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Annie Oakley, American Folk Hero

Sharpshooter Oakley photographed by Richard Kyle Fox, 1899. Annie Oakley (August 13, 1860 - November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter and folk hero. She was able to help the family by hunting game for a grocery store, earning enough to pay off the mortgage for her mother's home. After beating him in a 1875 Thanksgiving shooting competition, the following year, Moses married Frank E. Butler, a top shooter and vaudeville performer. Oakley and Butler joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1885. The couple toured with the show for more than a decade and a half, with Oakley receiving the spotlight and top billing while Butler worked as her manager, assisting Oakley with her stunning displays of marksmanship. She could shoot off the end of a cigarette held in her husband's lips, hit the thin edge of a playing card from 30 paces, shoot distant targets while looking into a mirror, and shoot holes through cards thrown into the air before they landed. She continued to set records into her sixties, and was also engaged in philanthropy for women's rights. Her health declined and she died of pernicious anemia in 1926, at the age of 66. Butler was so grieved by her death, according to B. Haugen, that he stopped eating and died 18 days later.
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Title:
Annie Oakley, American Folk Hero
Caption:
Sharpshooter Oakley photographed by Richard Kyle Fox, 1899. Annie Oakley (August 13, 1860 - November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter and folk hero. She was able to help the family by hunting game for a grocery store, earning enough to pay off the mortgage for her mother's home. After beating him in a 1875 Thanksgiving shooting competition, the following year, Moses married Frank E. Butler, a top shooter and vaudeville performer. Oakley and Butler joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1885. The couple toured with the show for more than a decade and a half, with Oakley receiving the spotlight and top billing while Butler worked as her manager, assisting Oakley with her stunning displays of marksmanship. She could shoot off the end of a cigarette held in her husband's lips, hit the thin edge of a playing card from 30 paces, shoot distant targets while looking into a mirror, and shoot holes through cards thrown into the air before they landed. She continued to set records into her sixties, and was also engaged in philanthropy for women's rights. Her health declined and she died of pernicious anemia in 1926, at the age of 66. Butler was so grieved by her death, according to B. Haugen, that he stopped eating and died 18 days later.
Category:
black & white • History: Personalities
Credit:
Album / Science Source / LOC
Releases:
? Model Release: No - ? Property Release: No
Rights questions?
Image size:
2860 x 4200 px | 34.4 MB
Print size:
24.2 x 35.6 cm | 9.5 x 14.0 in (300 dpi)
Keywords: