Annie Oakley Foundation Home Page

Created 12/20/04
© The Annie Oakley Foundation
Updated 12/19/05

The Annie Oakley Foundation
P.O. Box 127
Greenville, Ohio 45331

Annie Oakley Foundation Mission

The mission of the Annie Oakley Foundation is to provide accurate information on the life and legend of Annie Oakley, to disseminate educational materials, and to create and maintain the Annie Oakley Education, Cultural and Sports Activity Center.

History

The Annie Oakley Foundation, a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization was created and incorporated in 1984 by her closest living family members to clarify and authenticate the life and career of this Ohio pioneer woman.

On the way to achieving the mission, troubling flaws were found in the early biographies of Phoebe Ann Mosey. Endless effort, which grew from a few months to years, has been put forth to research and correct false allegations, and erroneous, long-held beliefs. These efforts included searching early census on National Archives microfilm; corresponding with historians across the nation; studying the many scrapbooks compiled by Annie and her husband, Frank Butler; and using Annie's unfinished autobiography. News of renewed interest, honors and film-shoots have been covered in our newsletter Taking Aim, which began in 1988.

Although Annie was not a westerner, she had always been identified as one by writers and filmmakers because of her role as the star attraction with the Buffalo Bill Wild West show. Annie blazed a trail in many areas of sports and entertainment.

Interest in her life and career has grown because of the remarkable way she and Frank Butler, her husband-manager and agent, handled her career and her celebrity. She has become a role model for students and foundation members ranging in age from nine to ninety.

Telling It Like It Was

The Foundation has invested much time, effort and money producing Annie Oakley: American Legend, the film which will finally "tell it like it was." Proceeds from the sale of this film will help fund the building of the Annie Oakley Center. This Center, built for and dedicated to a woman, will be one of only a few built for and dedicated to a woman, out of more than 8,200 museums in the United States.

Along the way, The Annie Oakley Foundation has also assisted with arrangements for the following:

Induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993, after one nomination.
The issue of the Annie Oakley postage stamp in the Western Legends Series by the USPS, after dozens of nominations over a 13-year period.
The first film, In the Name of Love, focused on the 46-year, happy marriage of Annie to Frank Butler. It was one in a series called "Amazing Love Stories," which Hearst Entertainment produced for Lifetime Cable.
A segment in a documentary film to celebrate the 75th Anniversary or the Women's Rights Movement. Filmed in Darke County by Alvin Cooperman, producer for ABC.
Three short interviews filmed on various Annie historical sites became "film-bytes" for PBS-Columbus, NBC-Dayton and CBS-Cleveland. The last one was shot at an Annie site by the Cleveland crew, and was used as film bytes for the premier of Buffalo Girls, in which Reba McIntire played Annie.
The Circus Hall of Fame in Peru, Indiana, inducted Annie Oakley into their Hall and Museum of Actors in July, 1998.
Greystone Communications, Inc. was commissioned by Disney to produce the life story of Annie Oakley. The Foundation assisted by making arrangements in advance for the shoot. In addition, 19 personal slides were loaned for the film which was shown on the Disney owned History Channel in its Biography series.
Hundreds of inquiries about Annie's early life led us to encourage Governor Taft to rename US Highway 127 as the Annie Oakley Memorial Pike. It passes where Annie Oakley's girlhood home stood until the early 1950's when it was razed for road improvements. Personal testimony before the Ohio Senate and the House of Representatives let to the unanimous approval, and Govern Taft's signing, of House Bill 481. The Dedication Ceremony was held in Greenville, Ohio on July 28, 2000.
The proposed Annie Oakley Cultural and Activity Center will be one-quarter mile off the Annie Oakley Pike in Greenville, Ohio. The land for the Center has been offered for sale to the Foundation by the owners. A three-year purchase option allows the Foundation time to raise funds for the purchase of the property as well as the construction of the Annie Oakley Center.