Linwood Tall Bull presents "Native Plants and Medicinal Uses" Nov. 10 at Washakie Museum

At the Washakie Museum and Cultural Center in Worland. 

October lecture series at American Heritage Center focuses on 400th anniversary of King James Bible

Indian Removal Act topic of next Wyoming State Museum lecture

The Indian Removal Act, an unpopular and controversial part of the settlement of the American West, will be the focus of this month’s Wyoming State Museum lecture series presentation, May 8 at 7 p.m.

Dr. Robert Munkres, of Estes Park, Colo., presents “Indian Removal: The Dark Side of American History.” His presentation discusses the problematic relations between the Anglo population and the tribes native to the regions being settled.

Increasingly, white authority called for the removal of native tribes to the West, culminating in the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

This presentation describes the implementation of the act, together with the terrible cost it imposed upon the Native American population.

For more information about this and other State Museum programs, please call 777-7022. The Wyoming State Museum is located in the Barrett Building, 2301 Central Avenue in Cheyenne.

Todd Skinner Leadership Lecture features legendary Wyoming rock climber Paul Piana

Legendary Wyoming rock climber Paul Piana will deliver the third Todd Skinner Leadership Lecture Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m.at the University of Wyoming Yellowstone Ballroom. Admission is free.

A native of Newcastle, Piana is recognized as one of rock climbing's most influential and prolific free climbers. He has more than 600 first free ascents and teamed with fellow Wyomingite Todd Skinner on many first ascents, ranging in locales from Greenland to the Amazon jungle. Piana received his bachelor's degree in English literature from UW.

Piana and Skinner became pioneers in the emerging sport of gymnastic rock-climbing in the 1980s and 1990s. Skinner, who resided in Lander, was killed in a 2006 climbing accident in Yosemite National Park. 

Piana has appeared in many films and videos about free-climbing adventures, including ESPN's "Amazon Journey to the Lost World" and Outdoor Life's "Into the Dragon's Teeth: Climbing in Viet Nam." In 1988, he and Skinner received the American Alpine Club's most prestigious Underhill Award for Lifetime Climbing.

Photo: Legendary Wyoming rock climber Paul Piana will deliver the third Todd Skinner Leadership Lecture Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the Wyoming Union Yellowstone Ballroom.

Casper College's 27th annual Humanities Festival focuses on "SIN"

"SIN" is the theme of the 27th annual Humanities Festival and Demorset Lecture at Casper College on February 21-24. In the Gertrude Krampert Theatre. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday lectures are free and open to all. FMI: http://www.caspercollege.edu/events/humanities

Hear the inside story of the Ames Monument Feb. 9 at Wyoming State Museum

From the Wyoming State Museum:

A unique perspective of Ames Monument is the featured Wyoming State Museum lecture series presentation on Thursday, February 9, at 7 p.m., in the Multi-Purpose Room.

Entitled “The Lonely Pyramid on Sherman Hill,” Anna Lee Ames Frohlich, great- granddaughter of Oakes and Oliver Ames, will discuss the 60-foot-high Ames Monument located in what was once Sherman, Wyoming.

The presentation will explore the history of the monument itself, its builders and the area where it is located.
            
The Ames family history and their involvement with the Union Pacific Railroad will also be discussed. 

The Wyoming State Museum is located in the Barrett Building, 2301 Central Ave. in Cheyenne. For more information about this and other State Museum programs, please call 777-7021.

Mark Junge presents "Charleston to Key West" tonight at Wyoming State Museum

Everyone is invited to “Charleston to Key West,” a Wyoming State
Museum lecture by bicyclist Mark Junge at 7 p.m., tonight in the
Multi-Purpose Room.

Junge, a retiree from the State Historic Preservation Office, has
made numerous bicycle trips across the U.S. He will present a slide
show on his last trip through the southern states.

Junge will highlight his adventures along America’s back roads with
humor and short personal stories.
      
The Wyoming State Museum is located in the Barrett Building, 2301
Central Avenue in Cheyenne. For more information about this and other
Stte Museum programs, please call 777-7022.

"Cow Town Victoriana" presentation Oct. 13 at Wyoming State Museum

Wyoming’s Victorian architecture is the topic of the newest Wyoming State Museum Lecture Series presentation, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m., in the Multi-Purpose Room. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the Wyoming Humanities Council, Melanie O’Hara’s presentation, "Cow Town Victoriana" discusses how Wyoming tent towns such as Cheyenne, Laramie, Rawlins and Rock Springs burgeoned into impressive statements of American Victorian architecture.

The Wyoming State Museum is located in the Barrett Building, 2301 Central Avenue in Cheyenne. For more information about this and other State Museum programs, please call 777-7022.

The presentation will include vintage photos of early Victorian architecture in Wyoming’s premier railroad towns.

Glamorous or demonic: Aug. 4 BBHC lecture focuses on firearms in the arts

From a BBHC press release:

"In both westerns and western (classical) theatre, firearms have been used in various, powerful ways,” says Ashley Lynn Hlebinsky. “While many die in westerns from gunfire, audiences respond to those deaths with excitement. Yet, when a trigger is pulled on stage, the audience’s emotional response is different, marked by reflection and silence.”

On Thursday, August 4, 2 p.m. at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center’s Coe Auditorium, Hlebinsky shares her work related to Westerns and Western (Classical) Theatre: The Glamorization and Demonization of Firearms in the Arts. Her talk is free with admission.

Hlebinsky’s investigation focuses on the dissonance between the effects firearms have on theatre audiences versus those watching western film. “Through my research, I hope to understand the reasons why audiences, depending on the situation and the medium, can be swayed to feel a certain way about a controversial object like a firearm,” she explains. “My initial findings show that firearms are perpetuated as symbols of tragedy in classical theatre. Western films, however, have broken that negative mold for firearms—often symbolizing American folk heroism. I believe the nostalgia of the western frontier has allowed for the glamorization of firearms.”

As both an intern with Warren Newman, the Center’s firearms curator, and a research associate in the Center’s collections, Hlebinsky has been studying the Hollywood gun exhibit and visitors’ reactions to it, as well as working in the McCracken Research Library to gather information about the firearms facet of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.

“If you’ve ever sat in a theatre and felt moved by death at the hand of a gun, or if you’ve watched a western and felt the thrill of the battle, then my research applies to you,” Hlebinsky adds. “My research on these guns, objects that are both hated and beloved by audiences, will seek to explain how an inanimate object holds so much power at the hands of a theatre or film director.”

Hlebinsky is currently an assistant to the firearms curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and is working toward a master’s `degree in history and museum studies from the University of Delaware. She hopes to pursue a career as a museum professional and research antique firearms.

Learn more about the Center’s firearm collection at http://www.bbhc.org/explore/firearms/.

Committed to connecting people with the Spirit of the American West, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center weaves the varied threads of the western experience—history and myth, art and Native culture, firearms technology and the nature of Yellowstone—into the rich panorama that is the American West. The Center, an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is now operating its summer schedule, open daily, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. For general information, visit www.bbhc.org, or call 307.587.4771.

Photo caption: Ashley Hlebinsky researches the representation of firearms in theatre and western film, such as Marshall of Cedar Rock, 1952.

Jenni Calder speaks on "The Scots of Wyoming in Cheyenne" on July 10

Jenni Calder, author of Frontier Scots, speaks on “The Scots of Wyoming in Cheyenne,” on Sunday, July 10, 2-4 p.m., at Barnes & Noble in Cheyenne.

Jenni Calder was Head of Publications for the National Museum of Scotland, and is currently President of Scottish PEN. Listing herself as a “Poet, writer,” for the Scottish Book Trust, she can be more fully appreciated as the author of: There Has to be a Lone Ranger: The Myth and Reality of the American Wild West; Scots in the USA; Robert Louis Stevenson: A Life Study; The Enterprising Scot (ed.); Chronicles of Conscience; the poem cycle Smoke, considering the Holocaust; and the autobiography Not Nebuchadnezzar, which treats her complex identities as the Scottish, American, and Jewish child of a famous family.

UW Mulloy Lecture: "Late Capitalism, Gen X & Global Impact of the End of the American Dream"

From a UW press release:

Sherry B. Ortner, distinguished professor of anthropology at UCLA, will present the University of Wyoming's 15th annual Mulloy Lecture at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 28, in Room 306 of the Classroom Building.

Ortner's presentation, "Late Capitalism, ‘Generation X,' and the Global Impact of the End of the American Dream," will focus on how the American independent film scene emerged as a recognizable cultural movement in the late 1980s. Ortner argues that "the end of the American Dream," an idea associated with so-called Generation X also had a global impact, which she explores through the lens of recent independent films made by and/or about immigrants to the United States. A reception in the Anthropology Building follows Ortner's presentation.

Ortner received her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.  Before going to UCLA in 2004, Ortner taught at Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Michigan, the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University.

The annual Mulloy Lecture is sponsored by the UW Department of Anthropology in memory of the university's first professional anthropologist, William Mulloy. Starting in 1948 he fostered at UW what is usually called the "four field approach," integrating archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology and linguistic anthropology into a unified program.

For more information call Keith Kanbe at (307) 766-5136.

Telling the story of Wyoming's "Cowboy Senator"

Civility Matters! The Decline of Legislative Civility -- But Not in Wyoming w/update

UPDATE: PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DATE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO FRIDAY, DEC. 10

Thursday, December 9
5:30-7 p.m.
Cheyenne Depot Museum

Join us for refreshments and conversation about Wyoming's place in the national debate over declining legislative civility. Leading the dialogue will be Rutgers University legislative scholar Alan Rosenthal speaking on "The Decline of Legislative Civility-But Not in Wyoming." Rosenthal, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University, researches and teaches about state legislatures and state politics. The author of numerous books on state legislatures, he has worked with legislatures in most of the states and with the three national legislative organizations. His most recent book is Engines of Democracy: Politics and Policymaking in State Legislatures. In 2006 he was the recipient of an award for lifetime achievement from the National Conference of State Legislatures and the State Legislative Leaders Foundation. He is currently chairman of the New Jersey Legislature's Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards.


Civility Matters! is a multi-year initiative of the Wyoming Humanities Council which offers promotion and online and face-to-face programs on the topic of civility. Residents of the Cowboy State will have broad opportunities to consider the meaning of civility, both in the context of the nation's democratic commitments to freedom of expression and in the context of an increasingly global world. Funding is provided by the Wyoming State Legislature through the Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources, the University of Wyoming Outreach School, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Civility Matters! complements the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) 50-state American Civility Tour, conducted by NEH Chairman Jim Leach in 2010-2011. The Wyoming Humanities Council is a nonprofit organization affiliated with NEH. For more information about the event or the Wyoming Humanities Council, call 307-721-9243 or visit www.uwyo.edu/humanities;  http://www.uwyo.edu/humanities

UW Art Museum will host lecture by Warhol scholar David McCarthy on Sept. 30

David McCarthy, professor of history of art at Rhodes College and a pop art scholar, will discuss "American Made, American Masquerade: Andy Warhol's Democratic Portrait Gallery," Thursday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. at the University of Wyoming Art Museum.

His talk coincides with the museum exhibition, "Iconic Mass Culture: Andy Warhol's Portraits."

McCarthy will conduct a gallery walk through of the exhibition Friday, Oct. 1, at 10:30 a.m. Both programs are free and open to the public, and are sponsored by the UW Department of Art and the UW Art Museum.

"Iconic Mass Culture: Andy Warhol's Portraits presents a selection of Polaroid photographs and silver gelatin prints, with borrowed screenprint works that include the actress/activist Jane Fonda, American Indian war chief Sitting Bull, the artist Joseph Beuys and ballet dancer Karen Kain.

For additional information on exhibitions and programs, call the UW Art Museum at (307) 766-6622 or visit the museum's Web site at www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum or blog at www.uwartmuseum.blogspot.com.

Located in the Centennial Complex at 2111 Willett Drive in Laramie, the museum is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and from 10 a.m.- 9 p.m. Mondays. Admission is free.

UW Chicano Studies opens baseball season with stories from the "Sugar Beet League"

From a press release:

The University of Wyoming's Chicano Studies Program will host a public event April 1, celebrating Hispanic contributions to baseball at both the regional and national levels -- a start to the Major League Baseball season.

Adrian Burgos Jr., University of Illinois associate professor of history and author of "Playing America's Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line," will give a public lecture about sports promoter Alex Pompez at 5 p.m. in the Wyoming Union West Ballroom in Laramie. Pompez helped hundreds of young baseball players from the Caribbean make the leap from sugar cane fields to major league ball fields.

Following Burgos' lecture, Gabe and Jody Lopez, finalists for the 2009 Colorado Rockies Adult Hispanic Leadership Award, will open in Ross Hall their exhibit "From Sugar Beet Fields to Fields of Dreams: Mexican/Spanish Contributions to America's Favorite Pastime."

The exhibit documents the history of the Rocky Mountain Semipro Baseball League, which got its start among Hispanic agricultural workers in the 1920s and quickly spread throughout northern Colorado, southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska.

"It was dubbed the ‘sugar beet league' because it came out of the Spanish colonies built by the Great Western Sugar Company beet field laborers," says Ed Munoz, UW Chicano Studies Program director.

A reception and book signing will take place in Room 109 of Ross Hall, where books by Burgos and the Lopezes will be available for purchase.

"Mexican baseball teams helped solidify Chicano communities during the 20th century," Munoz says. "They provided a break from hard work in the fields or on the railroad and they also served as social and political outlets for the players and their fans."

Through research, the Lopezes have located information about Wyoming baseball teams in Albin, Bitter Creek, Burns, Carpenter, Casper, Cheyenne, Cody, Creston Junction, Hanna, Laramie, Lusk, Newcastle, Piker Spring, Pine Bluffs, Rawlins, Riverton, Sinclair, Superior, Torrington, Wamsutter, Wheatland, Worland and Yoder. The exhibit will be expanded to include some of this information.

"We invite the players and their families to the exhibit to relive their playing days," Gabe Lopez says. "We want to hear their stories."

Event sponsors are the Wyoming Humanities Council, the UW Office of Diversity, Multicultural Affairs, Sigma Lambda Gamma, MEChA, Associated Students of UW, the Social Justice Research Center and KOCA 93.5 FM La Radio Montanesa.

FMI: Contact the UW Chicano Studies Program at Chicano_Studies@uwyo.edu or 307-766-4127.

Photo: The 1943 Cheyenne Lobos played in the Rocky Mountain League.

Wyoming State Museum Spring 2010 Lecture Series

Jan. 14--Military Sites in Wyoming, 1700-1920 by Dr. Mark Miller, WY State Archaeologist. Dr. Miller will provide a brief survey of sites that were used to prepare for or exectute armed warfare. Will cover current understanding of 6 different property types represented during this period.

Feb. 11--Remembering Sunrise Mine and Its Community: Portrait of a Company Town by Mary Humstone and Sophia beck, UW American Studies Program. Humstone and Beck will use photographs to present a history of Sunrise Mine, its community, the economic and social impact of Sunrise, as well as ethnic relations, living conditions, and daily life in Sunrise.

Mar. 11--Wyoming's Great Forest Fire Tragedy: The Blackwater Fire of 1937 by Karl Brauneis. The worst firefighting tragedy in Wyoming's history, the Blackwater Fire changed the way many fires are fought today. Brauneis will talk about the men who died, hnow they fought the fire, and what caused the blow-up.

Apr. 8 -- New York to Charleston on O2 by Mark And Ardath Junge. Mark and Ardath have made five trips throughout the U.S. on behalf of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Mark rides his bicycle while Ardath is Chief of Logistics. Slides and music highlight their Atlantic Seaboard journey.

May 13 -- My Horse, My Gun, My Libraries by Lynne Swanson. In character as mabel Wilkinson, Swanson describes some of the adventures and difficulties of bringing libraries to Platte County and to the rest of Wyoming in the early 1900s.

Lectures are not held in the summer months of June, July and August, but resume each September. For more information, call Sarah Logocki, Curator of Education at 307-777-7021.

"Wyoming Working Girls" by Marette Nagel at Washakie Museum

Lecture/Book Signing
Thursday, October 22, 2009
7 p.m. FREE TO THE PUBLIC

At the Washakie Museum, 1115 Obie Sue Avenue, Worland
Introducing "Wyoming Working Girls: A Tribute to the Extraordinary Women of Wyoming”

"Wyoming Working Girls" is a 160-page black and white pictorial book. These women are hardworking, independent, courageous, full of true grit, and dedicated to what it takes to live and work in the harsh elements of Wyoming.

This book will give the reader a true and honest look to the faces and voices of women in their true everyday fashion, manure on their boots along with straw in their hair. These photographs and brief descriptions are as real as the lifestyle itself.

Photography by Marette Nagel

Proceeds from the sale of Wyoming Working Girls will be donated to: Children’s Tumor Foundation.

Lecture series: "Socialism in Wyoming politics"

From a Wyoming SPCR press release:

Socialism during early 20th century Wyoming is the subject of the next Wyoming State Museum lecture series presentation, October 8 at 7 p.m., in the Multi-Purpose Room in Cheyenne.

“ 'So Would You Be:' Socialists and Socialism in Wyoming Politics, 1902 to 1940” will be presented by Wyoming State Archives reference archivist Carl Hallberg. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The Wyoming Socialist Party came into being as its predecessor, the Populist Party, was dying out. For nearly 40 years, Socialists advocated social and political change that challenged the mainline parties and Wyoming citizens.

With a diverse constituency, Socialists and Socialism added a colorful perspective to Wyoming politics.

The Wyoming State Museum is located in the Barrett Building, 2301 Central Avenue in Cheyenne. For more information about this and other State Museum programs, please call 777-7022.

Buffalo Bill Art Show &Sale

September 22, 23, 24, 25
Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Exhibition (8 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
Buffalo Bill Historical Center John Bunker Sands Photography Gallery. Free to the public.

September 24, 25
Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Artist Demonstrations
Participating artists are placed in one of the following locations: Big Horn Galleries, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody Country Art League, Simpson Gallagher Gallery, or other Cody art-related venues depending on the number of participants. Free to the public.

September 25
Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Artist Studio Tour (9 a.m. – 1 p.m.)
Trolley departs from the Party Tent at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Take a trolley tour of the studios of participating Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale artists Steve Schrepferman, Linda S. Raynolds, M.C. Poulsen, Vic Payne, J. Burnham Rudolph, and Caleco Foundry. Reservations required.
Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Honored Artist Lecture (2 p.m. – 3 p.m.)
Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Coe Auditorium. 2009 Honored Artist T.D. Kelsey discusses his life’s influences and work. Free to the public.
A Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Collectible Poster Signing (3 p.m. – 5 p.m.)
Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Honored Artist T.D. Kelsey signs copies of the collectible 2009 Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale poster.
Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Final Preview (4 p.m.)
Buffalo Bill Historical Center. View the exhibition a final time and visit with artists in the John Bunker Sands Photography Gallery, then stroll to the Party Tent adjacent to the historical center for fine food, drinks, and live music.
28th Annual Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Auction (6:30 p.m.)
Buffalo Bill Historical Center—Party Tent. Join in the fun with spirited bidding of fine western art orchestrated by the rapid-fire delivery of auctioneers Troy Black and Associates. Reservations required.

September 26
Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Quick Draw (9 a.m.)
Buffalo Bill Historical Center—Party Tent. Join us for a champagne brunch and silent auction. Stroll through the Robbie Powwow Garden to observe over thirty painters, potters, and sculptors at work—often using live models—to complete a piece in one hour. Quick Draw pieces are then sold at live auction. Reservations required.

http://www.buffalobillartshow.com/

Washakie Museum & Cultural Center Lecture Series

1115 Obie Sue Avenue, Worland, WY 82401

Paul Hedren, Author/ Historian
Lecture/Book Signing
Thursday, September 10, 2009
7:00 p.m. FREE TO THE PUBLIC

Auditions for Enter Laughing
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
7:00 p.m. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Up, Up the Mountain by Joyce Goodrich
Lecture/Book Signing
Thursday, September 17, 2009
6:30 p.m. FREE TO THE PUBLIC

Dr. Danny N. Walker, Wyoming’s Assistant State Archaeologist
Lecture/Book Signing
Thursday, October 8, 2009
7:00 p.m. FREE TO THE PUBLIC

Wyoming Working Girls by Marette Nagel
Lecture/Book Signing
Thursday, October 22, 2009
7:00p.m. FREE TO THE PUBLIC

http://www.washakiemuseum.org/events1.html