AHC Programs
Research Services
On-site access to archival material is available via the AHC's reading room. Offsite reserchers can take advantage of remote research and discovery to access materials from anywhere in the world. We also offer research guidance, citation guidelines, and digitization/reproduction services.
Education & Outreach
A central part of the AHC's mission is to support teaching and learning efforts for all. We do everything from K-12 class visits to fully-fledged course development assitance for university educators.
University Archives
The University Archives and Records Management Program serves the faculty, staff, colleges, admin departments, organizations and other units within UW by assisting with records management and providing a secure repository for both physical and electronic records of enduring value.
Grants and Fellowships
The AHC offers several grants and numerous fellowship opportunities for individuals that utilize AHC collection materials in their work. Scholars at any level—from undergraduate students to established researchers—may apply.
Alan K. Simpson Institute
The Alan K. Simpson Institute for Western Politics and Leadership is a program of the American Heritage Center focusing on the acquisition, preservation, and research use of the papers of prominent individuals, businesses, and organizations that have provided leadership for Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West.
Archives on the Air
Archives on the Air is partnership with Wyoming Public Radio that takes listeners deep into the AHC's archives. Listen on WPR Monday–Friday at 11:50 a.m. and 6:50 p.m. or online on the WPR website.
Our Mission
The AHC is responsible for maintaining the University's Archives, and for collecting, preserving, and disseminating the historical documentation of select aspects of cultural heritage at the local, state, national, and even international levels. Our mission is to support the administrative and educational curriculum of the University by enabling historical research and interpretation across a broad spectrum of interests and disciplines. We meet these mandates through acquisition, stewardship, accessibility, service, instruction, exhibition, outreach, digitization, and collaborative programmatic activities.
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 American Heritage Center. 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, making the AHC among the largest non-governmental archives in the nation.
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.
