A colorful cardboard box in the Laramie Plains Museum (LPM) collection is labeled “Kickapoo Indian Guide to Health and Longevity.” It’s not clear what was originally in the box; it did have some cut-outs of “Indians,” their horses, tents and blankets that would have appealed to children. Possibly it once had some of the “herbs, barks and roots” advertised on the box as remedies. Turns out that the Kickapoo herbal concoction was made in New Haven, Connecticut; there was nothing “Indian” about it except the name. There is a real Kickapoo tribe that ultimately landed on an Oklahoma reservation, but it gave no medical secrets to the New Haven company.

Whatever possessed me to agree to stand by my new husband’s side while he SAT for our wedding portrait?  I can still hear someone yelling out “don’t smile!”  And another saying “put your hand on his shoulder!”

In the 1860s, pioneers brought seeds to Laramie—sharing cuttings and information on those that survived at our high elevation. Typical of these “heritage” plants are hollyhock, rhubarb, lilac, and yellow rose bushes that continue to thrive in Laramie.

Four elegant English dresses found their way to Laramie, probably in the 1920’s.  Why they were brought here is lost to anyone’s recollection.

On the London feather market around 1900, an ounce of feathers was worth as much as an ounce of gold. 

If it hadn’t been for Ragnhild “Ronnie” Solheim, some treasures from Laramie’s past might never have been saved.  The Solheims came to Laramie in 1929, when her husband, Wilhelm, became a professor of Botany at UW. They rented several domiciles for 10 years, their last a furnished old house at 616 Ivinson Avenue.

A turn-of-the-century con-man produced treasures that are exhibited at both the Laramie Plains Museum (LPM) and the Wyoming Territorial Prison and Historic Site (WTP). His arrest and incarceration in Laramie in 1899 gave this talented racketeer time to ply his other trade, cabinetmaking