In 1913 at age 18 McCracken traveled by train to
British Columbia where he lived with relatives for a time.[2] McCracken undertook several expeditions to Alaska from 1916 to 1928. The first expedition was intended to obtain several big game specimens for a museum at
Ohio State University.[3]
Buffalo Bill Historical Center
McCracken, who was then living at 318 Warwick Avenue in
Douglaston, New York and completing a book on artist
George Catlin, was persuaded to transform an empty building donated by Gertrude Vanderbilt-Whitney in 1959 into the spectacular
Buffalo Bill Historical Center in
Cody, Wyoming. "I wouldn't undertake it again for all the tea in China," he said, "but I was always interested in challenges. I had friends in New York art galleries and I knew a lot of collectors because of my interest in western art." He was subsequently honored with the
McCracken Research Library, dedicated in 1980. New library facilities were then opened to the public in 1994. McCracken retired from the Buffalo Bill Museum in 1974, and continued to live with his family, within sight of the historical center, until his death in 1983.[4]
Works
God's Frozen Children (1930) Garden City, NY: Doubleday
The American Cowboy (1973) Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
The Beast That Walks Like Man: The Story of the Grizzly Bear. (1955) Garden City, NY: Hanover House.
Beyond the Frozen Frontier. (1936) NY: Robert Speller Publishing Corp.
The Biggest Bear on Earth. (1943) Philadelphia and New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
The Buffalo Bill Story: A Brief Account. (n.d.) Cody, Wyo.: Buffalo Bill Historical Center.