Harold McCracken (1894–1983) was an American writer, Alaskan grizzly bear hunter, biplane stunt photographer, cinematographer, producer and museum director. He was a noted explorer, who led expeditions in the 1920s tracing the possibility of a long-ago land bridge between Siberia and Alaska.

Expeditions

In 1913 at age 18 McCracken traveled by train to British Columbia where he lived with relatives for a time. 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.

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.

Works