Cheyenne, Wyoming, Souvenir Satin Pillow Cover With Fringe, Featuring “Out Where The West Begins” Poem

MOUNTAIN WEST. 
Taxonomy, Era. Home Decor, Wall Hanging, Pillowcase, Souvenir, c. 1960s. 

The illustration on this satiny pillowcase shows a cowboy on horseback leading a covered wagon down a trail westward toward a new life far away from eastern society’s trappings. Clearly Cheyenne, Wyoming, the city whose name graces this shiny, fringed sham, represented a prime example of where the west began and where there was “more of singing and less of sighing / more of giving and less of buying”. Founded when Union Pacific Railroad platted a townsite on its Crow Creek Crossing on July 5, 1867, this frontier destination was named for the Cheyenne Native American people. Cheyenne means ‘people of the strange tongue’ in the Arapaho language. The territory of Wyoming itself petitioned for statehood 7 times before having that status granted in 1890. The reason for the holdup was that lawmakers back east in Washington took issue with the fact Wyoming had given women the right to vote. Indeed just that nugget of history merits this region of our country commemoration on a beautiful fringed pillow slip. The poem “Out Where The West Begins” was published in 1917 by Arthur Chapman. It runs much longer in its original form and was turned into a popular song by Estelle Philleo. Estelle was a ‘New Woman’ and never married. She traveled the American west in the early 1900s teaching piano. One can imagine a cloth not unlike this sateen sham on her piano bench! The pillow cover is made to fit a cushion of 16” x 16”, but by itself—as it is sold here—would work well for draping or hanging, or as decorative wall art. 

Condition: Used Very Good. 
Local / Regional Areas. 
Dimensions: 19" square