bolos with Sandfield that accompanies the exhibit. While the authors found pictures with bolos in magazines and other publications from the 1950s and 60s, Pardue said there was little written about them.

One common story is that Wickenburg, Ariz., silversmith Victor Cedarstaff hung his silver-trimmed hatband around his neck on a windy day in the 1940s while on horseback to keep it from flying away. Someone comment just how nice his "tie" looked. Cedarstaff later patented it. Others say the bolo tie as fashioned by American Indian artists appeared much earlier.

Western television personalities including the Cisco Kid, Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers helped popularize the bolo.

The bolo tie long has been a staple of western wear in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and surrounding states, and generally is an acceptablereplacement for a cloth or bow tie. Popular with men and women, bolos have carried over to more trendy fashion.

New Mexico lawmakers declared the bolo the official state tie in 2007 — following up on a non-binding memorial nearly 20 years earlier. What legislators wore around their necks prompted spirited debates about which chamber had the more professionally-attired members — the bolo-sporting senators or the representatives whose rules didn't allow bolos on the floor until 2009.

Said Sandfield, "The simple rule is — if there are any rules — is that the higher you wear it to the collar, the dressier it is. The lower you wear it, the more casual it is."

Don Prusakowski promotes the wearing of the ties through the Bola Tie Society of Arizona. Yes, bola.