A former staffer at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West claims the institution failed to return some of her valuable personal possessions after firing her in 2019. The center, however, says that’s not true.

In a pending suit filed in Park County District Court, a former assistant curator at the center, Bonnie Smith, asks for various property back, plus economic damages. Smith’s complaint says the materials include “incredibly rare and valuable items.”

“It is believed that the value of the items exceed $70,000 …,” her attorney, Christopher King of Worland, wrote in the Jan. 25 complaint.

However, in a March 18 response, the Center of the West denied that it has wrongfully retained or failed to return any of Smith’s possessions.

Her lawsuit specifically references film footage of John Wayne’s 1976 visit to Cody. The legendary Western actor served as the grand marshal of the Cody Stampede Parade that year and visited the then-Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Smith says she loaned the center two Super 8 films of Wayne in September 2014, apparently so that the footage could be digitized.

She says she’s still owed those films and a list of other items that include: books, children’s activity books, her Rolodex, personal research and notes on educational programs, two external hard drives, weather data, printed articles, posters, miscellaneous notes, a box of personal contacts and cards, a tote of personal purchases and miscellaneous office decor.

“These items have yet to be returned even though multiple demands have been made,” the suit alleges.

In a response filed by Cheyenne attorneys Amanda Esch and Grant Rogers, the Center of the West says Smith did bring personal items to the center and she did loan items to the institution, but they “were then returned.” The center specifically “denies that it has failed to return the Super 8 movies.”

Esch and Rogers are asking for the suit to be dismissed, also arguing there’s not actually enough value in dispute for the case to be heard at the district court level.

Smith worked for the Center of the West from May 2010 until her termination in March 2019, serving as an assistant curator of the center’s Draper Natural History Museum. Her suit is filed against the nonprofit organization that runs the center, the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association.

No hearings had been scheduled in the case as of Tuesday.