Wyatt Earp is a legend, and Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park is hosting a grand opening event to display never-before-seen notes, letters, a manuscript, and photos about his life.
Arizona State Parks and Trails announced the event, which will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 7 at the Courthouse, 223 Toughnut Street in Tombstone.
There will also be faro demonstrations, photo props and family crafts and activities. Wyatt and Josephine Earp re-enactors will be on site for the day.
The collection includes handwritten letters from Josephine, Wyatt’s wife, to friend and unpaid secretary John H. Flood, Jr.; Flood’s handwritten notes for an Earp biography from interviews with Earp; 50 pages of carbon copies of an early typed manuscript of Earp’s biography, with edits; photos and negatives of Earp and Josephine in their later years and of Josephine’s return visit to Tombstone in the 1930s, and documents from Josephine’s last will and from Earp’s “Happy Days” mine. The entire collection was donated by Eric and Nicole Weider.
Some of the collection will be exhibited on a rotating basis, but the majority will be available year-round to researchers and Wild West enthusiasts. Wyatt Earp moved to Tombstone in 1879 during the silver boom with his brothers.
He and his brothers clashed with a group of outlaws called the Cowboys. The tensions culminated in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881.
