Photograph of Buffalo Bill and Wild West Cast Members in a Gondola in Venice, ca. 1890s

William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody sitting in a gondola with a group of four Native American men while touring in Venice, Italy.

(Denver Public Library Special Collections)

Sioux (Dakota) Chief Rocky Bear sits to the right of Cody wearing a feather headdress. Sioux (Dakota) Chief Black Heart, also wearing a feather headdress, sits on the ledge of the gondola. The other two Sioux men wear feathers on the back of their heads. All four Sioux men wear hairpipe bead breastplates. Cody wears a Stetson hat and striped pants. He has long gray hair and a goatee and mustache.

Two gondoliers, one in front and one in back, push the gondola with long poles. Another man stands in the back of the boat pointing toward something in the distance. Numerous city buildings line the shore of the river in the background in Venice.