The Move is On 

      Imagine a house that has been in the same family for thirty-four years. In addition to the objects of daily living, this family collects stuff; sometimes judiciously, sometimes not. Now comes the scary part...it is time to move this family. 

            After years of false starts and construction delays, the museum family has finally started the process of leaving the courthouse.

            The first step was to relocate the collection items in storage to a new facility. The original plan was to retain storage space in the courthouse for items not currently on display. However, with growing demands on courthouse space, it soon became apparent that the entire museum must be moved out. Nearly 2300 square feet of storage space was leased from a commercial company and the majority of the three-dimensional collection was moved to a new home. While having the storage in an off-site facility is not the most convenient arrangement, the staff believes it is a workable solution until funds are raised to build a storage addition on the rear of the building.  

            In order to have a “break-free” move, all of the packing and hauling has been done by museum staff under the direction of Curator Mark Nelson. Packing has involved miles of bubble wrap and bunches of boxes. So far the goal has been met and no items have been damaged. 

            Staff is trying to preserve, as much as possible, the same arrangement of shelving that exists in the courthouse storage area. This system assigns a number to each shelf and an inventory lists the location of all items by that shelf number. In order to preserve the arrangement every item that is moved is entered on an artifact movement form which shows the date moved, the accession number (the unique number assigned to each artifact), the original location, and the new location. 

            In order to better serve historical researchers the archival collection was installed in the basement of the new building. The former “coal bunker” has been sealed, painted and filled with shelving for this purpose. 

            During this first phase of moving the museum has remained open to the public. However, in order to safely and securely pack and move the exhibits, the museum will have to close some time around the last of August. 

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Board Members Depart

            Two long-term members of the museum board recently left our organization. John S. “Stan” McKee retired after six years of service. Stan joined the museum board in 1995 and served several terms as the Chair of the board. He also served on the board of the Sweetwater County Museum Foundation. Stan was with the museum through some of its most turbulent years and his experience and sense of humor will be greatly missed. 

            Calvin E. Ragsdale was appointed to the Museum Board in 1996. Two years into his second term he found the press of other commitments too great and resigned from the board. Cal has contributed much to the museum during his years of service. He served as Vice Chairman and represented the Museum Board on the Sweetwater County Museum Foundation Board. His influence can be seen in the streamlining of museum board meetings, better staff reporting methods and an increased emphasis on documentation of museum activities. He is personally responsible for the donation to the museum of a major collection of papers from an agricultural family in Sweetwater County.   

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Welcome New Board Members!!

             The Museum Board has gained two new members during the last few months. Museum board members are appointed by the Sweetwater County Commissioners and may serve two consecutive three year terms. They are Sweetwater County citizens who volunteer their time and talents in service of the museum. 

            Virginia Tominc began her first term in July. Virginia and her husband Frank live in Rock Springs. Virginia is a retired Registered Nurse and for many years was an administrator and instructor in the nursing program at WWCC. 

            Virginia has a strong interest in history, particularly that of nursing and medicine. She has collected many items relating to these topics and has donated some of them to the museum. These objects and photos are currently on display at the Community Nursing office in Rock Springs which is located in the old hospital building. 

            Virginia has worked with the museum staff for the past several years in placing exhibits on the history of the local medical community in several cases at the current hospital. She is also currently working on a book about the doctors who practiced in Sweetwater County.

            Mary Johnson was appointed in August to fill the unexpired term of Calvin Ragsdale. Mary lives in Green River with her husband Brett. She grew up in Casper and graduated from the University of Wyoming and University of Wyoming Law School. She is employed as an attorney for Child Support Services.

            Mary is interested in historic preservation and has been involved with her husband in efforts to save the Old Lincoln School building. 

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Director's Report
Ruth Lauritzen

                  There are no columns in this issue from either the Curator or the Exhibits Coordinator. All of Mark’s and Gary’s time is taken up with setting up shelves, packing artifacts, loading the truck, and unpacking and reshelving artifacts. Kari has also gotten in on the action and has toted her share of boxes. My participation was cut short by a rather ill-timed case of mononucleosis and so until mid-August, I have been limited to desk duty. However, we are all in agreement that we have physically worked harder this summer than we ever have in museum work. As we half-jokingly tell other county employees we pass in the hall with our loaded carts, “This is why we went to college...to get a nice desk job!!”

            I think that I would be remiss in not dedicating this column to my staff. They perform yeoman service for the museum every day, but this summer has been a special challenge. Kari continues to do her regular work of keeping the books, greeting visitors and running the gift shop, yet still finds time to help with the packing and moving. She is the morale officer of the museum and her cheerful personality and home-baked pies have made the hard work seem a little less difficult. 

            Gary has had an exhibit plan for the new building for at least a year now. He had the movement of the exhibits planned and all necessary packing material purchased by June. Then after we were informed that we would be moving the storage collection as well, Gary took charge of the packing and moving until Mark’s arrival in mid-June. All of this was done in the midst of preparations for his wedding to Criss Staffa which took place on August 4th. 

            Gary has a gift for descriptive language. When entering the name of an unknown object in the collection onto the movement forms, Gary would write “6-foot knitting needle” or “rusty impaling tool”. This provided those who were unpacking with some amusement.

            I am pleased to report that Mark is back. He fits in so seamlessly it is almost like he never left. However, he brings back with him some excellent experience in moving collections which we put to work right away. He dove right in and without fuss or flutter took over the move and made it go. His familiarity with the collection and with the county staff has made the job so much easier. 

            I also need to thank Aaron Allison and Kreg Jensen, our hired muscle, for their help in all of the hard work associated with moving. Gratitude also to the maintenance staff for their help with the painting in the basement of the new building and to Art Kline who was so helpful in getting our new storage facility ready for us. We also appreciate the Clerk’s office for the use of the voting machine van in moving the storage items across town. Without it we would have had a heck of a U-Haul bill!

            The moving of the museum will be an experience that I am sure none of us will ever forget. Meanwhile we are looking forward to the day when the last item is in place and the final box is emptied and thrown away. Then we can all sit back, smile and ask each other, “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

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Board Message
Kevin Holdsworth

            I was graciously appointed to serve as Museum Board Chair and am grateful to my fellow Board members for the opportunity.  I’d like to thank Stan McKee and Calvin Ragsdale for their years of service to the museum, and for providing an excellent example of leadership and organization.  As a Board we will miss their skillful repartee and insistence on following Robert’s Rules of Order to a “T.”

            We welcome two new members of the Board, Virginia Tominc and Mary Johnson, both of whom possess unique experience and expertise, and look forward to working with them in the future.

Please allow me to introduce myself.  I am Assistant Professor of English at WWCC, and together with my wife, Jennifer Sorensen, direct the Western American Studies Program.  Jennifer and I are the parents of three children, and we live in the Robert Morris house in Green River, just across the street from old Carnegie library.  I have always had an interest in history and literature, especially of the western variety, and I see the Sweetwater County Historical Museum as an essential and indispensable part of our community.

            Obviously the “big event” of the near future is the impending move of the museum.  The museum staff, county employees and commissioners have all worked very hard to insure a smooth transition into the “new” quarters.  The museum staff, in particular, deserve praise and recognition for all their hard work and determination to complete this challenging task with consummate professionalism.  The opening of the museum will act as an important catalyst for the continued improvement of historical Green River, as well as providing a facility of which all residents of Sweetwater County can be proud.

            We intend to make the opening of the new “old” building an exciting and memorable event and are in the process of planning public activities in celebration.

            Part of the mission of the Board is to act as liaison between the public and the museum staff and county authorities.  If you have concerns or ideas about the museum, don’t hesitate to contact me at work, 382-1724 or at home, 875-8817.  I look forward to working with you, the citizenry of Sweetwater County.

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Every Building Has A Story

            The featured National Register property for this issue gets its significance because of its owner’s ties to literature. The homestead of Elinore Pruitt Stewart, author of two books, Letters Of A Woman Homesteader and Letters On An Elk Hunt, was added to the Register in 1985. 

            Elinore Pruitt Rupert arrived in Burntfork, Wyoming (located about 40 miles south of Green River) in 1909 to serve as housekeeper for rancher Clyde Stewart. Stewart came to Burntfork in 1898 with his wife, Cynthia and together the two proved up on their claim by 1905. In 1907 Cynthia died of cancer and Clyde advertised for a housekeeper two years later.  

            Elinore was living in Denver at the time, a single mother with a young daughter. Some confusion exists as to whether she was widowed, divorced or simply separated from her husband. Poor historical records make it difficult to determine her status, but there are indications that her husband had not died as she claimed in her writings. Elinore was working for a Juliet Coney, a long-widowed school teacher, when she answered Clyde’s ad. 

            About two months after her arrival in Wyoming she and Clyde were married and Elinore filed on the adjoining homestead. She remained at the ranch until her death in 1933.

            Between October of 1913 and April of 1914 a number of her letters to her former employer, Mrs. Coney, were published serially in the Atlantic Monthly Magazine. They were later compiled into the book Letters From A Woman Homesteader. The movie, Heartland, was based on this work.An excellent biography of Stewart was written by Susanne K. George. It is entitled, Adventures Of A Woman Homesteader and is available at the museum gift shop.

            Elinore’s house still stands in Burntfork. The original homestead structure is a one-room building with a low angle gable roof. It is constructed of rough hewn logs with no liner and has a board floor. In about 1905 a two-story log frame addition was added on the south side of the building. It has a steep gable roof with one dormer on the north side. 

            The south wing of the building was added after 1909. In order to prove up on her claim Elinore had to build and occupy a residence on her land. Fortunately the property line between Clyde’s land and Elinore’s newly filed claim ran within two feet of Clyde’s house and so an addition to the house allowed her to fulfill the residency requirement. The south wing is also built of log and has two rooms, one with a low angle gable and the other a medium gable. 

            The site is currently abandoned and houses mostly wandering livestock from the ranch the property now belongs to. Its preservation is a concern of many, but so far no real steps have been taken to stabilize and protect the building.

Volunteer Opportunities

     If you have an interest in volunteering at the museum please call Ruth at 872-6435 or 352-6715. Volunteers may choose to work as much as they wish, coming in on a regular schedule or just helping out for special events. If you have special talents and time to give we would love to hear from you.

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