From Ranches to Politics: A Glimpse into L.R.A. Condit’s Past

Posted on September 3, 2010 by ahcadmin

L.R.A. Condit was born in Lawrenceburg, Iowa, in 1858. He came to Wyoming in the fall of 1885. He worked at several ranches in Northern Wyoming before finally establishing the Condit Ranch near Kaycee in Johnson County, Wyoming, in 1894.

Condit served two terms as Johnson County Representative in the Wyoming House (1899-1903), and was the Republican nominee for Governor in 1918. He was married to Edna J. Ferris in 1900, and had four children.

Schoolhouse on Klondike Ranch in Johnson County, Wyoming, 1902. Box 16, L. R. A. Condit papers, Coll. No. 00004, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

The collection includes 9 boxes of correspondence (1860-1899), chiefly with family members, although some business letters are included. There are 25 financial ledgers (1878-1925), 280 photographic glass negatives, legal documents, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, notebooks, photos, drawings, and poetry. The collection also includes Condit’s photographic equipment.

You can view the inventory for the collection here.

Posted in Johnson County, Ranch history, Uncategorized, Western history, Wyoming, Wyoming history | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Championing Nature: The Legacy of Brock Evans

Posted on September 1, 2010 by ahcadmin

Brock Evans is an attorney and environmental activist who has worked in both the Pacific Northwest and Washington, D.C. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, on May 24, 1937. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1959 and a Ll.b. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1963.

Evans served in the military with the Marine Corps between 1959 and 1961 and with the Army Reserve from 1961 to 1966. He worked in a private practice in Seattle until 1967, when he became the Northwest Representative for the Sierra Club. In 1973, Evans moved to Washington, D.C., to work in the Club’s office there, initially as Associate Executive Director and then Director. He became the Vice President for National Issues at the National Audubon Society in 1981. Later, he joined the Endangered Species Coalition as its executive director.

Evans has been active in numerous other organizations associated with natural resources and related issues. He was an organizing founder of the Washington Environmental Council. The governor of Washington appointed him to the state’s Urban Affairs Task Force in 1971. He served as chairman of the Natural Resources Council of America. Evans was a member of the Board of Directors of both the Sierra Club and the Center for Urban Environmental Studies. In the context of these positions, he testified over 200 times before over 20 congressional committees and subcommittees. Both U.S. News and World Report and Fortune magazine named him one of the top lobbyists in Washington, D.C.

You can view the inventory for his papers at the American Heritage Center here.

Posted in Environmental Activism, environmental history, Legal Battles, newly processed collections, resources, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

American Heritage Center Digitizes Wind River Missionary Records

Posted on August 30, 2010 by ahcadmin

The AHC has digitized and made accessible online more than 1,300 items from the papers of John Roberts.

Reverend John Roberts was an Episcopalian missionary who worked among the Arapaho and Shoshone peoples on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Digitized image of John Roberts from Box 3 of his papers at the American Heritage Center

The collection is comprised of Arapaho and Shoshone translations of Christian and Episcopalian texts, Roberts’s personal papers, and photographs.

  • Pupils list of mission school, 1901 from Roberts’ papers.

The digitized collection is accessible through the online inventory.

Supporting Wyoming’s Indian Education for All

The AHC’s extensive archival holdings and its K-5 Teaching Resources – Indigenous Tribes of Wyoming exhibit serve as valuable resources for educators implementing Wyoming’s Indian Education for All mandate.

These primary source materials—including photographs, documents, manuscripts, and more related to Wyoming’s Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes—are available through digitized resources, online exhibits, and with assistance from Reference Department staff to help teachers educate students about the cultural heritage, history, and contributions of Wyoming’s tribal nations while supporting Wyoming Social Studies Standards.

For more information about the Center’s resources, contact the AHC’s Reference Department at ahcref@uwyo.edu.

Posted in American Indian history, Arapaho, Digital collections, resources, Shoshone, Wyoming history | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment