MUSEUM OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE

ANNIE OAKLEY

1860-1926. Phoebe Anne Mosey was born in Patterson Township, Darke County, Ohio. She began hunting at the age of nine to support her widowed mother and siblings, and sold the game to neighbors. Later, in a shooting contest with vaudeville performer Frank E. Butler (1850-1926), Annie beat him. They were married, and she joined his act. In 1885, they became part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Annie was the star attraction for seventeen years with her trick shooting. Annie Oakley overcame poverty, mistreatment, and broke barriers for women by her activism for women's rights and other causes. After Annie's death at the age of 66, it was revealed that her accumulated fortune had been spent supporting various charities. Annie has been portrayed on stage or in film by Ethel Merman, Betty Hutton, Barbara Stanwyck, and Bernadette Peters. Her adventures appear in comic books, novels, and TV.

Enter