American Heritage Center, Laramie History Subject Guide: Ranch History

B. C. Buffum Papers, 1890-1972

Acc. #400055

Burt C. Buffum joined the faculty of the University of Wyoming in 1891 as professor of Agriculture. In 1893 Buffum was in charge of the Wyoming exhibits at the Chicago World’s Fair. He left briefly to teach at the Agricultural College in Colorado in 1900 but returned to the University of Wyoming in 1902. He became director of the university's Experiment Stations throughout the state. He was especially interested in the cultivation of emmer wheat, which was well-adapted to the high dry climate of Wyoming. He was also an enthusiastic amateur photographer and created many images of the university, the experiment stations, and his travels. Buffum resigned in 1907 to found the Wyoming Plant and Seed Breeding Company in Worland, Wyoming. He moved the operation to Denver, Colorado, in 1916 and retired in 1919.

The collection contains glass plate negatives depicting the University of Wyoming, agricultural experiments stations, crops, livestock, and exhibits. There are also images of President Theodore Roosevelt visiting Wyoming in 1903. In addition, the collection includes correspondence and printed material about emmer wheat, B.C. Buffum, and the Buffum family.

Robert Burns Papers, 1848-1982

Acc. #400002

Robert H. Burns, a wool specialist and University of Wyoming faculty member, was born August 23, 1900, on the Flag Ranch nine miles south of Laramie, where his father was foreman. He attended the University of Wyoming from 1916-1920 and then obtained his M.A. from Iowa State in 1921 and his Ph.D. in 1931 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He began teaching at the University of Wyoming in 1924 and later served as head of the Wool Department. From 1937-1939 Burns worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a wool shrinkage researcher and senior marketing specialist. In 1946 he was loaned to another college to participate in a mission in China to study carpet-wool. Dr. Burns in 1949 served as consultant to the Iranian government in New York. He had numerous publications over the years, including writing articles for the Laramie Republican-Boomerang on the ranches in Laramie as well as the ranch industry as a whole.

The collection contains materials relating to Burns' research on wool and service with the University of Wyoming. Collection includes extensive correspondence, research files on wool, and other information on wool and the wool industry. Also included are photographs, research, manuscripts, and publications on Albany County ranch history, War Memorial Stadium, the Laramie Stockyards, the bucking horse Steamboat, and other historical subjects. In addition there is information on fur farming in Wyoming.

Agnes Wright Spring Papers, 1850-1989

Acc. #115

Agnes Wright Spring was an author of both non-fiction and fiction; she wrote over 500 articles and published over 20 books mostly about the Rocky Mountain West. She was born in Delta, Colorado on January 5, 1894, one of four sisters, to Gordon L. and Myra May Wright. When Agnes was about seven years old the family moved and purchased a ranch on the Little Laramie River in Albany County, located West of Laramie, Wyoming. She grew up on this ranch and in 1913 she graduated from the University of Wyoming with a degree in civil engineering. She obtained employment from the state of Wyoming as a State Assistant Librarian from 1913-1916, then in 1916 she was accepted to Columbia University's Pulitzer School of Journalism. In 1917 she returned to Wyoming and became a State Librarian and Historian. She resigned in 1921 to marry Archer T. Spring and they moved to Fort Collins, Colorado where they purchased a cherry orchard in 1930 called Cherryhurst. Agnes Wright Spring began to flourish as a writer during the 1920s and 1930s; publishing her first book in 1927 and serving as women's editor of the Wyoming Stockman-Farmer newspaper. When the orchard failed, Agnes returned to Wyoming to serve as Wyoming State Supervisor for the Work Projects Administration's Federal Writers' Project from 1935-1941. The Springs moved to Denver, Colorado in 1941 and Agnes became a research assistant at the Denver Public Library. In 1950 she became president of the Colorado Historical Society and served as Colorado State Historian from 1954-1963. From the 1960s to the 1980s, Agnes continued her research and writing about the American West. She died on March 20, 1988 in Fort Collins, Colorado and is buried at Greenhill Cemetery in Laramie, Wyoming.

The Agnes Wright Spring papers contain correspondence dealing mostly with research for her articles and books as well as personal correspondence with friends and family; research notes; research files containing research notes, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and newspaper clippings on specific subjects and research projects; maps of Colorado and Wyoming; newspaper clippings; manuscripts of articles and books by Agnes Wright Spring and other authors; professional organization membership files containing publications, newsletters, and minutes; printed materials such as books, publications, pamphlets, brochures, and ephemera that Agnes may have published in or used for research and professional reference; biographical materials on Agnes W. and Archer T. Spring and her sister Rachael Ann Fish; diaries and research journals (1913-1980); scrapbooks (1904-1960); autograph albums; photographs regarding Agnes's personal life, research, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee and the Phi Beta Pi settlement school; and miscellaneous artifacts and art works.

Wyoming Stock Growers Association Records, 1857-1987

Acc. #14

The Stock Association of Laramie County was organized in Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, in 1872 to combat cattle rustlers operating in the area. By 1879, it had been renamed the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and was involved in a broad range of activities, including managing roundups, conducting brand inspections, and dealing with health and sanitary concerns, freight rates, and fencing and other public domain issues. The Association was instrumental in the development of Wyoming livestock and rangeland laws beginning in the 1880s and was closely involved in the Johnson County War of 1892. A women's auxiliary, Wyoming's Cow-Belles, was organized in 1940 and a youth group, the Junior Wyoming Stock Growers Association, was founded in 1954.

WSGA materials include correspondence (1870-1944); administrative records including minutes, legal documents, correspondence, membership records, committee records, and annual convention records (1874-1985); financial records (1874-1982); brand books, roundup records and inspection and shipping records (1868-1978); Wyoming's Cow-Belles records and correspondence (1940-1972); Junior Wyoming Stock Growers Association records (1954-1973); WSGA publications including the periodical "Cow Country"; photographs (1857-1981); an oil painting commemorating the founding of the WSGA; and artifacts.

Week 1 Ranch Exhibit

Week 2 Ranch Exhibit