THE PAUL L. HEDREN COLLECTION

Historian and author Paul L. Hedren spent many years building his outstanding collection of Charles King's works. Hedren's career as ranger, historian, and superintendent of important historic sites in the American West fueled his interest in the era of the Indian Wars and in the career and writings of Charles King. His collection on King includes nearly every edition of every title published, original photographic prints, original correspondence and other manuscripts, and one of King's journals.

In pursuing his research on Charles King, Hedren became acquainted with Don Russell, a pioneer historian of the Indian Wars and author of The Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill. Russell had known Charles King, personally, and had written a biography of him in 1933, but the work had not been published. In 1984, collector John M. Carroll acquired a copy of the unpublished King biography, and, together with Hedren, persuaded Russell to endorse its publication. Thus, Campaigning with King, Russell's biography of Charles King, edited by Paul Hedren, was published in 1986, two years after the author's death. The Paul L. Hedren Collection now resides, fittingly, with the Don Russell Collection within the archives of the McCracken Research Library.