Wyoming’s history comes alive through the voices of those who lived it. This collection features oral history interviews from repositories across the state, preserving firsthand accounts of Wyoming’s people, places, and events.
Each oral history identifies its source repository and includes audio recordings and transcripts.
This is a growing collection. WyoHistory.org welcomes partnerships with Wyoming repositories to share oral histories with wider audiences.
Greenhill Cemetery sits in the heart of Laramie, Wyoming, bordered on all sides by streets and obscured by a chain link fence and trees. It's easy to forget that the final resting place of many of Laramie's citizens, both historical and contemporary, is surrounded entirely by the University of Wyoming campus. With its dirt paths, resident mule deer, large pine trees and community gardens, it's a peaceful and wind-protected refuge that attracts walkers and runners in addition to those in mourning.
Despite being only open for 16 years, Lange’s Bookshop became a beloved fixture in downtown Casper, Wyoming. Robert and Naomi Lange opened their bookshop in 1967, profoundly shaping Casper’s cultural life.
Their daughter, Rebecca Hein shared her memories of growing up in the bookshop with WyoHistory.org Founder and Editor Emeritus Tom Rea in 2023. Both Rebecca and Tom worked in Lange’s Bookshop and then years later, together on WyoHistory.org where Rebecca worked as an assistant editor until her retirement in 2025.
Jacqueline “Jackie” Ellis (1929-2025) grew up in Kemmerer and Green River, Wyoming, in the 1930s and 1940s. She graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1953, then moved to Casper, where she worked for Ohio Oil Company (later Marathon) during the city’s postwar oil boom. In 1955 she married Frank “Pinky” Ellis. Together they raised three children in Casper, while she later taught business and English at Kelly Walsh High School for more than twenty years.
In the 1990s, Jenna Baumgart served the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra as principal viola, personnel manager and music librarian. She was responsible for locating and hiring import musicians, and making sure they got paid.
Belinda Waldron, cello, played in the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s.
Virginia Himes began playing violin in the Casper Civic Symphony in 1974 and retired from what had become the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra in 2019, totaling 45 years.
Amy Cowell played cello in the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s when in high school. She now plays regularly as an import musician, commuting from Laramie, Wyoming.
Susan Stanton joined the orchestra in 1994, and still played violin in the symphony as of the end of the 2023-2024 season.
Richard Turner was principal bassoon with the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra starting in 1996, and is still in the orchestra. The symphony featured him as a local soloist in spring 1999, when he performed the Mozart Bassoon Concerto.
Dino Madsen played cello in the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra while a student at Casper College, in the 1990s.
Holly Turner, a fund-raising fireball, was executive director in the 1990s. She implemented the Dream Home project, which involved a substantial proportion of Casper’s business community. Dream Home netted the symphony about $130,000, a new precedent in fundraising.
Carolyn Deuel played every percussion instrument except tympani, in the Casper and Wyoming Symphony Orchestras, from 1976 through the present. Her specialty is mallet percussion.
Rick Rognstad, cello and bass, played cello in the Casper Civic Symphony while in high school and also as an import during the years he attended college in Colorado. He won the Young Artist Competition on bass as a high school junior.
Deborah Bovie played cello in the symphony starting in about 1974 and was still in the orchestra as of the end of the 2023 season. This totals 49 years, making her the person who has served in the symphony the longest. She was usually assistant principal cello, but did pinch-hit occasionally as principal.
Andrea (Reynolds) DiGregorio, cello, joined the Casper Youth Symphony sometime during her junior high school years, younger than most students. She won the Civic Symphony Young Artist Competition when in high school.
Delores Thornton played second flute in the Casper Civic Symphony starting in 1976 for about four years, and then became principal flute. She continued as principal through the Casper Symphony years, and also well into the Wyoming Symphony years, retiring in 2021.
Dale Bohren played in the Civic Symphony bass section while in high school and later, during the Casper Symphony years, played in the orchestra including sometimes as principal bass. During the Wyoming Symphony’s first years he was executive director, pulling the orchestra out of a major financial slump.
Rebecca Hein began playing cello in the Casper Civic Symphony as a high school sophomore, in September 1971. She played all through high school, and as an import from the University of Wyoming through May 1977. From 1992 through 1999, she served as principal cello in the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra.
John Kirk was principal cello of the Casper Symphony Orchestra from 1981 to 1983. His position was the first of conductor Curtis Peacock’s project to supply the orchestra with key “core musicians:” professional-caliber performers whose job was to provide leadership for their section.
John Stovall played bass in the Casper Civic Symphony while in high school. Traveling further, geographically and professionally, than any other Casper classical musician, he ended up in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he still plays in the bass section.
The Wyoming Symphony Orchestra (WSO), based in Casper, began as the Casper Philharmonic Orchestra in 1925. It is likely the oldest independent cultural organization in Wyoming. This all-amateur ensemble of local musicians performed its first concert in November 1927, attracting an audience of 1,600 people. The orchestra performed under various names and directors through the 1930s and early 1940s until World War II temporarily halted its activities. In 1947, it was revived as the Casper Civic Symphony.
On May 16, 1986, a man and woman entered Cokeville Elementary School in Cokeville, Wyoming, took 154 people hostage, and detonated a bomb in a first grade classroom. These oral histories, compiled by the Wyoming State Archives, preserve the remembrances of people involved in one way or another with the Cokeville Elementary School bombing.
On October 17, 1969, University of Wyoming Head Coach Lloyd Eaton dismissed 14 Black football players from the team when they sought to discuss wearing black armbands during an upcoming game against Brigham Young University. The incident drew national attention at a time when the country was already divided over civil rights and the Vietnam War. The negative publicity affected Wyoming’s football program for years.
Wyoming’s governors have shaped the state’s political, economic, and social development since 1869. These oral history interviews capture the perspectives of Wyoming governors who served during pivotal periods in the state’s history. The interviews document their experiences with the Wyoming Legislature, their approaches to executive leadership, and their handling of major policy issues, including water rights, mineral taxation, environmental regulation, and the relationship between state and federal government.
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Allred, Golden, Bighorn Basin trapper | Washakie Museum and Cultural Center |