Buck Saunders

Colonel C. Burton “Buck” Saunders
1867 – Oct 1952

He collected guns & shared his collection with people who were interested
He left his guns to the city of Berryville, AR
He left money for the building and the property
May 1956 Saunders Museum opened

About Buck Saunders

Colonel C. Burton “Buck” Saunders was a marksman and collector whose firearms collection became the Saunders Memorial Museum in Berryville, Arkansas. He earned the nickname “Buck” for his shooting skill as a boy. His first collection was lost in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, and he rebuilt it before returning to Berryville in 1919. At a celebration of his 73rd birthday in 1936, Arkansas Governor J. Marion Futrell gave him the honorary title of “Colonel.” When he died in 1952, he left his collection, land and money for a building to the city of Berryville, and the city opened the museum in 1956.

The museum’s collection includes firearms linked to Jesse and Frank James, Belle Starr, Cole Younger, Cherokee Bill, Billy the Kid, Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody, as well as rare Colt Walker and Colt Paterson revolvers, a Bowie knife tied to Arkansas frontier history, Native American artifacts, Persian rugs and European art. The city still operates the museum seasonally at 113 E. Madison Ave., and in December 2023 a rifle Saunders had restored and given to a boy who worked at the museum some 70 years earlier was returned to the collection.

Key Facts

1906: First gun collection lost in the San Francisco earthquake and fire
1919: Returns to Berryville, Arkansas
1936: Named “Colonel” by Governor J. Marion Futrell on his 73rd birthday
1952: Dies, leaving his collection, land and building funds to Berryville
1956: Saunders Memorial Museum opens
December 2023: A rifle Saunders restored about 70 years earlier returns to the museum

Sources

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