Oscar Dowe photo of Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Authenticating the Dowe cabinet card
For two years (2015-2016) I researched an 1880s cabinet card by photographer Oscar S. Dowe owned by my brother Brian Mida Bleecker, who for many years was an Old West shop owner and collector. After undertaking several analyses, I authenticated it as a previously unknown photograph of Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh – otherwise more notoriously known as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
At the time we published the eBook, we didn’t know what would happen:
But it was so exciting. It still is!
The Video
Shortly thereafter we published a video telling you all about the discovery, how it fits into the Cassidy & Sundance legend, and describing my authentication methods:
It took a while, but starting in about November 2017 the viewership started to increase. As of the end of April 2018, the video has been viewed over 16,500 times.
The 2017 Wrap Up
Late in 2017 I published a series of 5 posts describing the very interesting outcomes of all our efforts to raise awareness in Wild West, media, and academic groups:
Raucous jeers, faint cheers, and deafening silence: the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid cabinet card (by O.S. Dowe) in 2017, with guest blogger Brian Mida Bleecker and a nod to Billy the Kid Part 1 2 3 4 5
2018
2018 lies before us. Who knows where it all will end up before the year is over!
