American Heritage Center

Help UW Capture History!

Take part in the COVID-19 Collecting Project

AHC Closed Until Further Notice:

As of Wednesday, March 18, the American Heritage Center and the Centennial Complex will be closed to public access and drop-in traffic. The reading room will not be open to patrons. These measures aim to help slow or stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus. We expect to be open by mid-August, along with the University of Wyoming's Fall semester opening

Online access to digital materials and patron requests are available as usual. Please email the AHC Reference Desk at ahcref@uwyo.edu if you have questions.

Please see our full list of accommodations to help our patrons during our temporary closures.

American Heritage Center

#Always Archiving

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 (AHC). Officially established in 1945, the Center now holds over 90,000 cubic feet of historic documents and artifacts in more than 3500 collections—placing the AHC among the largest non-governmental archives in the nation.

Today, the AHC contains important holdings in numerous areas. Its western history archives include materials on early women’s suffrage and political achievements, native Americans, ranching, politics, authors, and under-documented communities. Other featured collecting areas include transportation (railroad, highway and air travel), mining and energy extraction, entertainment and popular culture (with important collections featuring Hollywood, music, radio, television and the comic book industry), natural resources and the environment, and military history. The AHC also serves as the primary archives for the University of Wyoming. We are #ALWAYS ARCHIVING.