What is your wish for America's 250th birthday?
The United States will celebrate its 250th birthday next year. What is your wish for the United States? History museums across the country invite you to chime in at OnOur250th.org.
We’re partnering with Made By Us, The New York Historical, and history museums across the country to invite YOU to share your wish for the United States’ 250th birthday, coming next year. Add your wish and check out pop-up “Wish Walls” at all of our Civic Season events this summer!
Get ready for Civic Season!
Six events in Cheyenne & Laramie
June 17 - July 4
Join the Wyoming State Museum along with a collaborative of local and statewide organizations for our 4th Annual Civic Season!
July 4th commemorates the moment a new nation was born, based on ideals that each generation since has worked to bring to life: freedom, equality, justice, and opportunity. Juneteenth, celebrated just a few weeks earlier, reminds us of the struggles and hard-won victories in our ongoing journey to form a “more perfect union.” Civic Season is a summertime celebration of who we are as a nation, how we got here and where we want to go next.
Attend one of the six events taking place in southeast Wyoming, or find other ways to join in online. More than 500 credible, nonpartisan cultural institutions in all 50 states unleash hundreds of resources and activities to activate a new skill, passion or perspective.
 Civic Chat: Today's Superheroes Guiding Tomorrow's Changemakers
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Laramie County Library, Cottonwood Room
A Slice of History: Unity in Action
Thursday, June 19, 2025
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Wyoming State Museum, Classroom
Community Conversation
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Laramie County Library, Cottonwood Room
A Slice of History: Wyoming's Women's Suffrage Story
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Wyoming Women's History House, Laramie, WY
Democracy Under Construction
Thursday, June 26, 2025
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Wyoming State Museum, Classroom
Civic Season Festival
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
5:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Wyoming State Museum, Classroom
New Exhibit!
A Responsibility to Pass it Along: Traditional Arts in Wyoming
Open Now through December
In partnership with the Wyoming Arts Council, we have opened a new exhibit showcasing participants from their 2021-22 Folk Art Mentoring grant program!
The mentors have mastered their skills throughout their lifetimes, and the apprentices are just getting started. The artists featured in this exhibit represent the wide range of Folk and Traditional arts practiced in the state, including Blacksmithing, Western Saddlemaking, Eagle Feather Fan Making, Bit and Spur Making, and Traditional Plains Dress Making.
You can view their final work and watch videos to learn more about the mentor-mentee relationships and the process of making their pieces.
Thanks to the Wyoming Arts Council for partnering on the exhibit and the National Endowment for the Arts for supporting this grant program.
Find us in "Collecting 250"
A Project from the Decorative Arts Trust
Explore Collections Across America
The Decorative Arts Trust is commemorating America’s 250th birthday through the creation of an online collection. You can explore objects from across the United States that represent the meanings of independence, identity, and community.
We’ve included furniture designer Thomas Molesworth’s Club Chair commissioned for Ranch A. Check out our page here and the entire project here.
Do you have items you’d like to donate to the Museum in honor of the 250th? Contact our collections team at 307-777-7022.
New Exhibit!
Threads Through Time: Bone Needles in Wyoming’s Archaeology Record
Open end of May through 2026
This exhibit celebrates Wyoming’s rich cultural heritage by focusing on ancient sewing techniques and artifacts.
The exhibit features a fragment of a bone needle recovered from excavations at the La Prele mammoth site near Douglas, Wyoming. The needle on display is 12,950 years old, making it one of North America's oldest known bone needles. This is the public’s chance to view it in person!
You can also pick up this year’s Wyoming Archaeology Awareness poster featuring the bone needle outside the display.
Thanks to the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office and the University of Wyoming Archaeological Repository for their partnership on this exhibit.
Image credit: Mike Vanata
Conservation Project Underway!
Preserving Art in Public Buildings
Working with conservators from Pacific Coast Conservation, we are undergoing a project to care for state-owned sculptures across Wyoming. The project includes examining, performing maintenance, and developing long-term plans for twenty-five artworks in twelve Wyoming communities.
The artwork includes the Spirit of Wyoming at the State Capitol, the Seventh Sense in Casper, Order/Disorder in Douglas, Serenity in Evanston, the Gift of the Smoking Waters in Thermopolis, and many more.
Thank you to the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund and the Wyoming Arts Council for their partnership and support of this project.
 Stay up to date on everything happening at the museum by following our Instagram and Facebook accounts! You'll get to see special looks into our collections, upcoming events, behind-the-scenes museum work, and more! Click the links below to follow us, or search our handle @wyomingstatemuseum.
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