Fort Caspar Museum Hosts Three New Exhibits This Holiday Season

Fort Caspar Museum has three new exhibits for your holiday viewing pleasure. Bring your families and out of town guests to see “The Artwork of Caspar Collins,” “Dressed for Battle,” and “A View from Center Street.” The museum will be open during normal winter hours in December, Tuesdays through Saturdays, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, excluding the City holidays of December 25th and 26th. In honor of the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Platte Bridge in July 2015—the battle which claimed the life of Casper’s namesake—we are excited to present the companion exhibits “The Artwork of Caspar Collins” and “Dressed for Battle.” “The Artwork of Caspar Collins” brings together for the first time many of the known works by the young Collins (1844-1865), who drew most of the forts he visited as well as the people and wildlife he encountered on his many trips to the West. Fort Caspar Museum has borrowed pieces from other institutions, including the Denver Public Library, Colorado State University in Fort Collins, and the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne. The museum is excited to provide this rare opportunity to view so many of Caspar’s watercolors and pen-and-ink drawings here at the site named in his honor. This exhibit will remain on view through November 7, 2015. In “Dressed for Battle,” you will learn how the soldiers stationed at Platte Bridge Station—later Fort Casper, then Fort Caspar—were equipped. Focusing on one Cavalry and one “Marble Champion,” 1933, Casper Tribune, Tom Carrigen Infantry soldier, visitors will learn about the different uniforms, equipment, and firearms that would have been issued to men in the Union army in the 1860s. Kids can try on a uniform in a hands-on activity area set up just for them. This exhibit will be on view through November 7, 2015.

Finally, in “A View from Center Street,” visitors will be transported back in time by the photographs of Tom Carrigen. Carrigen is arguably Casper’s most famous photographer, and his body of work is a precious time capsule of the city and its residents during the first half of the 20th century. This exhibit will be on view through February 7, 2015. While you are at the Museum, do some Christmas shopping. The Museum Shop has unique and uniquely Wyoming gifts, as well as Central Wyoming’s best selection of frontier history books. Fort Caspar Museum’s winter hours are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Tuesdays through Saturdays. Holiday closures are as follows: December 25th and 26th, and January 1st and 2nd. Admission prices are $1.50 for adults; $1.00 for youth (ages 13-18 years); and FREE for children (12 years and younger). For more information, call the Museum at 307-235-8462, or visit our website at www.fortcasparwyoming.com. Fort Caspar Museum is located at 4001 Fort Caspar Road.