Wyoming State Museum

Happy Cheyenne Day! The museum is open and ready to celebrate with you.

One of our favorite things to do in Cheyenne is the Big Boot Tour. The eight-foot-tall cowboy boots have been carefully painted by local artists to show the history of Cheyenne and Wyoming. You can grab a boot tour brochure from us at the Wyoming State Museum and enjoy finding them all throughout the city, starting with "Licensed to Boot" which was painted by the Carey Junior High Art Club.

🦖🌿Thank you to the 1000+ dinosaur enthusiasts who roared into the Wyoming State Museum for Dino Day on Saturday, July 13! We had a dino-mite time and hope you did too! A huge thank you to our partners from the University of Wyoming Geological Museum, Wyoming Geological Survey, Fossil Butte National Monument, and Northmen Exotics for helping make this event possible.

We had a blast exploring the Field of Dinos, touching fossils, meeting reptiles, watching chickens, crawling through the Tunnel Through Time, posing in the photo booth, crafting, and playing games with all of you. Your enthusiasm made the day unforgettable!

Stay tuned for more exciting events and programs at the Wyoming State Museum.

The tipi is up for summer!

Thanks to a generous grant from , we have a brand new 3-pole tipi! What makes it a 3-pole? It's the number of poles used in the tipi's foundation. Then, the remaining poles are placed around them. Three-pole tipis are common among Plains tribes, like the Lakota, and are much sturdier than other designs.

Come by and check it out! Also, a BIG thank you to the folks from the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office who helped us install 🙂

🎨 On Tuesday, July 9, we celebrated the opening of a printmaking exhibit created by students in our first ever Creative Aging program! Over the course of 8 weeks, these students learned the art of printmaking, beginning with a line sample project and then completing two or more finished products for the exhibit.

"My biggest takeaway from this class is that I could do it. The people, the art, and the friendships are what I will remember most." - Martha J. Rodriguez

We invite you to come see this exhibit for yourself now through the end of August!

Thank you to Wyoming Arts Council for supporting this incredible program. And thank you to Cathy Barnes, our talented and beloved instructor!

We chose to share this painting, "Potter’s Bull" by Thomas Mesker, in honor of National Cattle Appreciation Day. It is a copy of a Dutch painting called, "The Young Bull" by Paulus Potter. It was originally displayed in the historic Cheyenne Club that was organized in 1880, by twelve prominent Cheyenne cattlemen. The club was very elegant with expensive furnishings, two grand staircases, billiard and reading rooms, six sleeping rooms, and a trained chef for the restaurant.

This painting is best known for the damage it allegedly received at the hands of member, John Coble in 1895. Mr. Coble is reported to have disliked the image and shot it with his revolver. A hole still visible in the painting is believed to have been caused by that bullet. Coble was suspended from the club as a result.

The painting can currently be seen in the Ceremonial Conference Room in the Wyoming State Capitol.

🦖 We're one week away from Dino Day, our biggest Family Day of the year! Will you be there for all the fun?

Register ASAP and join us for:

- Dino crafts, games, and activities
- Stations hosted by experts from Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming Geological Survey, and University of Wyoming Geological Museum
- A chicken petting zoo and meet reptiles from Northmen Exotics
- Hourly education programs from our Curator of Education
- A chance to take your photo next to a giant Apatosaurus femur
- Food from Madflavors Food Truck
- And lots more!

Click here to sign up: bit.ly/WSMfamilydays

Happy Independence Day! The museum will be closed to celebrate 🌟

The 4th of July is one of the most popular barbeque days of the year, and July is National Grilling Month! This grill from the museum's collection was made by the Ford Motor Company and sold at Ford dealerships. It was sold in a package with charcoal briquets made of wood waste from the Ford Motor Company sawmills.

Wishing you a happy and safe 4th of July!

The US Postal Service has helped people communicate with one another via mail since the late 1700s. We celebrate the postage stamps we put on our letters and the postal workers who process our mail each year on July 1. This 34 cent Wyoming stamp would have paid for your first class letter in 2002. The postal scale, cancellation stamp, and Express Mail bag are tools of the trade that were used in Cheyenne post offices.

Our Cheyenne has come to an end, with 5 events over the course of 12 days! We're so grateful to the 217 participants who came to learn, laugh, play, and hang out with us. We'll keep this momentum going and plan for even MORE civic fun in 2025.

There's still time to dig into Civic Season, even if you missed our events. Go to thecivicseason.com to find your civic superpower, access tons of online activities, and sign up for their email list.

We'd like to give one last HUGE thank you to Wyoming Humanities for making it all possible. And another thank you to all the partners who helped along the way.

Can you remember a world before barcodes? Cash registers like the 1903 one seen here were the norm in stores for decades. The cost of each item purchased had to be manually input by the operator. All of that changed on June 26, 1974, when a Universal Product Code (UPC) on Wrigley's chewing gum was the first item scanned with a cash register scanner. Although UPCs took awhile to catch on, their use forever changed check-out speeds and product inventory tracking.

Opening July 1st, "Quilts: A Stitched History"!

This exhibit features a selection of quilts from our collections, showcasing the artistry and history of quiltmaking and Wyoming quiltmakers.

The quilts will be on display through December 2024. If you can't make it or can't wait, you can also access an online collection of our quilts here:

https://wyomuseum.catalogaccess.com/advanced-search?includedFields=Objects%2CPhotos%2CArchives%2CLibrary%2CPeople%2CContainers&Object+Name+%2F+Other+Name=Quilt&page=1&size=10&withImages=false

Our Annual Civic Season Festival was so much fun! HUGE thank you to Wyoming Humanities for sponsoring our entire spread of Civic Season offerings (including 4 more events in the next 2 weeks!). And thank you to Westby Edge Brewing for hosting us on such a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

The event wouldn't be what it was without our awesome bands (Red Painted Black Official and Samir Knox), and all of the amazing partners who came out and hosted a table:

ACLU of Wyoming
Braver Angels Laramie County Alliance
League of Women Voters Cheyenne
Chispa of Cheyenne
Cheyenne Daughters of the American Revolution
Equality State Policy Center
Kiwanis Club of Cheyenne
Cheyenne Sunrise Lions
Wyoming Congressional Award
Wyoming Historical Society
Wyoming Women's Foundation

Do you have a favorite team or school mascot? If you live in Wyoming, it may be Pistol Pete, the brown and gold cowboy figure who represents the University of Wyoming. You can officially celebrate him and other favorites on National Mascot Day on June 17.

The Coachella of democracy, the Netflix of local history, the Match-dot-com of making a difference... it's Civic Season!

The Wyoming State Museum has THREE great events this year, and we hope you'll be there to celebrate with us. Details for each event are in the photo captions 📷

⚡️Civic Season Festival - Sunday, June 16, 3-6 PM @ Westby Edge Brewing

⚡️Democracy Under Construction - Thursday, June 20, 7-8 PM @ The Wyoming State Museum

⚡️A Slice of History: The Wyoming State Flag and The Women Who Made It Fly - Thursday, June 27, 7-8:30 PM @ The Wyoming State Museum.

All of Cheyenne's Civic Season events are generously sponsored by Wyoming Humanities.

Last call to see the "Newspapers and Newsmakers" exhibit!

This exhibit features photographs and newspapers from small communities within Wyoming from the collections.

Come down to the Museum by Saturday, June 22, to check it out!

And stay tuned for a new Wyoming quiltmakers exhibit opening in July 😎

Are you old enough to remember how much the purchase of a VCR changed home entertainment? National VCR Day is celebrated on June 7, to celebrate the first day Betamax VCRs went on sale in 1975. The model seen here dates to 1984. It could be programmed with up to 12 TV channels, but did not come with a remote control. Most major movie studios stopped putting movies on videocassette around 2006.

The Wyoming State Museum Volunteers gathered at 2 Doors Down for the WSMV Annual Meeting last night! These volunteer meetings are mostly a fun opportunity to socialize, but we also conduct a little business—like announcing our Volunteer of the Year, Katey Parris!

Katey has been volunteering with us since September, 2022. She has cataloged countless items in our Education collection and even helped train the cataloging volunteers that have come after her. She frequently works at the welcome desk and does a great job helping our visitors feel right at home when they come to see us. And when we were in need of new board members last summer, she graciously stepped up to take a role. Katey goes above and beyond to make sure that all the staff at the museum know that they can rely on her, and it makes a tremendous impact on the work that we are able to do. Thank you, Katey!

"Egg Story" is a ceramic artwork created by Russ McKeel in 1986. Russ received his MFA at the University of Wyoming in 1990 and taught classes at Laramie County Community College. We thought sharing this art was an egg-cellent way to celebrate National Egg Day!

National Fishing and Boating Week begins tomorrow! This week is all about “getting hooked” on the fun, stress-relieving benefits of getting out on a boat and casting a line into the water.

This beautiful boat in the WSM collection was built in Yoder, Wyoming, in 1941 by Akron Porther Selby (nickname Ak). Living through the depression of the late 1920s, he found it necessary to build or make just about everything needed including his tools. The boat was originally a row boat, but they added a motor from Montgomery Wards a little later.

Begin your Fishing and Boating Week festivities tomorrow with at our Wyoming State Parks! From Bear River to Curt Gowdy to Sinks Canyon, you can enjoy free park entrance all day long.

Wyoming State Parks

Embark on a “Civic Season Western Road Trip” through the American West, hitting key spots across Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. From a Teen Takeover in Boise to an outdoor summer festival in Cheyenne, you can spend your summer exploring civic history. Round up your friends, cue the Western Civic Season Playlist, and drive into our region's past and future!

Find the itinerary here: bit.ly/WesternRoadTrip

🎧Listen to our playlist here: bit.ly/WesternRoadTripPlaylist

Utah Historical Society
Idaho State Museum
Aurora History Museum & Historic Sites
Wyoming Humanities

The Wyoming State Museum will be closed today in observance of Memorial Day.

Today, we reflect on and honor those who lost their lives while serving in the U.S. Military. This featured uniform from our collections belonged to Captain William Boyd Graves, who died in the Vietnam War in 1967. Captain Graves was a Douglas resident and father of three.

Do you know what "civics" is? Are you a well-informed and active citizen?

It's ok if your answers are "no!" You are not alone, a recent study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that only two thirds of Americans studied Civics in high school. And 1 in 3 Americans did not know there are three branches of government.

Whether you're a seasoned civics superhero, or you are just getting started on your journey to help change the world, is made for you. On the Civic Season webpage you can find easy ways to get started, like quizzes, a guidebook and meme generator. And you can build a list of activities to explore and events to attend (the Wyoming State Museum is hosting THREE events in Cheyenne).

Visit the link in our bio to connect, collaborate, and contribute this summer!

Cheyenne's Civic Season celebrations are sponsored by Wyoming Humanities and delivered in partnership with tons of local organizations.

Although National Preservation Month is celebrated in May, the Wyoming State Museum is dedicated to historic artifact preservation every day. The Abbot-Downing Yellowstone Wagon seen here was used to transport visitors in the National Park from 1893-1916. The wagon was donated to the Museum in 1970, but was in very poor condition because it had spent many years outside in the elements. A conservation project was completed in 2017 to care for the wagon and help return it to its original appearance.

Grab your🍿- it's National Classic Movie Day!

Did you know the 1977 sci-fi classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind was partially filmed here in Wyoming? The movie features Devil's Tower throughout, and it is there that the characters see the mothership and make extraterrestrial contact.

What are some other classic movies filmed here in WY?

You're invited! Our friends with the Wyoming chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution are hosting an event on our lawn this Saturday at 2 p.m.

In anticipation of America's 250th birthday in 2026, they'll unveil a new marker honoring those who fought in the Revolutionary War. Hope to see you there!

Did you know that May is National Photography Month? It is a great time to hone your photography skills or just appreciate the art of photography. Have you ever used a camera like the ones seen here? These cameras from the collection date from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Thank you for joining us for "Home on the Range," it was an amazing Family Day filled with education about the people, plants, and animals of the plains!

As always, thank you to our partners for helping us throw this amazing event! And thank you to Scheels for generously sponsoring all of our Family Day events!

See you next time for DINO DAY on July 13. Mark your calendar now! Registration opens at the beginning of June.🦖

🕎 Happy Hanukkah from the Wyoming State Museum! This 8-day celebration begins tonight and continues through Friday, Dec 15.

We've set up a small Hanukkah and Christmas display in our museum, highlighting some holiday themed items in our permanent collection. Come by to see it as you celebrate this year!

We are so grateful to have received a Creative Aging Project Grant from the Wyoming Arts Council! This summer, we'll be hosting a Creative Aging class that will foster creative engagement and skills mastery in a social environment for adults over the age of 55.

Soon, we'll be searching for a teaching artist to run this 8-week long class (and receive a $1600 stipend). If you'd like to be considered, you should apply for this FREE Creative Aging Training! Applications are due on January 9!