Large cabinet photograph taken by Charles C. Worden in Providence, R.I. circa 1890s-1900. The view is taken outside of a small, private traveling Wild West Show which was more common in the smaller towns in the East. They entertained the smaller towns and villages that had less chances to see this type of entertainment. This troupe has three covered wagons. Two larger wagons and one little cover wagon pulled by a burrow. You can see people inside of the wagon on the left. Surrounding the wagons are Indians, cowboys, cowgirls, workers, etc. Several of these are mounted on their horses. The left hand larger wagon is pulled by horses. The one on the far right is pulled by oxen. On the far right against the trees are what appear to be townspeople from the local area and some children standing in front of the oxen pulled wagon. People in these villages had very little to entertain them and looked forward to these troupes. It was a rare form of entertainment. As well, these smaller troupes eked out a meager living by traveling from place to place while weather allowed. Mainstream collectors want to emphasize mainly the images of such troupes such as Cody's and Pawnee Bill's. As you can see, I do too but love the images of these smaller troupes that had their part in entertaining the areas that the larger troupes never made it to. They are of great historical importance as well.
