March is Red Cross month, proclaimed by its honorary chairman, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in March 1943. The American Red Cross has been supporting the troops since the 1890s. Its operations, since the attack on Pearl Harbor, expanded in more areas than service to the hospitals. Services were added to “fulfill the mandates of its 1905 congressional charter requiring that the organization “furnish volunteer aid to the sick and wounded armies in time of war” and to “act in matters of voluntary relief in accord with the military and naval authorities as a medium of communication between the people of the United States of America and their Army and Navy.”[1]The services to the Armed Forces consisted of camp, club, and hospital services.
Mary Hayden Burgess was part of the Club service, which provided the “service men with food, entertainment, and a “connection home.”[2]
The Club service included the Clubmobiles, which were converted GMC trucks outfitted so the three women operating each clubmobile, could make donuts, serve coffee, offer cigarettes, gum, candy and first aid kits. Later they got the nickname “donut dollies” because making donuts was their main task.[3]
Mary was part of Group C and like other groups, it traveled through Great Britain and Europe. After the invasion of Normandy, ten groups of Red Cross Clubmobile girls with eight Clubmobiles per group were sent into France. From then on out, the Clubmobiles traveled with the rear echelon of the Army Corps and received their orders from the Army.”[4]
They provided entertainment such as music by playing records with a Victrola.[5] Later they were able to play movies for the service men using the Cinemobiles. When the USO tour (United Service Organizations) came to France, Mary’s team helped organize performances, including the popular singer, Dinah Shore.
Mary’s experience with the Red Cross also included the privilege to work at the Rainbow Corner, the largest club and the “most famous …Whose doors never shut and where up to 60,000 meals could be served in a single 24-hour period.”[6]
Article relating Mary’s experience with the Red Cross. Box 4, Henry A. and Mary Hayden Burgess papers, Coll. #12791, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.Service men gathered in front of the Rainbow Corner. Box 5, Henry A. and Mary Hayden Burgess papers, Coll. #12797, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
My interest in oil narratives stems my own personal experience as a native of one of the most representative oil towns in western Venezuela, Cabimas. I grew up in the shadow of towering oil derricks and gas flares, understanding that so much in extractivist communities is marked by the minerals that help forge these cultures. Petroleum and the industry it built has had a profound effect on the professional and personal lives of the inhabitants of the state of Zulia, western Venezuela, since 1914.
Dr. Oleski Miranda Navarro, AHC 2020 Majewski Fellow
Through the Bernard L. Majewski Fellowship, I was granted the opportunity and support to access the American Heritage Center’s catalog of visual and textual documents created and collected by oil companies, geologists, and their family members, while they lived and worked in Venezuela between 1914 and 1954. The wealth of information I was able to acquire both remotely before arriving in Wyoming (including access to interview a former oil company schoolteacher) and once I arrived in Laramie, has been invaluable to my scholarly research on extractivism, memory and emotion.
Focusing on the early days of the petroleum industry in Venezuela, I concentrated my research on American companies operating in the country between 1914 and 1954, including specialized professionals, like geologists, they contracted. By 1914, geology was a young science whose practitioners were driven by the desperate search for “black gold.” Many of the pioneers who had driven the US oil industry in the late 19th century relied on the knowledge of geologists as they began to seek new horizons. Venezuela was quickly identified as a country that showed incalculable potential for petroleum extraction. This translated into significant amounts of capital investment by large oil companies. The list of geologists and pioneers who came to Venezuela in the early twentieth century includes: Ralph Arnold, John Douglas, John Galey, Max Krueger, and Harper McKee, most of whom had been hired by American companies that wanted a stake in the profit bonanza that British and Dutch companies had already begun receiving.
Oil exploration was a difficult undertaking for foreigners at the time, but little-by-little, important reserves were revealed in the Venezuelan state of Zulia. This made many American explorers and geologists, so-called “wildcats,” turn their gaze toward the country, which until then, had been perceived of as poor and was relatively unknown. As Ralph Arnold, one of the most important pioneers and geologists in the petroleum world at the beginning of the 20th century points out: “The work was done under serious handicaps and difficulties. Only two men spoke Spanish. Maps were almost unknown. Transportation was ox-cart, pack animals, horse and mule back or on foot. A very few automobiles were in use in the larger towns. Not an airplane had ever darkened the country’s sky.”1
Along with the wealth of geological surveys, maps, documents, logs and reports with technical details in the AHC collection, can also be found documents that put a personal and humanistic spin on the vantages of these explorers, who arrived in the isolated region motivated to put their knowledge into practice and enjoy the rewards offered by mineral discovery. For example, John Douglas, who was hired by the Gulf Oil Company, a company founded by John Galey whose collection is also in the AHC, lived in Venezuela between 1925-1926 and accumulated a collection of visual and written documents of his stay that were eventually donated to the AHC. In his correspondence you can see his curiosity toward the local environment and the relationship he was beginning to establish with the tropics. His correspondences with his mother show a young man from Maryland fascinated by nature, wildlife, and the landscape of his exotic new home. For example, in one letter he tells his mother about the beauty of the squirrels he encountered and what it meant to kill one of them, inferring the possibility of not hunting anymore: “April 9 1925, Currie and I went hunting yesterday afternoon. I saw a squirrel and shot at it but missed Currie took a shot and brought it down. We were both sorry we killed it; it was such a pretty little thing. This afternoon we went out again and Currie got another that I pointed out. This time the shot didn’t kill at once and the poor thing was apparently suffering (…) we almost felt like giving up hunting. The squirrels here are twice pretty as ours.”2
On the other hand, reports and letters written home that are in the AHC collections also provide a snapshot of the racial thinking that was predominate at the time. For example, Max Krueger, who was originally from Kansas and would become a prominent petroleum geologist, included insights in his geological reports about the desert Falcon state in northwestern Venezuela, hinting at his vision of the inhabitants: “The “Coriano” as the inhabitants of Falcon are called, are quite energetic and as rule are much better educated and of higher intelligence than the Zuliano or inhabitant of the state of Zulia. Their type is much more purely Spanish, and the main intermingling of races has been with the original Indian inhabitants of the country.”3
John Douglas also responds to his mother’s concern when she voices her regret that he has to mix with “half breeds” or impure people. We are also able to gain insight on attitudes of the period of Douglas’ comments about a Trinidadian worker he looks upon favorably because of the man’s good command of English: “There is a “colored gentleman” from Trinidad working on the rig who is quite interesting to listening to. His English is absolutely faultless, none of our darkies’ dialect at all. On the contrary his pronunciation is most exact. They say all Trinitarians talk that way.”4
These assessments were nothing more than an extension of how the other was viewed differently, as might have been made in the southern United States at the time. However, there are also comments such as those made by Ralph Arnold, considered the pioneer of the oil industry in Venezuela. Despite the adversity of his role, Arnold portrays the people who helped him as his best resource, recognizing that their knowledge made very complex undertakings, despite the lack of infrastructure in remote areas of western Venezuela, possible: “The people were friendly, cooperative and generous. They liked our men and our men liked them.”5
Among the images found during the fellowship period are photographs that show the wildness of spaces inhabited by small populations of fishermen or farmers. Images captured also provide a visual record of areas like the Mene or Punta Iguana on the Eastern Coast of the Lake, which remain undeveloped locations after initial oil exploration. There are also photographs that provide important visual documentation that as early as the mid-20s, there was already a great deal of environmental deterioration due to oil extraction. The images show damage in the areas where oil companies had begun to exploit crude. At the time, there were already reports that highlight the complaints of inhabitants about the destruction and how their lives were being affected by changes to the fresh water sources that would have been used for cultivation and carrying out daily life routines.
It was especially interesting to be able to access documentation at the AHC that depicts how similar experiences of devastation were shared between populations of Texas, Wyoming, and Zulia during the early years of oil exploration.
A burgeoning oil industry undoubtedly drove the development of infrastructure in the remote producing regions, such as roads, basic services and new businesses. However, in the case of Venezuela it was an enclave or focused development. In the beginning, many companies also pushed for segregation by following codes (such as Jim Crow) used in the United States. The development of camps for qualified personnel was also common. The camps provided all of the services and conveniences needed for foreign personnel, while hired local workers lived in deplorable spaces in crowded barracks with minimal sanitary conditions. Many companies such as Standard Oil or Gulf Oil took large concessions from the state. However, there was a struggle between companies and regional governments to comply with regulations, and the big oil companies always managed to tip the balance in their favor.
Research at the AHC also led me to documents that give insight into feelings of fear and caution experienced by those who had come to these regions of Venezuela from abroad. For example, John Douglas talks about how a colleague of English origin had been murdered when he had a problem with an inhabitant of the area where the Gulf Oil camp was located.
As a researcher these stories have offered me a broadened understanding of those who arrived in a distant and exotic place as young professionals. The documents I was able to locate give insight into adventurous young people who managed to maneuver through a country with completely disconnected regions. They also paint a picture of novice explorers who arrived with some prejudices but were also able to expand their visions of a world very different from what they were used to.
Beyond the importance of discovering and immersing myself in the content of documents that pertain to the history of the region where I am from, this investigation has given me the chance to recognize that despite the historical and economic importance of oil exploitation in western Venezuela, the region is devoid of socio-historical studies on the subject. The research I have conducted will allow me to begin developing the subject and contribute content that will enrich not only regional knowledge of the history of oil but also general socio-historical knowledge painted through the narratives that have shaped the identity of a country.
Post contributed by Dr. Oleski Miranda Navarro, Visiting Assistant Professor, World Languages Department, Emory & Henry College and 2020 American Heritage Center Majewski Fellow.
#alwaysarchiving
1Ralph Arnold, “The Pioneer of Venezuela’s Oil Wealth, 1911-1916 with Note on Trinidad” Letter Ralph Arnold.
2John G Douglas Collection Acc #6017 Box 1 John Douglas’s Letters from a Wildcat Well Venezuela, 1924-1924, p.27.
3Max Krueger Box 36, file Lots of Falcon 3,6,7 and 8 a portion of Miranda 8, Falcon Miranda.
4John G Douglas Collection Acc #6017 Box 1 John Douglas’s Letters from a Wildcat Well Venezuela, 1924-1924, p.12.
5Ralph Arnold, “The Pioneer of Venezuela’s Oil Wealth, 1911-1916 with Note on Trinidad” Letter Ralph Arnold.
In honor of Women’s History Month, let’s explore the life and times of one Caroline Lockhart! Caroline Lockhart, born February 24, 1871, is just one of Wyoming’s many famous women. She moved to Cody, Wyoming, in 1904 and remained there for much of her life – owning the daily newspaper, cattle ranching in the area, and founding the famous “Cody Stampede.” Over the course of her life Caroline was a newspaper publisher, journalist, a western novelist, rancher, and rodeo sponsor. Lockhart also never married, instead she made a name for herself in the West and juggled many boyfriends while doing so! Caroline was not a typical lady- not only was she never married but she enjoyed her alcohol and was not a part of the three-quarters of town that voted for prohibition. Lockhart had wit, passion, gumption, and money enough to see things done!
Lockhart was a mover and a shaker in her adopted town of Cody, Wyoming. Box 7, Caroline Lockhart papers, Collection No. 177, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Ms. Lockhart lived a life full of adventure and ambition. She was one of the most famous people in Cody, and after the death of the towns’ namesake, William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, she was the most famous person in town. Her fame reached its peak in 1920, when two of her novels had been turned into movies, and she had traveled to Hollywood to discuss the movie future for a third film. At the same time, Caroline was also writing for the Denver Post.
The year 1920 was also when Lockhart got together with five other prominent figures in Cody to organize a new celebration; something bigger and grander than Cody had seen before. The goal was to draw tourists from the road to Yellowstone Park towards Cody and its local dude ranches. They created and named the Cody Stampede. There was a second goal behind Lockhart’s desire to create the Cody Stampede. She wished to draw attention to the “Old West” and the “Wild West” both of which were dying out in the face of 20th century modernization, even somewhere as remote as Wyoming.
Lockhart’s audacity shocked fellow Cody residents, including her defiance of and opposition to Prohibition. Box 7, Caroline Lockhart papers, Collection No. 177, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Caroline’s friends on this planning committee included: Ernest J. Goppert, Sr., an ambitious young attorney; Irving H. “Larry” Larom, the Princeton-educated owner of a prominent dude ranch; Sid Eldred, editor of the Park County Enterprise, and Clarence Williams and William Loewer, who helped run the town’s small Fourth of July celebrations. These men elected Caroline as president of the organization and set out to raise the needed funds for their celebration, as well as attract rodeo contestant such as one of Lockhart’s many boyfriends Pinky Gist. They created a fundraising ball that turned out to be a great success, especially when Lockhart invited some members of the Crow Nation to appear in battle dress. The ball is still held every fall.
The image of Natives Americans as representative of the “Wild West” in the imagination of white people was not lost on Caroline Lockhart. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. Color lithograph, poster. Courtesy of the McCracken Library, Buffalo Bill Historical Center.
A week after being made the president of this new organization, Caroline made her move and hosted another meeting that changed her life – she took control of the Park County Enterprise and began to use it to generate interest in the Stampede. This was a lucrative move for both Caroline and her Stampede which grew quickly in its early years and only increased in popularity during the 1920s, a decade that proved to be a difficult time economically for Wyoming. Suddenly, Lockhart and her friends’ passion for the state’s cowboy heritage didn’t seem so crazy. She and others were fighting against unfettered development in Wyoming, such as what was happening elsewhere in the West, and instead put their focus on the state’s cowboy past with an eye towards capitalizing on it for their future.
“Bill Stanton on ‘Sandy’ an’ ’88’ That’s All” reads the caption of this photograph turned postcard by Ralph R. Doubleday from 1916. Ralph Doubleday (1881-1958) was most known for his rodeo images. Box 20, Caroline Lockhart papers, Collection No. 177, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Caroline Lockhart was a Wyoming woman unafraid to showcase her passions, in any way she deemed necessary, whether that be drinking whiskey with the best of the boys or taking over the town newspaper and creating a legacy for Cody, the state of Wyoming, and even Buffalo Bill. It was Caroline Lockhart who suggested the creation of a statue in his honor, and her who convinced a prominent eastern sculptor to take on both the job and the fundraising for it which led to much of William Cody’s early posthumous fame.
You can learn more about Caroline Lockhart by visiting the American Heritage Center to view the Caroline Lockhart papers.
Lockhart poses on horseback with Buffalo Bill Cody in an undated photo. Although the two were never particularly close, after Buffalo Bill’s death in 1917, Lockhart came to see him as a symbol of the Old West and encouraged people of his namesake town to honor him. Photo courtesy of Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Jack Price collection, # PN.89.106.21011.20.2
Post contributed by Brittany Heye, American Heritage Center Archives Aide.
Researchers looking for information on the Black Freedom Movement can find relevant materials throughout the collections held at the American Heritage Center. These include the papers of Wyoming politician Harriet Elizabeth Byrd, bull rider Abe Morris, African American church records, and Hollywood actress Butterfly McQueen. To close out Black History Month, this post highlights materials in the AHC pertaining to the Black Power Movement.
One of the most popular topics researched in the AHC’s collection is the Black 14 Protests at the University of Wyoming in October 1969.Fourteen Black members of the UW football team planned to wear black armbands during the football game against BYU. They wanted to show support for the UW Black Student Alliance, who were planning a protest of the game because of the discriminatory policies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before the game, the UW football coach Lloyd Eaton kicked the football players off the team. UW students showed their support for the players through protests on campus. Several collections in the AHC relate to and tell the story of the Black 14, the students protests, and the court case. It is also important to note that the AHC is still adding to these collections with a cooperative effort between UW graduate students and the AHC to collect oral history interviews with members of the Black 14 and others involved in the protests. For more information see the topic guide on our website.
As a bridge between Black History Month and Women’s History Month, this next collection contains valuable information about the Black Power Movement particularly on the role of women in the movement and the rise of the Black Feminist Movement. The Women’s History Research Center Papers (Collection #5879) consists of the records from the center founded by Laura X in Berkeley, California. The center was founded in 1968 and the collection contains subject files, pamphlets, and publications on a host of feminists, scholars, and topical subjects. Included among the papers are subject files devoted to Black feminist organizations and Black women movement leaders, including Shirley Chisholm, Kathleen Cleaver, and Angela Davis. Each subject file varies in its contents, but each offers a wealth of information such as the press releases from Shirley Chisholm’s political campaigns which detail not only Chisholm’s views on the important topics of the times but also rebuttals to her political opponents. These press releases offer a glimpse into the strategies of Chisholm and her campaign workers. Newspaper clippings and fliers, including the one pictured here, detail the “Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners” campaign of the early 1970s. The collection also includes a pamphlet Black Woman’s Manifesto, published by the Third World Women’s Alliance, that contains foundational essays including Frances Beal’s “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” These pamphlets are especially interesting in thinking about how information on the feminist movement was distributed. Small and inexpensive pamphlets were an efficient and quick way to share ideas and information.
A flyer from February 1971 for a meeting of the Bay Area Committee to Free Angela Davis. Women’s History Research Center resource files, Box 14, Folder “Angela Davis,” Collection #5879.
The WHRC collection also contains numerous files on other aspects of the Black Power Movement including subject files on Malcolm X and the Black Panthers. Also of interest are several publications of the weekly newspaper “The Black Panther” which tell of the social programs the Black Panthers organized including the free breakfast program. One of the issues from July 26, 1969, is of special interest in its coverage of the United Front Against Fascism (UFAF) Conference in Oakland, California which brought together varying organizations including the Black Panthers, the Students for a Democratic Society, and the Young Patriots.
Another collection of interest to studying the Black Power Movement is the Tom Anderson Papers (Collection #7120) which includes a number of folders focusing on the Black Panthers, Black Manifesto, Black Power, and the Black Guard. Anderson’s subject files offer a differing perspective regarding the Black Power Movement in that they work to show opposition to the work of the Black Panthers and denounce the Black Power Movement. The papers included in this collection show the ways in which the words and messages of many influential Black leaders were reframed and used against their efforts for racial justice.
An anti-Black Panther Party pamphlet, c. 1969. Tom Anderson papers, Box 13, Folder “Black Panthers,” Collection #7120.
Studies of racial inequality and social justice movements are not limited to the social movements of the late 1960s. A great example is the Tom Pugh collection (#11685). Pugh, a journalist, was a member of the US Commission on Civil Rights in the late 1970s. His papers from this time provide information about subjects including housing inequality and efforts for equal employment with particular emphasis on Chicago. For more information on these and other collections at the AHC, check out our website.
Post contributed by Mary Beth Brown, Associate Archivist, Toppan Rare Books Librarian.
Want to learn more about one of Wyoming’s most important civil rights stories?
Want to learn more about one of Wyoming’s most important civil rights stories? The AHC offers two compelling online exhibits about the Black 14 on Virmuze. Explore “The Black 14: Protests and Reactions” for a detailed examination of the 1969 incident when 14 Black football players were dismissed from the UW team for planning to wear armbands in solidarity with protesters.
Then discover the “Black 14 Social Justice Summer Institute Student Exhibit” where high school students share firsthand accounts from surviving Black 14 members John Griffin, Mel Hamilton, and Lionel Grimes. Together, these exhibits reveal how 14 young men who simply asked for permission to protest became catalysts for change in both university and civil rights history.
Grand Teton National Park – one of the most beautiful spots in Wyoming – turns 93 on February 26. It was originally a Native American hunting ground. British and American fur traders were drawn to the area for its exceptionally bountiful populations of beaver. By the mid 1800s, homesteaders had begun to settle in the valley and surveying parties named many of the area’s mountain peaks and lakes.
Photo of the Tetons from the edge of Jackson Lake, June 11, 1941. Box 1, Merrill J. Mattes papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
An act of Congress established Grand Teton National Park on February 26th, 1929. At the time, the 96,000-acre area included the peaks of the Teton Range as well as six lakes at the base of the mountains, the biggest of which was Jenny Lake.
Map with dotted line outline delineating the original border of Grand Teton National Park, March 10, 1942. Box 1, Merrill J. Mattes papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
In the late 1920s, philanthropist John D. Rockefeller visited the area and came away impressed by the breathtaking landscape. He formed the Snake River Land Company, which began to purchase properties in the Jackson Hole area. Rockefeller’s objective was to protect the area from commercial development. He intended to gift his land purchases to the U.S. Government to be managed by the National Park Service. By 1933, the Snake River Land Company had invested $1,500,000 to purchased more than 32,000 acres in Jackson Hole, and cattle ranchers were beginning to raise objections. Wyoming’s two U.S. senators got involved and soon the Senate Committee on Public Lands and Surveys was holding hearings in Jackson to assess whether Rockefeller’s purchases were illegal. The Senate hearings found nothing untoward. Nevertheless, Congress stymied multiple bills that were written to enlarge Grand Teton National Park by incorporating Rockefeller’s holdings into the park.
By 1942, Rockefeller had grown impatient with congressional delays and threatened to sell the Jackson Hole lands he had amassed. He penned a letter expressing his discontent to the Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes. Ickes advised President Franklin D. Roosevelt to take action. So, in March of 1943, Roosevelt utilized the Antiquities Act to establish Jackson Hole National Monument. The Antiquities Act had been used since 1906, by seven presidents, both Republican and Democrat, to set aside and preserve land as national monuments.
The new Jackson Hole National Monument was enormous – more than 221,000 acres – and included Rockefeller’s property, Jackson Lake and a substantial swath of what had been known as the Teton National Forest. Many people in Jackson Hole, including members of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, were vociferously opposed to the monument. They mobilized against what they felt to be overreach of federal government bureaucracy and created the “Committee for the Survival of Teton County”.
Flyer prepared by Jackson Hole citizens in opposition to the Jackson Hole National Monument, 1944. Box 148, Clifford P. Hansen papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
The committee published a booklet titled “For What Do We Fight” stating that “the people of Jackson Hole were being deprived of the land on which they had made their livelihood.” Politicians also mobilized. Wyoming Governor Lester Hunt, Senators J.C. O’Mahoney and E.V. Robertson and Congressman Frank Barrett all made statements against the monument. Barrett took the lead in fighting it, introducing a House of Representatives bill to abolish Jackson Hole National Monument in 1943 just four days after the monument had been created.
Back in Jackson Hole, many ranchers took the “fight” against the monument literally. They armed themselves and led a cattle drive across monument lands. Clifford Hansen, who went on to become a Wyoming Governor and U.S. Senator was one of those ranchers. Hansen and his fellow ranchers’ action made the papers across the West, in part because of the participation of Wallace Beery, a notable movie star at the time. (Beery had a vacation home on the east shore of Jackson Lake.) The armed cattle drive was mostly just a grand gesture – no government officials or employees of the National Park Service protested the ranchers’ presence on monument lands. In fact, ranchers’ rights to drive cattle across the monument were expressly included when the monument was designated.
While the ranchers claimed to speak for the majority of Jackson Hole residents, there were those in the area who approved of the new monument. Olaus J. Murie was among the proponents. Murie was a biologist with the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service and had long lived in Jackson Hole. He and the conservationists of the Izaak Walton League, an organization which fashioned itself as the “defender or woods, waters and wildlife” spoke out in favor of the monument designation. Murie saw value in protecting habitat areas for elk, moose, and the more than 100 species of birds native to the area.
Partial list of birds found in the Jackson Hole National Monument. Box 15, Murie Family papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Murie, along with Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes testified before Congress against the Barrett bills to abolish Jackson Hole National Monument. Ranchers testified in favor of the bills. Hyperbole ratcheted up on both sides of the debate. Supporters of the monument warned that “future generations may view the spectacular Teton Mountains from a foreground of billboards, gas stations, beer parlors, hotdog stands and tourist shacks.” In Jackson Hole, tempers flared. The controversy set friend against friend and neighbor against neighbor. Barrett proposed multiple bills to abolish the monument, the last of which was H.R. 1330.
House of Representatives Bill H.R. 1330, July 15, 1947. Box 147, Clifford P. Hansen papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Still, Congress did not act to abolish the monument. Then, in 1949, the stalemate was finally broken. Former Wyoming governor, Leslie A. Miller brokered a compromise between conservationists and ranchers. The new Grand Teton National Park was created on September 14, 1950. It incorporated most of the 1929 park as well as the land designated as Jackson Hole National Monument, which had included Rockefeller’s 32,117-acre gift. The law designating the park included several concessions. First, existing grazing rights and stock driveways were protected. Second, the federal government agreed to reimburse Teton County for lost tax revenues. And last, there was to be put into place a plan for controlled reduction of the herd of 22,000 elk within the boundaries of the new park by allowing hunters in the “fringe” areas of the park.
Today, visitors from across the world flock to Grand Teton National Park to admire the landscape and view wildlife. The conservationists of the 1930s and 40s had correctly forecast that tourism would far outstrip cattle ranching as the predominant industry in Teton County. The Grand Teton National Park ecosystem supports a wide variety of species including bear, elk, moose and many fur bearing animals including weasels, martens, beavers and otters. Jackson Lake is now included within the park boundaries. And many decades after his opposition to expanding the park, former Governor and Senator Cliff Hansen conceded that the expansion of the park had ultimately been in the public’s best interests after all.
Disclosing feelings of love to another can be presented in many ways. These letters of love come written from the hands of those who offered their sentiments on paper.
A letter from Louis B. Schwartz to his wife, Berta dated December 4, 1944. Louis B. Schwartz papers, Box 53, Folder “Love Letters,” Collection #8272.
Louis B. Schwartz (1913-2003) was an attorney and law professor known for his work on penal code reform and anti-trust laws. He served as an attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1935-1939, with the U.S. Department of Justice’s general crimes and special projects section from 1939 to 1946, and served two years in the Navy during this time. Schwartz also taught as a visiting professor at Harvard, Columbia, Cambridge, and the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies at London University. He was a member of the Lawyer’s Committee on Civil Rights through Law, served as director of the National Commission on Reform of Federal Criminal Law from 1968-1971. Enjoy sweet sentiments in each letter to his wife.
Letters from Morris Bien to his future wife, circa 1884-1885. Morris Bien papers, Box 1, Folders 1-4, Collection #3384
Morris Bien (1859-1932) was an engineer and government attorney specializing in right of way and irrigation law. From 1879-1893 Bien did topographic field work and mapping for the United States Geological Survey, he was in charge of right of way on public lands 1893-1902, and from 1902-1924 was legal counsel and later assistant director and assistant commissioner of the Reclamation Service. Bien drafted a state irrigation code in 1904 which became the basis for irrigation laws in several Western states. The collection includes love letters between Bien and his future wife, Lilla V. Hart (1884-1886); handwritten reminiscences dictated by Bien to his wife, ca. 1932 (typed transcription available). Review this collection to appreciate the gentle affections of love in the 1800’s.
Letters to Mary J. Irving from Robert Carson, 1930’s and 1940’s. Mary Jane Irving papers, Box 1, Folders 3-9, Collection #673.
Mary Jane Irving was a child actress between 1917 and 1926, beginning her film career at the age of two. She worked for Cecil B. DeMille in Patriotism in 1918 and The Godless Girl in 1928. She appeared in 58 films between 1917 and 1938. Her popularity continued until about 1926, but as she entered her teenage years, roles became less frequent. Irving married screenwriter Robert Carson in 1938. Her papers contain love letters from Carson through several decades. “How do I love thee? Let me count the Ways.”
Love does not increase or decrease in response to the world around it. Real love is a steadfast promise that repeats itself endlessly through life and beyond death.
Post submitted by Archives Specialist Vicki Glantz, American Heritage Center Reference Department.
February 9th marks the 106th anniversary of William L. “Bill” Carlisle’s first train robbery, which took place in 1916 outside Green River. It was a sensational event in the state, all the more notable as it was thought that the days of banditry on trains had long passed. It had been 16 years since the last Wyoming train holdup.
Young Bill Carlisle had a difficult childhood. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1890. Carlisle’s mother died when he was an infant and Bill spent several years in an orphanage. Educated only through the fifth grade, he was an itinerant youth, often engaged in petty thievery. Carlisle said, “I figured out as a little kid that if I wanted something, the easiest and quickest way was to take it”. He became a hobo, traveling on freight rail cars around the country. At one point he even joined a circus. By the time he was fifteen he had been to thirty-eight states. Then, at sixteen he moved north, joined the Skelton gang and rustled horses along the Canadian border.
Carlisle soon decided working with a gang was not for him. He said, “Every time I teamed with another outfit, I always got the worst of the deal.” At an early age he had determined that in any future enterprises he would always work alone.
Carlisle moved to Wyoming where he found a job on the Cross H Ranch in Johnson County but it didn’t last. Wanderlust struck and before long he moved again – this time south to Texas, where he began running guns across the border to guerrillas fighting to overthrow the Mexican government. By 1916 he found himself back in Wyoming, but without a job. Broke and growing increasingly desperate to find work, he decided to rob his first train.
It was after dark on February 9th in 1916 when he hopped aboard a Union Pacific train from Green River, Wyoming. Working alone and wearing a white handkerchief to mask his face, he turned his gun on a porter and demanded that the man pass the hat among the startled passengers. Carlisle was a gentlemanly bandit – he made a point of it to rob only the men, leaving the ladies undisturbed. Carlisle managed to collect $52.35 before he fled the train with the cash. By the time a posse was organized the next day, Carlisle had disappeared into the hills. But he didn’t leave the area. The next evening Carlisle made his way back to Green River and visited the barber shop at the Green River saloon. Hiding in plain sight, Carlisle got a shave and then boldly went to the train station to purchase a ticket to Laramie. None of the lawmen searching for him imagined the masked outlaw would leave on a passenger train! While eyewitnesses couldn’t settle on a description of Carlisle, wanted posters went up around the state and Union Pacific offered a $1,500 reward.
Less than two months later Carlisle reappeared on the Union Pacific Overland Limited outside of Cheyenne. He had decided he wanted to travel to Alaska but lacked funds to make the trip. As before, he demanded that a porter pass the cap, but only accepted money from the men aboard. It was a more lucrative collection, amounting to $506.07. Once again Carlisle disappeared. Union Pacific management and lawmen were furious. Extra train guards were hired, and the railroad upped the reward to $6,500 for Carlisle’s capture. Newspapers across the West reported that a “Lone Bandit” was on the loose. As many as twenty men were held for questioning, but Carlisle remained a free man.
Oral history interview with Bill Carlisle conducted by Robert Helvey on September 19, 1960, covering various adventures and events in Carlisle’s life. Robert T. Helvey papers, University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center
Then on April 21, 1916, just outside Hanna, Wyoming, Carlisle struck again, this time on Union Pacific train number 21. Carlisle had grown even bolder – he had purchased a passenger ticket for himself and even written an anonymous letter to the Denver Post predicting that the next train hold up would take place west of Laramie. He signed it “The White Masked Bandit”. It niggled at Carlisle’s conscience that men were being held in jail for the robberies that he had committed. In a twisted sort of logic, he intended to ensure their releases by holding up another train, thereby proving to the railroad that they had the wrong men in jail.
Upon boarding train number 21, Carlisle mingled with the passengers. He even ordered dinner in the dining car. But when it came time to pull off the holdup, he rushed into it and didn’t take the time to don his trademark white handkerchief mask. True to his reputation, Carlisle demanded cash from the men (a take of $378.50) and fled the train, but this time his luck had run out. He sprained his ankle as he jumped from the train, hindering his ability to escape. Captured, he was sentenced to life in prison at the Rawlins penitentiary.
Wyoming’s state penitentiary in Rawlins where Bill Carlisle spent 19 years in prison. The photo was part of an article in the Laramie Sunday Boomerang, December 31, 1961. Box 17, Clarice Whittenburg papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Carlisle proved to be a model prisoner, and after just three years his sentence was commuted to 50 years. While he may have been a model prisoner, he was also a crafty one. In November 1919 he concealed himself in a large packing crate full of shirts and was shipped out of the state penitentiary in Rawlins. By the time his jailers realized he had escaped, Carlisle had managed to steal some sheepherder’s clothing and a rifle. He returned to the Rawlins rail yard, and masquerading as a railroad guard, made his way by train to Laramie, where he spent the night at the Johnson Hotel and purchased a thirty-two revolver and some shells from a second-hand store on Front Street.
The next day he headed by train to Rock River, where he used the revolver to hold up yet another train, collecting $86.40. The train was full of soldiers returning from World War I. Carlisle let them keep their money, but he robbed a half-dozen other male passengers. His intention was to take the cash and escape to Mexico. But as he was preparing to leave the Rock River train, he was confronted by a young man with a gun. As Carlisle sought to disarm the man, the man’s gun went off, shooting Carlisle in the hand. Wounded, Carlisle spent two weeks hiding out avoiding the posses sent out in pursuit. More than a few ranch families gave him a meal and a place to sleep as he made his way on foot through snow and sub-zero temperatures. Eventually he ended up in a miner’s cabin in the Laramie Peak area. But once again his luck had run out. Lawmen located Carlisle, and he was shot as he surrendered. Carlisle was badly wounded, this time in the right lung. It took him months to recover, and he was returned to Rawlins where he once again faced life in prison.
Determined to make something of himself, Carlisle worked hard, reflected on his misdeeds and became the prison librarian. He was befriended by a Catholic priest, Reverend Gerard Shellinger, who encouraged him to reform his ways. On January 8, 1936, after nearly 20 years behind bars, and thanks in part to Shellinger’s efforts, Carlisle was discharged.
Portrait of Bill Carlisle aged 69, from the Laramie Daily Boomerang, March 22, 1959. Box 17, Clarice Whittenburg papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Carlisle moved to Laramie and got a job at a gas station, married and adopted a daughter. Before long he was running the Round Up, a motel, café and souvenir shop on the east end of town. He developed a passion for bowling, joining a traveling bowling team and regularly winning tournaments. And he traveled throughout Wyoming and Colorado speaking to service clubs and organizations about his exploits and reformation. He enjoyed telling stories about his time “roaming from Canada down to Mexico” and of his four train robberies. He wrote an autobiography that was published in 1948. In the end, Carlisle succeeded in establishing himself as an upstanding citizen and Governor Lester C. Hunt eventually granted him a pardon. Carlisle passed away in 1964.
Bill Carlisle’s Round Up motel, cafe and souvenir shop from the American Magazine, August 1953. Box 17, Clarice Whittenburg papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
You can learn more about the fascinating life of Bill Carlisle in several collections at the American Heritage Center. There is an oral history interview Carlisle recorded in 1960 (see above), articles about Carlisle in the Clarice Whittenburg papers, and Carlisle’s book, Bill Carlisle Lone Bandit, An Autobiography in the National Association for Outlaw and Lawman History collection.
Post contributed by AHC Writer Kathryn Billington.
William Franklin “Bill” Walker was born in Pendleton, Indiana, in 1896. The grandson of slaves who had escaped to the North on the Underground Railroad, he was the first Black graduate of Pendleton High School. A well-rounded student, he lettered in sports, was a member of the glee club and acted in high school productions.
Photograph of the Pendleton High School class of 1915 at their class reunion. Bill Walker is in the center of the front row. Bill Walker photo file, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
As a young man Walker joined the Army and served in France during World War I. After spending time leading a traveling orchestra, he made his Broadway debut in 1927 playing a witch doctor in the Oscar Hammerstein musical Golden Dawn. His first film appearance came in 1946 in The Killers starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner. As was too often common for Black actors at the time, Walker’s role went uncredited. By the late 1940s his acting career had begun to take off, but he was frequently cast as a porter, prisoner or butler.
In Hollywood, he joined the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), where, in 1951, he was elected as a member of its Board of Directors. He served alongside Ronald Reagan who was the SAG president at the time. Walker used his position to advocate for Black actors. In 1952, he appeared in the film Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie, playing Trooper Robert Waverly Ferris. The film was based on the novel I Hear Them Sing by Ferdinand Reyher.
Portrait of Bill Walker from the film Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie, 1952. Bill Walker photo file, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Walker was unafraid to use his voice and influence to lobby the film and television industry. In 1953 he addressed the Screen Producers Guild, on behalf of the Screen Actors Guild. He pointed out that there were sixteen million potential Black movie goers who wanted to see well developed Black characters on screen. He urged producers to consider the role Blacks play in American history and asked for proper portrayal of those roles on film.
Remarks given by William F. Walker to the Screen Producers Guild, May 7, 1953. Box 1, Bill Walker papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
In a speech about Black history, Walker noted that movies needed to reflect the reality of Black lives and that adding a single token Black role to a movie was insufficient. When cast as a blacksmith in a Western film, Walker said to the director, “Tell me, who am I supposed to be sleeping with in this town?” Abashed, the director quickly hired some Black women as extras to appear as townspeople on the set.
In 1962 Walker was cast for his biggest role, Reverend Sykes, in the acclaimed film To Kill a Mockingbird. Gregory Peck, who played the lead role in the film, acknowledged Walker’s contributions to the movie as he accepted the Academy Award for Best Actor. During that same period, Walker appeared on the television series Dr. Kildare.
Bill Walker, at the piano, with Richard Chamberlain on the set of Dr. Kildare. Bill Walker photo file, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Walker wanted to see Black actors performing in more diversified roles, so he was pleased to be cast as an American diplomat in the 1966 film Our Man Flint. The spy movie parodied the James Bond film series and was well received by critics.
Bill Walker, seated at left, on the set of the film Our Man Flint, 1966. Bill Walker photo file, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Walker’s role in the entertainment industry expanded as the years passed. He became a director and producer and continued working into his 80s. He also continued his activism, lobbying for the teaching of Black history from elementary school through college. He felt it was critical to include what he described as “the inventiveness and achievements of Black Americans” in curriculums at all levels. In the same vein, he decried injustice, including the exploitative practices of funeral directors preying on bereaved Black families. He had personal experiences helping families of deceased Black actors short on funds for expensive funeral services.
In 1980 a small sampling of Walker’s papers was donated to the American Heritage Center. They include photographs, speeches, scripts and two original screenplays written by Walker. Walker died in 1992, but his legacy lives on in an extensive filmography with performances in more than 100 films and television shows.
Post contributed by AHC Writer Kathryn Billington.
January 27th marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which coincides with the date that the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945. In that vein, we will delve into two World War II era collections at the American Heritage Center – those of Murray C. Bernays and Grace Robinson. Murray Bernays was an American lawyer who served in the U.S. Army during both World Wars. In 1945 he became a colonel with the U.S. Army General Staff Corps. It was in this role that Bernays helped to develop the legal procedures and framework for the international military tribunal that conducted the Nuremberg War Crime Trials.
Colonel Murray Bernays (left) and Colonel John Amen preparing for the Nuremberg Trials, 1945. Box 6, Murray C. Bernays papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
During World War II, the Nazis committed genocide and other horrific war crimes. But until the Nuremberg Trials of 1945 and 1946, never had an international court of law been convened to try war criminals. Twenty-four high ranking Nazi leaders were called before a court of judges. The governments of the United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union each designated a prosecutor. Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson was tapped by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to serve as the American prosecutor. Murray Bernays was Justice Jackson’s military advisor.
Nuremberg, Germany, was chosen for the site of the trials, as the city had been the symbolic home of the Nazi Party. It was considered fitting that Nuremberg would also be the place where the Party leaders met their fates. The crimes committed by the Nazis were so reprehensible they were categorized as crimes against humanity. It was posited by the Allied legal community that Germany had engaged in an unprovoked aggressive war, and that aggressive war was a crime against civilization. The defendants in the Nuremberg trials were accused of violations of the rules of war as regulated by the Hague Conventions. Interestingly, the German Military Code recognized that the criminal law applied, even in case of war, stating: “If the execution of a military order violates the criminal law, then the superior officer giving the order will bear responsibility therefor.”
There were some who questioned the need for any trial at all – they favored punishment by decree. But Murray Bernays argued that democratic traditions required the kind of integrity and justice that a courtroom offers. Following his involvement in preparations for the trials, Bernays published articles in Reader’s Digest and Survey Graphic magazines explaining his thinking and analysis behind the structure and justification for the trials. Bernays pointed out that while the Nuremberg trials were unprecedented, they were merely ensuring that war criminals be tried “pursuant to recognized law.”
Draft of an article about the Nuremberg Trials for Reader’s Digest magazine written by Murray Bernays, November 25, 1945. Box 6, Murray C. Bernays papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
As the Nuremberg Trials progressed, New York Daily News reporter Grace Robinson found herself in the courtroom in Nuremberg. She had been assigned to report on post-war Germany. Robinson was present in court on June 20th, 1946, to witness the prosecution of some of the most infamous Nazi leaders, including Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Albert Speer and Ernst Kaltenbrunner. Hearing the testimony of Albert Speer from the witness stand made a lasting impression, even on Robinson who had nearly thirty years of reporting experience under her belt. She called it the “most interesting assignment of my life”.
Grace Robinson’s press passes for the Nuremberg Trials, June 1946. On the back, Robinson had noted “save – valuable”. Box 32, Grace Robinson papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.Map of the German courtroom used for the Nuremberg Trials, June 21, 1946. Box 32, Grace Robinson papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Hermann Goering was the second most powerful man in Nazi Germany, after Hitler. Responsible for the creation of the Gestapo – the official secret police – he was also commander in chief of the Nazi Air Force (the Luftwaffe). Goering personally confiscated the property of Jews and over the course of the war was able to amass a sizeable fortune. At Nuremberg he was sentenced to hang but committed suicide by swallowing a capsule of cyanide just hours before his execution. Rudolf Hess, a Deputy Fuhrer appointed by Hitler, was another one of the leaders of the Nazi Party tried at Nuremberg. Hess was sentenced to life in prison in Berlin and died while still in custody at the age of 93. Albert Speer was an architect who became the Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production. It was under his authority that Jews and other prisoners of the Nazis were used as slave labor. Speer was the only defendant to take personal responsibility for his actions. But he claimed to have no knowledge of the Holocaust. Still, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ernst Kaltenbrunner was the most senior member of the Nazi SS (Schutzstaffel) to face trial at Nuremberg. Loyal to Hitler and virulently anti-Semitic, he was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and executed in October 1946.
Newspaper photograph of the German courtroom used for the Nuremberg Trials, November 27, 1945. The handwritten notations on the page are Grace Robinson’s. She pointed out Hermann Goering and the spectator section (which was mostly press). Box 32, Grace Robinson papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
If you are interested in learning more, you can visit the American Heritage Center to access the Murray C. Bernays and Grace Robinson papers. A portion of the Grace Robinson papers are also digitized and available online in Luna. In Bernays’ collection you will find information on the structure of the trials and files pertaining to witnesses and evidence compiled by the prosecutors in advance of the trials. The Robinson papers include a collection of newspaper clippings covering the Nuremberg Trials from various newspapers dated 1945 to 1946.
Post contributed by AHC Writer Kathryn Billington.
Martin Luther King, Jr./Wyoming Equality Day falls on the third Monday in January. It marks a time of remembrance and reflection on the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his relentless quest for equality, human rights and respect for human dignity. King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in the segregated south on January 15, 1929. By the time he was in high school, he had begun to hone his skill as a public speaker. In 1944, at the age of 15, he was on the debate team and winning oratorial contests. By the time he was 26, he had earned two bachelor’s degrees and a Ph.D. degree in systematic theology from Boston University.
King went on to become a Baptist church minister and civil rights activist. He was also a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The SCLC helped to coordinate local organizations as they fought for Black equality. It also sponsored voter registration drives and job creation programs. King sent out regular letters with updates on SCLC activities and fundraising requests.
Fundraising letter from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., October 1967. Box 1, Lewis L. Gould papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
King took inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s approach to agitating for change saying, “The Gandhian philosophy of nonviolence is the only logical and moral approach to the solution of the race problem in the United States.” In 1955, King led the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott – a social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on Montgomery public transportation. The boycott received the attention of the national press and King suddenly became the very visible face of the civil rights movement. Then, in ensuing years, he led marches and demonstrations for voting rights, desegregation, labor and fair housing rights.
In addition to his work as a civil rights leader and minister, King became an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War. On April 15, 1967, he led a march and rally of 125,000 people against the war at the United Nations in New York City. King said, “As long as the war in Vietnam goes on, the more difficult it will be to implement the programs that will deal with the problems that Negro people confront in our country…”
Flyer organizing Connecticut protesters to join Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s anti-Vietnam War march on the United Nations, April 1967. Box 1, Lewis L. Gould papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
King faced animosity from the very beginning. His activism earned him harassment, threats and physical violence. In 1956 a bomb was thrown onto the front porch of his home, and he was stabbed in the chest in 1958. King was jailed repeatedly as he participated in nonviolent protests, demonstrations and even prayer vigils. Despite this, King continued to speak out. His skill as an orator was legendary. He inspired others with the power of his speeches and his pen. His “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C, and his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” are studied even today by students all across the world. In 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role as the leader of the American movement for nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice.
Tragically, King’s life was cut short. In 1968, at the age of 39, he was assassinated. His murder led to race riots in major cities across the U.S. At the University of Wyoming, campus minister Reverend Dick Putney and some students organized a silent vigil in front of the student union in King’s honor. According to Putney’s remembrances in an American Heritage Center oral history interview, only about 20 students showed up. Soon “a couple of pickups with guys with cowboy hats and beers in one hand and a couple of long guns came and just harassed” the group. Although the vigil-goers hoped that campus police would arrive and intervene, they never appeared. Instead, the harassers eventually lost interest when they ran out of beer.
The path to establishing a day in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s honor was long and circuitous. In the 1970s, King’s reputation as a “trouble-maker” and “agitator” among the white majority still prevailed. King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, faced an uphill battle convincing federal legislators to designate a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day federal holiday. President Ronald Regan eventually signed a bill honoring King in 1983 and by 1986 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day began being celebrated at the federal level.
It was another fourteen years before all fifty states officially recognized the day. In Wyoming, the acknowledgement came in 1990 after nearly ten years of tireless work by State Senator Harriett Elizabeth “Liz” Byrd. Even then, the recognition was a compromise, as the holiday’s name was amended to include the words “Wyoming Equality Day”. Legislators at the time argued against naming a day for King, pointing out that King was one of many civil rights activists, and that Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln were not honored with holidays in their names. In 1989, Governor Mike Sullivan signed an executive order declaring January 15, 1990, to be Martin Luther King, Jr. Equality Day. Then, during the 1990 Wyoming congressional session, the bill was passed making the third Monday in January an official Martin Luther King, Jr./Wyoming Equality Day state holiday.
Page of a speech given by Wyoming Governor Mike Sullivan in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr./Wyoming Equality Day, January 14, 1990. Box 8, Michael J. Sullivan papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
In 2002, the University of Wyoming Student Affairs Office launched an event known as the Martin Luther King, Jr. “Days of Dialogue”. The goals of “Days of Dialogue” included providing a positive environment for Black-identified students to celebrate their culture and encouraging individuals to engage with racial justice issues. From 2002 through 2021 the “Days of Dialogue” were held during the third week of January, coinciding with Martin Luther King, Jr. /Wyoming Equality Day. Regular features of the event’s programming included a march from the Albany County Courthouse to the UW Union, speeches by activists, townhall meetings and panel discussions.
Schedule of events for the 2002 University of Wyoming Martin Luther King, Jr. & Days of Dialogue, January 21, 2002. Box 1, University of Wyoming Multicultural Affairs records, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
If you are interested in learning more, the American Heritage Center has six collections that contain materials related to Martin Luther King, Jr. The Jack Casserly papers include a short audio tape interview with King. The Richard S. Putney Oral History includes a brief remembrance of Reverend Dick Putney’s experience leading a silent vigil at the University of Wyoming honoring King after his assassination. The Lewis L. Gould papers include fundraising letters from King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The University of Wyoming Multicultural Affairs records contain material related to the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. “Days of Dialogue” held on the UW campus each January. The Harriett Elizabeth Byrd papers include materials related to establishing Martin Luther King, Jr./Wyoming Equality Day as a Wyoming holiday. Finally, the Michael J. Sullivan papers contain documents related to Wyoming’s official recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr./Wyoming Equality Day in 1990.
Post contributed by AHC Writer Kathryn Billington.
