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where the wild west comes alive
WOLA Board of Directors
The Western Outlaw-Lawmen History Association (WOLA) was founded in 1990. We have a great heritage to build from and a wide open future in a growing field of historical study. The association has a track record of quality Shootouts, our annual seminar and field trip, which faithfully adhere to the objectives of WOLA to study the authentic history of western outlaws and lawmen and visiting their haunts. This tradition will be continued with the 2007 Shootout to be held in Cheyenne, Wyoming on July 11-14 at the historic Plains Hotel.
The WOLA Awards Program has recognized numerous outstanding individuals for their contributions to our field of study.
WOLA has a quality quarterly Journal that has become the forum for publication of cutting edge western outlaw-lawmen history research. The Journal is first rate in content, presentation and authors and researchers. This is the type of documentary publication that is worthy of preservation in archives and libraries world-wide.
In order to keep WOLA moving forward I have proposed the following WOLA goals for the last half of the first decade of this new century.
- Membership Development - We need to develop a quality marketing plan to reach the people who share our interest but have not known of us. New ideas, new friends, new research discoveries.
- Publicity - WOLA needs a public relations strategy that will move us to the forefront in the western history field; we need to blow our own horn. We have a great program hiding under a bushel. Let's light the fire so big that it can't be hidden.
- Umbrella Organization - We need to reassess the concept of becoming the major "umbrella organization" for western outlaw-lawmen history; the time has come for this concept. Small special interest groups need exposure to promote their area of interest. This would provide these groups with wider access and current WOLA members with more knowledge of other interest areas.
- Corporate Partnerships - WOLA needs to develop some corporate underwriting for our programs; publications and events. This could include event advertisements, program sponsorships and merchandise tie-ins. This type of partnership could help fund an expanded WOLA website.
- Mid-Year Mini-Events - These activities might be located in the eastern US on a college campus and conducted in conjunction with the school. A sizable number of our membership resides in this geographic area. These mid-year events could be a seminar type, show-and-tell style presentations or specialty field trips to "old west" sights in the east.
Our second mission is to develop a closer partnership with NOLA our sister western history organization. Please note that I did not say merger. I said partnership. WOLA and NOLA share common interest and membership. We need each other as partners in preserving the history of frontier law enforcement. I have appointed an Ad Hoc Committee to begin this journey of partnership.
Thank you for interest in the field of outlaw-lawmen history.
Chuck Hornung, President