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Indigenous People in Wyoming and the West

Women’s Suffrage and Women’s Rights

From Sparti and his Spear to Pete and his Pistol

Dressed as a cowboy and donning a large stick-on mustache, graduate student Don Bogdan quickly became recognized as the “loudest and most obvious Cowboy fan at University of Wyoming sports events.” His portrayal of Pistol Pete became a staple at sporting events at University of Wyoming. Learn more about the man behind the mustache and the origins of Wyoming’s most beloved icons.

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Jaggar in the Absarokas

In 1893, young geologist Thomas Jaggar joined Arnold Hague’s expedition to map the Absaroka Mountains east of Yellowstone. Their 77-day journey through Wyoming’s rugged terrain documented the geology of what would become Shoshone National Forest, producing some of the earliest photographs and scientific records of this remote region.

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Crime Spree Across Southwest Wyoming

On March 4, 1955, Charles Billings began a 16-hour crime spree across southwest Wyoming that left two men dead and terrorized multiple communities. Starting with a burglary in Kemmerer, Billings murdered Albert Maffei, wounded two others, kidnapped a teenager in Evanston, killed Deputy Sheriff Ed Phillips, and was ultimately killed in a shootout with law enforcement in Green River after taking a family hostage.

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Reborn in Robes

Founded in 1915, the Second Klu Klux Klan spread rapidly across the United States in the 1920s—including in Wyoming. Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross and prominent historian T.A. Larson claimed that the Klan did not have much influence in Wyoming, but newspaper records show otherwise. Uncover the hidden truth of Klan activities in Wyoming.

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Who was Lucretia Marchbanks?

Lucretia Marchbanks experienced her first gold rush as an enslaved woman on the California Trail—it wouldn’t be her last. After the Civil War, gold rushes again brought her west, to Colorado and finally Deadwood, where she found fortune and fame. Learn more about a self-made woman’s journey from slavery to ranch life in Wyoming’s Black Hills.

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The Origin Story of Pistol Pete
Jaggar in the Absarokas
Crime Spree Across Southwest Wyoming
Who was Lucretia Marchbanks?

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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.

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