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Contexts of Wyoming History

By Gwendolyn Kristy

Most historians, archaeologists, and others will argue that there is an indisputable connection between the past, present, and future. As former Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal recognized in 2004, “Our past is the foundation on which the future is built” (Wolf 2016).

Over the coming months, WyoHistory.org will be publishing “historic contexts.” So, what are they?

A New Chapter for Annals of Wyoming

If you’re a Wyoming history enthusiast, you’ve likely come across Annals of Wyoming: The Wyoming History Journal. Maybe you grew up with the journal or more recently discovered a great article about early ranching, Native American history, women’s suffrage, or mining. Or maybe you found a helpful book review about Wyoming and regional history. For more than a century, Annals has been the go-to journal for serious Wyoming history, publishing everything from scholarly articles to personal memoirs.

garvestone withe Japanese character engraved into the granite and a jar of sunflowers on the corner

Lost and Found

By Lena (Sunada-Matsumura) Newlin

“A cemetery is a history of people – a perpetual record of yesterday and a sanctuary of peace and quiet today. A cemetery exists because every life is worth loving and remembering – always.”

– Inscription on the welcome stone at Greenhill Cemetery, Laramie, Wyoming

young woman posing in a heavy military costume holding a large gun

When Wyoming Became an Alien Planet: Two Extras Remember Starship Troopers

By Leslie Waggener

In the spring of 1996, the barren landscape of Hell’s Half Acre transformed into the alien planet Klendathu. For six weeks, Hollywood descended on the geological oddity 40 miles west of Casper, bringing with them director Paul Verhoeven, stars like Casper Van Dien and Denise Richards, and about 300 local extras ready to become Mobile Infantry troopers.

A man and a woman pose in front of a construction site

Legacy 101: How Wyoming Remembers Nellie Tayloe Ross

By American Heritage Center Historian Kail Moede

Editor's note: The following post originally appeared on "Discover History," the blog of the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center. We’re pleased to share it with our readers as we mark the 101st anniversary of Nellie Tayloe Ross taking the oath of office as Wyoming's and the nation's first woman governor on January 5, 1925.

Drawing of two minders in their work clothes, holding bags, with a woman pedestrian looking at them from the sidewalk f a snowy street. There is a stone house on a rise in the background

Carrie Arnold’s Pen and Ink Holidays

When Bill Lagos sent holiday greetings, he didn’t reach for store-bought cards. Instead, he commissioned Carrie Arnold to create elegant pen-and-ink drawings of Wyoming towns.

Illustration of two white men in Klan robes, the younger holding a cross in flames, with the caption "The Fiery Cross of old Scotland's hills!"

Available at Your Local Library: The Novel That Welcomed the Ku Klux Klan to Wyoming

By Leslie Waggener

In 1913, Wyoming’s Casper Record made an unusual offer to new subscribers: sign up for a year, and they’d throw in a free copy of Thomas Dixon’s novel The Clansman—a book that glorified the Ku Klux Klan as heroes. Eight years later, when Klan recruiters arrived in Wyoming, they found audiences already primed by this very novel to see hooded riders as defenders of American values.

Woman on the balcony of a fire tower lookout gazes over a distant forested horizon

WyoHistory.org Looks to the Future

WyoHistory.org releases a statement on their recent separation from the Wyoming Historical Society.

Photo, labeled "Laramie Wyoming 1873," shows wooden storefront with sign, "F. Prahl Dry Goods and Groceries / Tobacco and Cigars / Four and Feed." Several people stand on the wooden boardwalk in front.

From Fresh Oysters to Self-Checkout: 150 Years of Grocery Shopping in Laramie

As you navigate crowded aisles and tap through self-checkout screens this Thanksgiving, take a moment to consider how far we’ve come with Judy Knight.

Kathy Karpan smiling and sitting at a table

“Take the Jump”: Kathy Karpan on Breaking Barriers and Building Wyoming’s Future

In a 2022 interview with Aubrey Edwards, former Wyoming Secretary of State (1987-1995) considered her legacy. Women like Nellie Tayloe Ross, Minnie Mitchell, and Thyra Thomson had blazed trails before her, but Karpan represented a new chapter—women running and winning on their own political merits.