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Occasionally, the Museum becames an Art Gallery , during an annual Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition and Sale each year in June. The Prix de West Artists sell original works of art as a fundraiser for the Museum. It was established in 1955 as the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum, from an idea proposed by Chester A. Reynolds , to honor the cowboy and his era. Later that same year, the named was changed to the '''National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum'''. In 1960 the name was changed aqain to the "National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center." The American Association of Museums gave the museum full accreditation in 2000 , the year the museum took on its present name. To maintain the memory of the founder, the museum grants the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award . This prize is granted to a person or institution contributing in the preservation of American West History and Heritage. The museum encompasses more than 200,000 square feet of display space, The museum's collection includes over 2,000 works of western Art , the "William S. and Ann Atherton Art of the American West Gallery". There is a 15,000-square-foot exhibit space which contains Landscape s, Portrait s, colorful Still Life s and Sculpture s by 19th and 20th-century artists. It includes over 200 works by Charles Marion Russell , Frederic Remington , Albert Bierstadt , Solon Borglum , Charles Schreyvogel and other early artists lead to the Museum's prize collection of contemporary Western art created over the last 30 years by award-winning Prix de West artists. The gallery also includes over 700 pieces by Edward S. Curtis , and over 350 from Joe DeYong ( 1894 – 1975 ). The historical galleries include:
The Museum also houses Prosperity Junction, a 14,000-square-foot authentic turn-of-the-century Western prairie town. Visitors can stroll the streets, peek in some of the store windows and actually walk into some of the fully furnished buildings. The town comes alive with historical figures once a year during the Museum's annual holiday open house, "A Night Before Christmas." The Museum gives the Wrangler, an impressive original , William S. Hart , Tom Mix , Hoot Gibson , Ken Maynard , Tim McCoy , Harry Carey , Roy Rogers , Gene Autry , Tex Ritter , Rex Allen , John Wayne , Randolph Scott , Joel McCrea , Richard Widmark , James Stewart , Ben Johnson all the way up to Tom Selleck . A list of Wranglers recipients in all categories can be viewed on the museum's website. The Rodeo Hall of Fame recipients are not honored during the Western Heritage Awards. They celebrate at another event and present medallions to their inductees, not Wranglers. The Museum includes three Halls of Fame:
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