BY LORI VAN PELT

The Wyoming State Historical Society hosts its annual meeting on September 6-7 in Torrington. The 1700-member organization celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and tours of Fort Laramie, the Western Heritage Center, the Homesteader’s Museum and an archeological dig site are on the agenda.

WSHS Executive Secretary Linda Fabian said, “The highlight of the annual meeting will be the Awards Ceremony on Saturday, September 7. People from across the United States will be recognized for their work that results in preserving and promoting Wyoming history.”

Although the registration deadline for the event has passed, historian Leslie Waggener will present a program entitled “Niobrara Oil Play” at Eastern Wyoming College on Saturday, September 7 at 2:00 p.m. This presentation, sponsored by the American Heritage Center Advisory Council in cooperation with the WSHS, is open to the general public. Admission is free. 

The Spring/Summer 2013 issue of Annals of Wyoming, the members-only magazine of the WSHS, examines the history of the Society in depth, tracing its beginnings to 1895 when the Legislature authorized its formation.  D. Claudia Thompson, a longtime American Heritage Center archivist, explains that the state librarian headed the group at that time. Budget constraints and other factors contributed to an eventual lapse of the organization.

Thompson’s article, “Preserving Wyoming’s Story: Lola Homsher and the Founding of the Wyoming State Historical Society,” details the impressive efforts of historian Lola Homsher, who encouraged people to organize a historical society in 1953. Since that time,  the group has grown to include members throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

University of Wyoming Associate Professor of History Phil Roberts takes up the Society’s growth years in  “The Partnership Years: The Wyoming State Historical Society and the State of Wyoming 1966-1994,” and AHC Reference Archivist Rachael Dreyer traces the causes and results of the Society’s separation from state government in the 1990s in “Let’s ‘Go It Alone’: The Wyoming State Historical Society’s Move to Independence.” 

There are currently 21 chapters of the WSHS, and the organization honors Homsher by presenting annual research grants in her name. WyoHistory.org, on line since 2011 and launched officially in March 2013, is a more recent project of the WSHS.

The year’s award winners will be announced in the October issue of the WSHS newsletter Wyoming History News.

For more information or to join the organization, visit the WSHS online at http://www.wyshs.org or call (307) 322-3014.

Field-trip fever

BY LORI VAN PELT

Dorothy Pahl taught fourth grade in Banner County, Neb., when I was young. In her class, we studied Nebraska history. Because my Van Pelt ancestors homesteaded our wheat farm and cattle ranch in 1887, I was especially fascinated by the stories of the pioneers and those who traveled the Oregon Trail.

Mrs. Pahl’s ancestors were also early homesteaders. She lived with her husband and children about a mile south of us. The Pahls were the neighbors who lived closest to our place. I felt a special kinship with Mrs. Pahl because of this shared history and also because she made learning fun. We prepared and presented a program for our parents and others about the pioneers. We dressed in period clothes; my mother sewed a long dress and sunbonnet of blue cotton with dotted Swiss daisies for me.

Another highlight was the class field trip to Fort Laramie, Wyo. How I looked forward to it! We would touch the sod where trappers, traders and other trail travelers trod so many years ago. On the spring morning of the field trip, though, I awoke with a fever and cough. Still, I begged my mother to let me go. She knew best and made me stay home.   

Twenty-three years later, Mrs. Pahl attended my wedding in Wyoming. A few years after that, my husband took me on that long-awaited Fort Laramie field trip. I visited the fort a second time when Western Writers of America held its annual convention in Wyoming. Now, for WyoHistory.org, I help compile information about field trips to historic sites throughout the state, providing students, teachers and others who are interested in visiting such fascinating places with plans for their journeys.  

I still keep the dress and sunbonnet in my hope chest. They remind me that while history can sometimes seem distant, the real story is about people and what they did and when and where. History can be as close at hand as your family and your next-door neighbors.

Mark your calendars:
Wyoming History Day, April 6-7, 2014

Wyoming History Day Coordinator Dick Kean reports that the dates for this year’s contest are set for April 6-7, 2014. The theme is “Rights and Responsibilities,” and the event will be held at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. For more information, contact Kean by emailing rkean@uwyo.edu or calling him at (307) 766-2300.

For information on how to make your own field trip to Fort Laramie, visit
http://www.wyohistory.org/field-trips/fort-laramie-national-historic-site.

See our Fort Laramie article, complete with extra historic and modern views of the fort, and a video of Casper students on a field trip to the fort, at http://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/fort-laramie.

Read Tom Rea’s article entitled “Peace, War, Land and a Funeral: The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868” at  http://www.wyohistory.org/essays/peace-war-land-and-funeral-fort-laramie-treaty-1868.

See Vickie Zimmer’s history of Goshen County at http://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/goshen-county-wyoming.

Please “like” WyoHistory.org on Facebook!

Check out our Calendar

Under “WyoHistory.org news” near the bottom of the home page, click on Learn more under “Calendar,” and find a Google calendar of upcoming talks, re-enactments, gatherings and other history-related events around Wyoming.

Please contact Editor Tom Rea at editor@wyohistory.org for information about how you can submit activities to our calendar of upcoming history events throughout Wyoming. 

Come join us as we explore Wyoming’s History. We welcome your feedback. Send comments, questions or suggestions to Tom Rea at editor@wyohistory.org.

Your support is appreciated

We want to keep this website as a permanent and growing archive of Wyoming’s history. We welcome your support. You can donate via PayPal, or contact Editor Tom Rea directly at editor@wyohistory.org.