Education

The Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum is a regional history museum in Buffalo, Wyoming. When pharmacist Jim Gatchell opened his drugstore in 1900, it had an immediate impact on the Johnson County community. Before his arrival in Buffalo, Gatchell had grown up on a Lakota Sioux reservation. Because of this and his caring nature, he became a trusted friend of the region's Native Americans. They brought him many gifts, and as word spread, friends and acquaintances began donating mementos of historic people, places, and events from Johnson County and the Powder River region. After Gatchell's death in 1954, his family donated his collection to Johnson County with the provision that a museum be built to house it. The museum opened its doors in 1957 and became a nationally accredited museum in 2002.

The University of Wyoming was founded in 1886, four years prior to statehood. Provisions of the 1862 Morrill Act, also known as the Land Grant College Act, allowed for the teaching of agriculture, mechanic arts, and military tactics but also included literary and scientific studies. With statehood in 1890, the constitution confirmed the establishment of the university, that all students, regardless of gender or race, could attend, and that the cost of instruction "may be as nearly free as possible." From a humble beginning in athletics, UW has excelled in football, basketball, and rodeo and has produced such notable figures as Kenny Sailors and Curt Gowdy. Statewide outreach has always been a focus, resulting in a research center in Grand Teton National Park and agricultural farms in many communities. Wyoming's economy relies heavily on the energy industry, and today, the university is a leader in energy-related education and research. Many of the photographs in Campus History Series: University of Wyoming were taken by long-serving university faculty, providing an interesting glimpse of UW's 125-year history.