The Volunteer Vaquero
From the President's Pen Beverly Goodman , President, Museum Volunteers June 2012
Greetings to you all once again. I'm watching the early arrival of the hummingbirds as I write
this, and I'm listening to the frogs and watching the geese in our newly formed pond in the
meadow below. I hope you all can enjoy them come our picnic time on Sept. 16.
44 of us attended our Annual Meeting on May 7 at the Bunk House Bar and Grill. The 44
included 3 staff members: Helen Louise, Chris Hanson, and Heyward Schrock, and 2 of their
spouses, LaDonna Schrock, and Mike Wyne. We presented Linda Rogers our Volunteer of the
Year award, elected officers for the coming year, and awarded Sarah Ligocki an Honorary
Membership. Your officers are: myself as President, Emma Fosdick as Vice‐President, Tracy
Stefanik‐Berg as Secretary, (we can hold office for 2 years), and Kim Stevens as our new
Treasurer. Linda is retiring to catch up on home duties and other obligations. Dick Hart will
serve the appointed position of Advisor, and Carolyn Turbiville will continue her position of
Editor of the Vaquero. If you ever have something to share with all of us, send your message
to Carolyn. She always welcomes our input. Heyward entertained us after dinner with a slide
presentation of photographs of Cheyenne buildings torn down during the 1960s and 70s;
photos taken by an amateur photographer named Kirby Olds. What a trip down Memory Lane
for some of us. Thanks, Heyward, for your time and efforts.
I hope you participated in the Historic Homes Walk on May 19. Since I'm writing this before
the 19th, I can't say much except thanks to Carolyn T., Connie Skoetch, and Peggy Staley for
the organization and to those who manned the Welcome Table, and for those who joined me
in walking and enjoying some of Cheyenne's homes still standing and looking good.
Until next time, Beverly G.
HAPPENINGS AT THE WYOMING STATE MUSEUM:
A HORSE, OF COURSE Opening Reception 5‐7 p.m. May 24
June 20 1 p.m. Board Meeting
August 11, 2012 Arts and Crafts Show and Sale l
September 16 Picnic at Beverly Goodmans
September 22, 2012 Repeat of Historic Homes Walk
Volunteer of the Year Announced at Annual Meeting
SUSPENSE! Who is selected as Volunteer of the Year?
Nominated were Emma Fosdick, Harriett Loose,
Janet Norrod and Linda Rogers.
And the winner is‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐Linda Rogers
Wyoming State Museum Historic Trivia
Provided by Jim Allison, supervisor of Collections
Suffrage, the right of voting in political matters, is a significant topic in Wyoming history. Today Wyoming calls itself the Equality State because, as a Territory, it granted women the right to vote in 1869. (Women nationwide did not achieve suffrage until 1920 with the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.) But one group of people, Native Americans, could not vote alongside their male and female neighbors in Wyoming until they became citizens of the United States.
In What year were all Native Americans granted U.S. citizenship?
(This month’s answer will be found on page 8)
Meet a new member of WSMV
Sandy Goodman, from Denver, CO., is President Beverly Goodman's daughter. She is in charge of registration for the Arts and Crafts Show and Sale. It was Sandy's idea to do the Historic Homes Walk (originally Wag'n Walk).
This and That from the Editor
Common sense is the least common of all senses.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President: Beverly Goodman
Vice President: Emma Fosdick
Secretary: Tracy Stefanik-Berg
Treasurer: Kim Stevens
Vaquero Editor: Carolyn Turbiville
Ex Officio: Chris Hanson
Advisor: Dick Hart
The Volunteer Vaquero. . .
is published monthly for members of the Wyoming State Museum Volunteers, Wyoming State Museum, Barrett Building, 2301 Central Avenue, Cheyenne, WY 82002. Newsletter deadline is the 20th of each month.
June Birthdays
18 – Frances Hardy 28 – Pat Becker
About the Organization
From the inception in 1974, the WY State Museum Volunteers have been instrumental in assisting the art and education programs of the Wyoming State Museum. Their tie to these programming sections of the museum remains strong today. Volunteers at the Wyoming State Museum are an important link between the museum’s professional services and the public it serves. In human terms, they represent the museum’s mission to the public.
WYOMING STATE MUSEUM VOLUNTEERS MAY ANNUAL MEETING TREASURER’S REPORT
May 7, 2012 (October 1, 2011-May1, 2012)
Wyoming State Museum Volunteers have funded the following since October 01, 2011
Travelling Trunks: Replacement and new purchases (Buffalo Box) $ 592.60
Text for Native American travelling exhibit $1000.00
Transportation from Arizona of Schwartz donation $1000.00
Creative Suites Graphic Design Software $ 170.00
Scavenger Hunt flyers-printing $ 580.36
Hands on History clothing (new and replacements) $ 479.90
History Day Awards (2) $ 200.00
Refreshments, treats, gifts
A Night at the Museum-Dressed to the NInes-lecture series $ 574.97
Organizational Costs
Vaquero-printing and postage
Historic Homes Walk-Arts and Crafts Show printing and postage
Member events-Pie Social $ 359.03
Total Amount spent 10/01/2011-5/01/2012 $4957.69
Total Financial Resources available 4/01/2012 $25,949.23
Note: Penny Press has earned nearly $2500.00 over purchase price
We extend our sympathy to Beverly Goodman and her family in the lose of her brother.
Congratulations to the following Wyoming State Museum Volunteers who have paid their dues for 2012-2013!
Cara Baber Pamela Basile
Judy Binger Sharon Collier
Emma Fosdick Priscilla Golden
Beverly Goodman Sandy Goodman
Dick Hart Helen Hart
James Hart Anita Lucas
Mitty Nation Barbara Nelson
Janet Norrod Estelle Summers
Kay Thomas Carolyn Turbiville
Wanda Wade Bill Yannaccone
Alice K.
WSMV Dues Were Due May 1!!!! Have you paid your dues?
Please pay ASAP as your membership will be delinquent after July 1, 2012
Dues are $12 per person
Enjoying the Historic
Homes and Park Walk
James and Dick Hart travel to Shiloh Battlefield Tennessee
Submitted by Dick Hart
The luminaries were in front of park headquarters, just as it was getting dark. The log
structure is a replica of the original Shiloh Church; the South called the battle Shiloh, the North called it Pittsburg
Landing.
Dick and James Hart, Museum Volunteers, traveled to Shiloh battlefield in Tennessee for the
150th anniversary of the battle. Dick’s great‐grandfather, also James Hart, fought there on
April 6 and 7, 1862, in the 46th Illinois Infantry Regiment. Dick and James took a couple of
guided battlefield tours, found the monument of Granddad’s regiment, and tracked the
outfit’s movements on the battlefield.
Out of an initial regimental strength of 710, the 46th lost 159 killed or wounded, but only 1
missing. This was the inspiration for Dick’s poem “Nobody Ran.”
Wiley Sword (isn’t that a great name for a military historian?) in his book Shiloh, Bloody April,
describes Lt. Col. Jones, CO of the 46th Illinois, who; “…thought his men hungry, tired, and low
on cartridges, and finding himself within a half‐mile of camp, marched his men there and got
dinner.” This was an astonishing break in discipline, but even more astonishing, after dinner
the men willingly marched back into that hellacious fight.
More than 23,000 men were killed or wounded in the battle, equivalent to forty percent of the
population of Cheyenne. To commemorate their sacrifices, a luminary for each one was
placed along the roads and in the fields, and lighted on Saturday night. Park rangers guided
cars along the roads past all the luminaries.
Dick and James ordered replica Union uniforms, and wore them for the tours. Before one
tour, they stopped in a Waffle House for breakfast, and the grill cook saluted them. Later,
James overheard two ladies talking. One complained, “We were going to the Waffle House for
breakfast, but it was full of Yankees!”
Dick and James also visited the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah, Tennessee, and the Civil
War Interpretive Center in Corinth, Mississippi.
Wyoming State Museum Historic Trivia Answer:
The Indian Citizenship Act, signed by President Calvin Coolidge on June 2, 1924, granted full citizenship to all Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States who were not previously citizens. Citizenship meant the right and privilege of voting (suffrage) and the right to be elected to public office, among other things. The act made citizens of about 125,000 persons. Previously, about 250,000 Native Americans had become citizens by various means. Since 1888, Native American women, for example, had become U.S. citizens by marrying one. And, citizenship had already been granted to all members of the Five Civilized Nations (Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, and Seminoles) in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) in 1901.
The issue of citizenship for Native Americans is as old as the United States itself, having been questioned since the U.S. Constitution was adopted. The issue was debated even more vigorously after the Fourteenth Amendment extended citizenship to African Americans in 1868. Arguments between politicians and groups both for and against Indian citizenship continued for more than fifty years. World War I was the turning point in the campaign for nationwide Indian citizenship. Approximately 17,000 Native Americans had served as soldiers in the uniform of the United States. Their families had bought millions of dollars worth of Liberty bonds to finance the war effort. And, thousands of Native Americans had joined the American Red Cross to support the troops. Indian citizenship advocates pointed out that Indian soldiers fought in integrated regiments, "side by side with the white man, not as Indians, but as Americans." A month after a peace treaty ended the war, a journal asked, "If the red man can fight, why can't he vote?" In 1919, the U.S. Congress responded by granting citizenship to all Native American veterans who had received honorable discharges. Finally, in 1924, U.S. citizenship was conferred upon all Native Americans. At this time, national citizenship had been established for more than 130 years, and African Americans had been U.S. citizens for more than 50 years.
For many Native Americans, U.S. citizenship meant political equality on paper only. There still existed many legal and political complications in the political status of Native Americans, due to the fact that the old regulatory statutes inconsistent with the newly-conferred citizenship were not abolished in 1924.
History on the Wall
The Cheyenne-to-Deadwood Stage by J.K. Ralston, A-1965.67.1 Images of a lone stagecoach thundering across the dusty prairie with a band of gun‐wielding
robbers in hot pursuit have long been immortalized in popular art and fiction, films and
western lore. A Horse, Of Course, the new exhibit at the Wyoming State Museum, includes the
monumental oil painting The Cheyenne‐to‐Deadwood Stage, capturing a similar scene, though
lacking the inherent high drama of the road agents.
Montana artist and muralist, J.K. Ralston created the painting in 1946. Western Airlines then
presented the action scene to the State of Wyoming in 1965 to commemorate the 75th
anniversary of statehood. It originally hung in the House Chamber of the State Capitol until
one of its supporting hooks gave way and the painting landed on a leather‐upholstered bench.
It was transferred to the Wyoming State Museum in the mid 1990s and has resided in the
permanent art collection ever since.
The Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage and Express Line operated between Cheyenne and
Deadwood, Dakota Territory from 1876 to 1887. The route angled northward to Fort Laramie
and Lusk before heading out across the Dakota Territory. And while the painting lacks the
requisite highwaymen, the line was robbed repeatedly.
The stage line used a combination
of large open mud wagons and
smaller enclosed Concord coaches
imported from California. The
painting included in A Horse, Of
Course portrays a Concord coach.
The line also owned one ironclad
wagon dubbed “The Monitor”
used to haul gold from the
diggings in the Black Hills. The mud
wagons used teams of six to eight
horses and the lighter Concord
coaches utilized four to six‐horse
teams. Horses were changed and refreshed regularly at way stations along the route.
Governor Clifford Hansen accepting The Cheyenne‐to‐Deadwood Stage on behalf of the State
of Wyoming
Inspired by the somewhat infamous safety record of the stage line, western impresario Buffalo
Bill Cody immortalized the Hold‐up of the Deadwood Stage as part of his Wild West show. In
the early1900s he restored one of the original coaches to tour with his show. Following
humble beginnings in the American West, the coach provided thrills for European royals and
nobles invited to participate in the stage performance. That same 1863 coach is now displayed
at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming.
Born in 1896, James K. Ralston was raised on his family’s ranch near the Fort Peck Indian
Reservation in northeastern Montana. An experienced artist/cowboy much like Wyoming’s
own E.W. Gollings, Ralston briefly attended the Chicago Art Institute, both prior to and
immediately following service in World War I. His early professional career was spent on the
West Coast working as an illustrator. He returned to run the family ranch in Culbertson,
Montana during the Great Depression. Then in 1935 he moved his own family to Billings, again
becoming a full‐time artist. Ralston specialized in western genre scenes. His 1946 log studio is
now part of the Western Heritage Center in Billings. He died in 1987.
J.K. Ralston is a member of the third generation of noted western painters. He was born when
Frederic Remington and Charlie Russell were the dominant figures and in an age when
illustrated novels and periodicals were extremely popular. His work is very much in an
illustrative vein, yet, like Charlie Russell, he must have been a natural talent, as his formal art
training was rather short‐lived.
The painting is most notable for its scale, the strong horizontal composition and the energy it
conveys. All action is freeze‐framed with the blur of the wheels and dust providing the main
indicators of forward motion. The lead horses are leaning into a sharp right turn as the
stagecoach descends an incline to a river valley beyond. One would think the driver might be
applying the brakes and pulling back on the reins to ease the coach into the turn, but instead
he is captured at mid whip crack as the scene hurdles forward at a full gallop. Ralston does an
excellent job portraying the detail and mass of the coach and the horses, yet his human figures
are very much secondary caricatures. If you look closely you will see that all the male figures
share the same large hooked nose and profile. I am particularly fond of Ralston’s treatment of
the sky and clouds, and the hazy vista of buttes in the background.
Along with the large Pegasus sign on the opposite wall, The Cheyenne‐to Deadwood Stage was
one of my main inspirations for organizing A Horse, Of Course. It was a pleasant surprise when
I discovered it tucked behind the rolling racks in Art Storage. The wall space the painting
requires has limited its previous use, but a special niche was created in the exhibition just to
accommodate it – and its story.
A Horse, Of Course is on view through March 30, 2013.
David L. Newell Curator of Art Wyoming State Museum
May 7, 2012 WSMV Dinner at Bunkhouse Bar and Restaurant
Beauty on the way to the Bunkhouse for the Annual Meeting.
President Beverly conducting the Annual Family Affair‐ the Harts: James, Dick and Helen
Meeting
Attentive listeners during the meeting
Beth Staley Estelle Summers
The program presented by Heyward Schrock‐"Kirby Olds, Eye Witness to Change"
Regulars: Mel and Harriett Loose Mitty Nation and Janet Norrod
Welcome "New comer" spouses
Joe and Pris Golden Frank and Deb Mellblom
Victor and Peggy Staley Loraine and Pete Hutchinson
Night for Grandchildren‐GREAT!
Emma Fosdick.s Grandchildren Kelsey & Keeton Marsh KariAnna and Grandmother Cara Baber
Something new and exciting at the Museum!
What Am I?
What am I? is a new game being featured in the gallery. It is on the “Wanted” poster on the left side of the doors as you enter the gallery. There is a close up image of some object that can be found in the museum, along with a clue as to what that object is. If the visitor guesses the correct object they will receive a Taco John’s coupon. It is the same coupon we give the kids for doing the scavenger hunt. Each object will be up for one month and then a new object and clue will be featured.
The correct answer to the question will be left at the volunteer desk as well as with Beth. The instructions on the game state to give the correct answer to the volunteer at the desk, so when someone gives you the correct answer please give them a Taco John’s coupon. If they cannot find the answer you can also let them know what and where the object is.
I hope this will be a fun game for our visitors to play. Thanks for your help.
Mandy Langfeld
Another Successful Historic Homes Walk May 19, 2012
Submitted by Carolyn Turbiville
The 8th Annual Historic Homes spring walk is now history. There were 120 walkers and quite a
few dogs. It is always good to see families doing the walk. This was the biggest walk so far and
took in the most donations. The weather didn't start out very good that morning with wind
and a hard rain that brought us 1/4 inch of much needed moisture. In spite of the weather,
walkers started coming and they enjoyed the information provided.
A SPECIAL Thank You to Connie Skoetsch and Peggy Staley for all the great research they did,
what a wonderful team to work with. Chris Hanson, Curator of Education, and Priscilla Golden
added much to the committee by editing the guide. Workers at walk included Estelle
Summers and Tracy Berg. Gil Gianetti was a gracious host in allowing us to use his garage as a
start point and he provided coffee for the workers.
Marking the trail‐Lucky, Connie Skoetsch,
Peggy Staley, Kacey Warner (Connie's
granddaughter)and Carolyn Turbiville
WSMV members Estelle Summers, Mitty Nation, Curator of Education, Chris Hanson and potential member Carmene Martin. Carolyn Waldow also did the walk
A "Rare" visit
Thanks to Mike Kassell, Curator of Collections at the Old West Museum, opened the Happy
Jack School House (beside the Artist Guild) for the Historic Homes Walk. Carolyn Turbiville,
retired teacher, visited the school.
Family Affair
Watch this family grow‐Nicole, Kelsey and 3 month old Kaden Kenn
‐Nicole walks dog as a single person
‐Nicole walks with future husband
‐Nicole and her family
Ramirez family (missing Grandpa and Mom) Jose, Gabby , Mary and dog
Buddy‐ Gabby did her first "walk" in a stroller
Walker # 100 Robert Hinton and Volunteer Priscilla
Golden
` Volunteer Estelle Summers playing with the money (Really
she is having fun counting the donations for the walk. Pris
is supervising.