American Heritage Center
- AHC
Address
Phone
+1 307-766-3756
History
More than 100 years ago, Grace Raymond Hebard—UW faculty member, administrator, librarian, and Wyoming historian—began collecting the papers and reminiscences of Wyoming’s pioneers. Her research on the history of Wyoming, the West, emigrant trails, and Native Americans became the nucleus for what is known today as the AHC.
The AHC was officially established in 1945. In the decades that followed, nearly 70,000 cubic feet of historically important documents and artifacts were acquired. The AHC is among the largest non-governmental archives in the nation.
Records Management and Collecting Policies
Building(s)
In 1993 the AHC and the University Art Museum occupied the multiple-award-winning Centennial Complex. Internationally-acclaimed architect Antoine Predock says of his building's unique design: "Throughout Wyoming there is a sense of landscape in formation.... The appearance of this ‘archival' mountain can be thought of as parallel to the slow but certain geologic upheaval."
The AHC occupies 60 percent of the building's 127,000 square feet. The AHC's portion of the complex is named for Eleanor Chatterton Kennedy, daughter of a former Wyoming governor, and for Joe and Arlene Watt, cattle ranchers and descendants of Wyoming pioneers.
Finding Aids, Guides, and Publication
Opening Times
Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. by appointment only.