`WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM": UNIVERSITY MUSEUM CORRALS ALL THINGS BUFFALO IN AN EXHIBITION

This metal sculpture of a buffalo by Mark Crowder is one of the items from the Lon Maxey Collection.

Lon Maxey spent years hunting buffalo. The bounty is now on exhibit at the University Museum.

"Where the Buffalo Roam" is a fanciful revue of Maxey's eclectic collection of images and all manner of things buffalo.

Maxey began collecting buffalo artifacts about 15 years ago. Before he stopped, he amassed a collection of more than 400 pieces he eventually donated to the museum.

From buffalo pajamas, sheet music for a song about buffalo, souvenirs from the 1901 World Exposition held in Buffalo, N.Y., buffalo postcards, and buffalo salt and pepper shakers to fine works of art depicting the beast, Maxey collected almost anything that had a connection to the buffalo.

Maxey has never collected anything other than buffalo and doesn't have a esoteric explanation for his singular fixation. "I always kind of liked the buffalo," he said. "It's an all-American animal."

In her written comments on the exhibit, University Museum Director Dr. Jenny Strayer points out that the American buffalo has symbolized stability and individualism as well as tragedy "as we recognize the animal's inevitable demise in confronting greater forces."

The birth of the buffalo collection coincided with the death of Maxey's first wife. "They pretty much filled my whole basement," he said. "I had cabinets built with glass cases."

Then Maxey built a new house that didn't have room for the collection, so he gave it to the University Museum.

Some of the items are quaint and inexpensive. One of the finer works, a wooden carving, was featured in Western Art magazine.

The metal sculpture of a buffalo that is the exhibit's centerpiece was commissioned. Other works were sent to him by galleries that knew he was searching for buffaloes.

Maxey, who formerly owned General Sign Co., was on the lookout for buffalo during all his travels. He found three pieces at an art show in London, and another in Germany.

Images of the American buffalo became very popular in Europe at one time, Strayer says.

"Where the Buffalo Roam" also has a Junior Bison Gallery where kids can draw their own buffalo pictures.

The show will be on display through July.