www.uwyo.edu/ahc

Washakie through the Lens of Time

Shoshone leader Chief Washakie is the focusof an exhibit by the American Heritage Cen-

ter. Curated by Interim Director Rick Ewig,Washakie through the Lens of Time examines dif-ferent images and impressions of Washakiethroughout history and today. Washakie, leaderof the Eastern Shoshones from 1840s until hisdeath in 1900, became Wyoming’s second rep-resentative in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitolin September 2000, joining Esther Hobart Mor-ris, the first woman to serve as a justice of thepeace.

Washakie was born in the early 1800s. Hisfather was a Flathead Indian and his motherShoshone. He joined the Eastern Shoshones asa young man and rose to a leadership positionin the early 1840s. During this time of increas-ing Euro-American migration to the West,Washakie chose alliance with the United States,instead of opposition, and looked to the U.S.for assistance against the Shoshones’ traditionalenemies, the Sioux, Blackfeet, Crow, andCheyenne. He told his people to “learn all theycan from the white man, because he is here tostay, and they must live with them forever.”

Washakie is often lauded for his friendshipwith the whites and for having the best inter-ests of his people as his primary motivation.He exhibited bravery, skills as an orator anddiplomat, and a belief in the importance of edu-cation.

During his later years, Washakie painted anumber of autobiographical elk hides illustrat-ing important moments in his life. An elk hideillustrating some of his buffalo hunts and vari-

Continued on page 2

Masterwork of Chief Washakie, bronze, by Dave McGary

ous battles dated December 8, 1899, about twomonths before his death on February 20, 1900,is also on exhibit courtesy of the Cheramy Foun-dation, Jackson, Wyoming.

2

From the Director

On October 2, the AHC lost its dear friendand benefactor, Clara Toppan. A distin-

guished UW alumna and the first woman cer-tified public accountant in Wyoming, Claraestablished and wasthe sole support ofthe Frederick W. andClara Toppan RareBooks Library at theAHC. Clara alwaysspoke with pride ofher husband and hisextensive library onhunting and fishing,which she donatedto UW after his death

in 1966. Clara didn’t tout her own achieve-ments. Born in Cheyenne and raised in Laramiewhere her father owned a car dealership, shegraduated from UW in 1931 with a degree inaccounting. She worked in Encampment andCheyenne, Wyoming, and Washington, D.C.before becoming one of seven permanentemployees of Grand Teton National Park in1937 where she worked as chief clerk. Eightyears later, she started her own accounting firmin Jackson. One of her clients, and future hus-band, Frederick Toppan, was involved in theSnow King Ski Area. After their marriage in1949 they shared a home in Wilson, Wyoming,and traveled. ❚

— Rick Ewig, Interim Director

Washakie through the Lens of Time (Continued from page 1 )

In addition to photographs and paintings,the exhibit also features two statues created byartist Dave McGary, including the masterworkof the full-sized Chief Washakie statue in theU.S. Capitol. The other statue, Battle of TwoHearts, depicts Washakie in battle dress at theBattle of Crowheart Butte. Dave McGary is

Battle ofTwo Hearts,

bronze, by DaveMcGary;

Painting byChief Washakie

on elk hide,courtesy of the

CheramyFoundation,

Jackson,Wyoming

known for his colorful bronze tributes to NativeAmericans of the late nineteenth century andspent many hours talking with descendants ofChief Washakie in order to create these statues.

Washakie through the Lens of Time is ondisplay at the University Art Museum throughDecember 2001. ❚

Clara Toppan

3

Due to the events of September 11, the AHCsymposium examining the environmen-

tal practices of Native Americans, originallyscheduled for September 19-21, was resched-uled for April 25-26, 2002. AnthropologistShepard Krech III, from whose book, The Eco-logical Indian: Myth and History the symposium

Re-figuring the Ecological Indian Symposium Rescheduled

Lucille Clarke Dumbrill named Medallion Service Award Recipient

AHC Associate board member, LucilleClarke Dumbrill, was honored during

UW Homecoming activities in October as theAlumni Association’s 2001 Medallion ServiceAward Recipient. A graduate from UW withbachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathemat-ics, Lucille was raised on the UW campus whereher father, L. Floyd Clarke, was the head of theDepartment of Zoology and Physiology fortwenty-six years. Lucille and her husbandRichard became active in the Wyoming StateHistorical Society, which led to a long career ofvolunteer service in historic preservation at UWand the state of Wyoming.

A member of the AHC’s Associates boardsince 1995, Lucille currently serves as vice-chairman, nominating committee chairman,and a member of the special events committee.Lucille has also served as president of both theWeston County Historical Society and the Wyo-ming State Historical Society (WSHS). Gover-nor Ed Herschler named her to the WyomingState Library, Archives, Museums, and Histori-cal board where she served six years and waselected vice president. As a UW Alumni boardmember she served as chairman of a commit-tee for historic preservation and currently is thetreasurer of the Wyoming Historical Founda-tion and chairman of several art print projectsthat have raised more than $200,000 for theFoundation. One of these projects—the Paulley

project—generates income for both the WSHSand the American Heritage Center.

Lucille’s involvement in history also extendsto the national level. In 1988 President RonaldReagan appointed her to the President’s Advi-sory Council on Historic Preservation. Today sheis an advisor for the National Trust for HistoricPreservation and has served as a representativeof that group on a trip to Scotland.

Along the way, Lucille and her husbandRichard, an attorney, raised a family inNewcastle where they moved after she andDick graduated. Our congratulations to Lucillefor this well-deserved honor. ❚

Lucille Clarke Dumbrill and Rick Ewig

draws its name will serve as the George A.Rentschler Distinguished Visiting Lecturerwhile on campus in April and will give a majoraddress titled “Beyond The Ecological Indian.”For more information, see the AHC’s Web pageat www.uwyo.edu/ahc or contact SallySutherland at 307-766-4295. ❚

4

Richards Family Papers Available for Research

Bartlett Richards with his children, BartlettJr., Elise, Longley, 1908

Continued on page 5

The Richards Family Papers document thelives and activities of five members of the

Richards Family who left their mark in NewEngland, the South, and the American West,particularly Wyoming and Nebraska.

William Jarvis (1770-1859) was a prominentNew England businessman and an earlyimporter of Merino sheep, which became popu-lar with stock growers across the United States.Active in government service, he served as theUnited States Consul to Portugal under Presi-dents Thomas Jefferson and James Madisonfrom 1802-10.

Reverend Jonas DeForest Richards (1809-1872), son-in-law of William Jarvis, was a NewEngland Congregational minister for most ofhis life. He and his wife Harriet had six chil-

dren, including sonsDeForest and Bartlett.In 1865, after the CivilWar, Jonas purchasedand operated a cottonplantation in WilcoxCounty, Alabama, serv-ing as the county’s rep-resentative in the state’sReconstruction Legisla-ture and as “presidentpro-tem” of the Univer-sity of Alabama.

DeForest Richards(1846-1903) was the sec-ond child of Reverendand Mrs. Jonas Richardsand had an illustriouscareer as both a busi-nessman and politicianin Alabama and Wyo-

ming. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, DeForestserved as sheriff and treasurer of WilcoxCounty, Alabama. During this period, he alsoran an unsuccessful tannery.

After the failure of his tannery, DeForestmoved to Douglas, Wyoming, where he estab-lished Richards and Lidell, a successful mercan-tile firm. He was also a founder and president

of the First National Bank of Douglas. After hisbusiness successes, he became a fixture in Wyo-ming politics, serving as mayor of Douglas,delegate to the Wyoming Constitutional Con-vention, and state senator. DeForest Richardswas elected governor of Wyoming in 1898 andheld that office until his death in 1903.

Bartlett Richards (1862-1911) was thefourth child of Reverend and Mrs. JonasRichards, and younger brother to DeForest.Educated at Andover Academy in Massachu-setts, he moved to Wyoming at the age of sev-enteen to become a ranch hand. In 1879, Bartlettpurchased 1,000 head of cattle establishing theShipwheel Ranch on the Belle Fourche River innortheast Wyoming. An astute and enterpris-ing businessman, he greatly expanded his hold-ings and in 1883, purchased the Upper 33 andLower 33 Ranches in Sioux County, Nebraska.By 1888, he founded the famed Spade Ranch inthe Sandhills, near Chadron.

Bartlett was outspoken in his belief that thefederal government should favor ranchers overhomesteaders in the settlement of the Sandhills,citing the region’s arid climate and infertile soil.He actively acquired homesteaders’ claims andfenced government land—a combination ofactivities that attracted the enmity of PresidentTheodore Roosevelt. In 1905, Bartlett and hisbusiness partner William Comstock wereindicted for fencing federal land. The two menpled guilty and were sentenced to six hours ofdetention by a federal marshal and a $300 fine.The light sentences angered federal officials,who stepped up efforts to prosecute Richards.In 1906, he was again indicted, this time for landfraud. He was found guilty and sentenced toone year in prison and a $1,500 fine. In 1910,after an unsuccessful series of appeals, Bartlettwas imprisoned at the Adams County Jail inHastings, Nebraska, where he died on Septem-ber 4, 1911.

Bartlett Richards Jr. (1901-1978), BartlettSr.’s youngest son, was a businessman andamateur historian. After his retirement from thevice-presidency of Acme Steel Company in

5

Richards Family Papers Available for Research (Continued from page 4)

Cowboys at Bartlett Richards’ Spade Ranch in Nebraska Sandhills, n.d.

Chicago, he worked to restore his father’s repu-tation. In 1970 Bartlett Richards, Sr. wasinducted into the National Cowboy Hall ofFame. In 1972, the discovery of his father’sletters resulted in a book, Bartlett Richards—Nebraska Sandhills Cattleman, published by theNebraska State Historical Society in 1980.

The Richards Family Papers contain corre-spondence of these individuals, DeForestRichards’ diaries, and legal documents pertain-ing to Bartlett Richards’ business interests. Thecollection also contains clippings, photographs,and artifacts concerning the Richards Family. ❚

Reference Manager, Carol Bowers, and Ref-erence Archivist, Melanie Francis, attended theannual meeting of the Wyoming State Histori-cal Society in September at Newcastle.

In June, Interim Director Rick Ewig attendedthe annual trek of the Wyoming State Histori-cal Society at Wheatland and “Protest & Resis-tance: An American Tradition,” an educationalworkshop sponsored by the Heart MountainWyoming Foundation.

Reference Archivist Ginny Kilanderattended a session of Rare Book School, Uni-versity of Virginia in June. She also participatedin the weeklong “History of European andAmerican Papermaking” class, taught by JohnBidwell of the Morgan Library, New York City.

In June Curator of Rare Books Anne MarieLane attended the annual summer conferenceof the American Library Association (ALA) inSan Francisco. Lane serves as the co-chair ofALA’s Rare Books Security Committee. In July,Lane traveled to Colonial Williamsburg in Vir-ginia to attend the annual conference of theSociety for the History of Authorship, Reading,and Publishing, where she participated in con-tinuing education sessions on teaching bookhistory. In August, Lane gave a slide presenta-tion on the Egyptian-related materials in the

AHC’s Colket Collection at the University ofWyoming Art Museum.

Information Manager Mark Shelstadreceived the Midwest Archives Conference’s2001 New Author Award for best article in atwo-year cycle of its journal by a previouslyunpublished author. The article, in volume 23of Archival Issues, is a case study of a catalogingand appraisal project at the AHC. Shelstad alsoattended the 2001 Annual Conference of theSociety of American Archivists in Washington,D.C. in August and presented a paper on theArchives & Archivists Listserv and electronicdiscussion groups. While in Washington he tookpart in training at the Library of Congress oncreating and changing subject headings. ❚

AHC Notes

A Holiday Celebration

The AHC invites everyone to attend A Holiday Celebrationon December 11, 2001, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The HolidayCelebration presents an evening of vocal and instrumen-tal music and seasonal readings from the AHC collections.Christmas cookies, hot cider and other refreshments willbe served. Plan to join the faculty and staff of the AHC fora magical holiday evening. ❚

6

Series I (1887-1959) of the Milward Simpson Papers are Completed

In September Kim Winters, archivist for theSimpson Institute, produced a finding aid for

the first series of the Milward L. SimpsonPapers. Organized in 155 boxes, these paperscover the years 1887-1959 and detail Milward’swork in his father, William’s, law practice inCody, Wyoming. The collection includes legalrecords, correspondence, newspaper clippings,and political papers. Of particular interest areletters written by William Simpson, who wasButch Cassidy’s lawyer, about his personalobservations of Cassidy. In addition, there isinformation about the Heart Mountain Reloca-tion Center and a selection of Finn G. Burnettpapers, dated 1912-1930. Burnett, father-in-lawto William Simpson, served as the officialfarmer to the Shoshone Indian Agency. Weanticipate that this first series will be availablefor research in December.

Work is underway on the second series ofthe Milward L. Simpson Papers, which details

his time as Wyoming governor, and the thirdseries, which contains information aboutMilward’s senatorial career. This materialremains restricted and written permission fromthe Simpson family must be obtained before itcan be accessed.

The Alan K. Simpson Institute for WesternPolitics and Leadership was created thanks tothe generosity of Julienne Michel, a personalfriend of Ann and Alan Simpson. The SimpsonInstitute promotes AHC collections of promi-nent individuals and organizations that haveprovided political, economic, social, or culturalleadership for Wyoming and the Rocky Moun-tain Region.

For further information about the MilwardL. Simpson Papers, or about the Alan K.Simpson Institute for Western Politics and Lead-ership, contact Kim Winters at (307) 766-2594,or kimain@uwyo.edu. ❚

A native of Centennial, Wyoming, MelanieFrancis holds bachelor’s and master’s degreesin English from UW and a certificate in educa-tion from the University of Oxford, England.

New Staff at the American Heritage Center

Wyoming History Day Continues Education Series

As part of Wyoming History Day’s continu-ing education series, the third annual

teacher workshop was held in Casper on Octo-ber 19. Almost fifty educators from throughoutWyoming participated in the daylong program.Presenters included Rick Ewig, AHC InterimDirector, Marianne Kamp, UW history profes-sor, Mary Beth Peden and former WHD Teacherof Merit Patricia Green, both of Natrona CountyHigh School. Reviews for the workshop, whichwas certified by the Professional Teaching Stan-dards Board, were uniformly positive. Fundingfor the workshop came from a grant to WHD

by the Kinder Morgan Foundation.The Kinder Morgan gift will also allow

WHD to continue and expand last year’s popu-lar student workshop series. The introductoryportion of the series began in early November,with almost 75 students and teachers fromCheyenne and Casper traveling to the AHC.The workshops, designed to assist students asthey prepare to compete in History Day, areexpected to continue through February of 2002.Statewide district competitions will take placein March and the state contest will be held atthe University of Wyoming on April 15. ❚

Continued on page 7

An elementary school teacher in England,Melanie has also taught English composition,literature, humanities, and mass media andcommunications for UW, the University of Ken-

7

The 2001 Bernard L. Majewski Fellow, BrianFrehner, presented a talk,“Oil on the Mind:

The Nineteenth Century Context of PetroleumGeology,” on October 11 at the AHC. A Ph.D.candidate at the University of Oklahoma,Frehner spent several weeks at the AHCresearching the intellectual and professionalcontexts of the petroleum geology industry dur-ing the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Majewski Fellowship honors the latepetroleum industry pioneer Bernard L.Majewski and is awarded annually to an out-standing scholar to conduct research in AHCcollections. ❚

Bernard L. Majewski Fellow

tucky, and Laramie County Community Col-lege.

Melanie is a graduate of AHC classesArchives I and II and the History of the Bookand worked part-time in the Toppan Rare BooksLibrary and manuscript processing sectionsbefore her appointment to the AHC faculty asa reference archivist.

Anne M. Guzzo joined the staff in Septem-ber as a reference archivist specializing in audio-visual materials. Anne received her bachelor’sdegree from the University of New Mexico inclarinet performance, her master’s degree in 20th

century music history from the University ofCalifornia, Santa Cruz, and is completing herPh.D. in music composition and theory at theUniversity of California, Davis. Anne alsoteaches music composition in the UW musicdepartment.

Her research interests include the music ofthe 20th century American popular culture fig-ures, including the cartoon music of Carl Stall-ing, composer for early Disney animations andthe Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melo-dies, whose collection is housed at the AHC.

Kenton G. Jaehnig (pronounced Yaynig)was hired in June as the new assistant archivist

Rick Ewig andBrian Frehner

in processing. Kent holds a bachelor’s degreein history from the University of Pittsburgh andhis master’s degree in history, with a concen-tration in archives and museum administration,from Wright State University.

Before coming to Wyoming, Kent workedas a project archivist at the Jacob Rader MarcusCenter of the American Jewish Archives, locatedon the campus of Hebrew Union College inCincinnati, Ohio.

John Waggener brings yet another dimen-sion of research expertise to the AHC with hisemphasis on maps, transportation history, andhistorical geography. A UW graduate with abachelor’s degree in elementary education andgeography and a master’s degree in geography,John’s thesis was on the historical developmentof the Wyoming road map. John also studiedarchives and public history with AHC InterimDirector Rick Ewig and UW History ProfessorPhil Roberts.

John, a fifth generation Wyomingite fromGreen River, formerly worked at theSweetwater County Historical Museum and theBuffalo Bill Historical Center prior to joiningthe AHC staff in August. John will answerresearch requests, assist in processing, and per-form other duties at the AHC. ❚

New Staff at the American Heritage Center (Continued from page 6)

Melanie Francis

Anne Guzzo

Kenton Jaehnig

John Waggener

8

American Heritage CenterP.O. Box 3924Laramie, Wyoming 82071-3924

Non-Profit OrganizationU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDUniversity of Wyoming

The AHC, in cooperation with theWyoming State Historical Society,

has published a 2002 calendar using his-toric photographs from the Center’s col-lection. The images illustrate the varietyof sights awaiting the traveler aroundWyoming through the years.

The 2002 calendars sell for $5.95 each.Wyoming residents please add sales taxof 6%. Shipping and handling charges aredependent upon the quantity ordered. Toorder contact William Hegner at 307-766-5225, whegner@uwyo.edu; or Calendar,American Heritage Center, P.O. Box 3924,Laramie, Wyoming, 82071. ❚

2002 Wyoming Historical Calendar Available

2002 Wyoming Historical Calendar