the honor roll. My experience with the Cowgirl Hall of Fame has led me to believe only those cowgirls with beaucoup money and land holdings get into this snippy little club. Not to belittle some of the ladies who have made it, but it would appear that the committee for membership want only the rich and famous. I wonder if some ( not all, now mind you) of the honorees or their families coincidentally made large donations to the museum? Maybe just my suspicious nature.
Mayme Stroud hailed from Colorado, and was the world's champion Lady Roman rider. She often took first place in bronc and trick riding from about 1917 and into the 1920's. Her husband, Leonard Stroud, was the world's champion trick and fancy rider, a champion all-around cowboy in 1918, holding three world titles at one time.
For further educational reading of the life and times of these old-time rodeo cowboys and cowgirls,
this site (then click on "Rodeo News") is a quick trip back in time.
My great grandfather, Joe Gus Bartlett, was an avid rodeo fan, and I believe all the old postcards and memorabilia I found in Granny B's effects once belonged to him. In past posts, I have written about their son and my great uncle, Vernon Bartlett, as being a real, honest-to-goodness cowboy with all the virtues of that trade and then some. Uncle Vernon would be happy to see that I haven't forgotten these fellows, and that I did my part in trying to get Mayme inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. I am just sorry to have failed. Maybe I need to practice my "Cowboy Up" skills more. Or, inherit a big-assed ranch, and throw some money around. Either way, Mayme is in for a long wait.
1 comment:
Hey, it's Texas T-Bone here. I haven't been to the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, but if it's like most museums, you're probably right about it. The benefactors get most (or all) of the space for posterity, and many of the real, genuine people who left lasting marks (on whatever subject) aren't included. That means museums offer an at best skewed version of what's important.
On a lighter note, how's it going?
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