Museums
Explore the world of art, science, and history by visiting a museum in Wyoming. Museum trips can make your lessons come alive and can offer a fun way to spend the day learning.
History & Culture Museums
Uinta County Museum
The Uinta County Museum is located in the historic Carnegie building, completed in 1906. A lovely example of Classical Revival architecture, the building was designed by New York architect Albert Randolph Ross (who also designed a Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C.). In 2008, an expansion of the building was completed. Designed by Jackson architect Kurt Dubbe, the new building echoes the historic features of the original structure. Their mission is to collect, preserve, and interpret the history of Uinta County and the surrounding region, and to make our collections available to the public.
Cheyenne Frontier Days™ Old West Museum
Since the early days of the cattle industry and the advent of the Union Pacific Railroad, Cheyenne and Wyoming have played an integral part in the development of the West. The Old West Museum gives residents and visitors to Wyoming an opportunity to discover and experience our heritage through exhibits, educational programs and research opportunities.
Carbon County Museum
The Museum's exhibits cover Carbon County history. The first collection the museum acquired was that of rancher A.A. Harper, who had passed away on November 16, 1938. Harper’s daughter had two large, locked cases custom-made to display his smaller items. Rev. Fulton and County Librarian, Miss Margaret Goodrich, began the work of collecting artifacts through gifts and loans. As of January 2013, the museum collection includes 30,000 objects, which have been stored and exhibited in a former church since 1976. The museum has a full-time staff of seven, with two regular part-time and occasional seasonal/temporary employees. It is the only museum in the county to be open year-round. Admission has always been free.
Wyoming Frontier Prison
While outlaws roamed the windswept high plains, canyons and mountains of post Civil War Wyoming, the territorial legislature was planning a state-of-the-art penitentiary at Rawlins in anticipation of statehood. This new Wyoming State Penitentiary, which would serve from 1901 until 1981 would send a strong message to freewheeling desperadoes... Wyoming would no longer be a haven for the lawless. The Old Pen, as the Wyoming Frontier Prison is affectionately called today, is “haunted by history” around every corner. Tales of great train robbers, wily escapes and of women driven to crimes of passion are told on the scheduled guided tours offered from April through October. Group tours and off-season tours are also available.
Grand Encampment Museum
The Grand Encampment Museum, located in Encampment, Wyoming, preserves history with its collection of over a dozen historical buildings filled with artifacts representing the timber, mining, and agricultural history of the Encampment valley.
Crook County Museum & Art Gallery
The Museum reflects the history of Crook County. Permanent exhibits include Indian artifacts, cowboy artifacts and pioneer artifacts dating from 1875. Also included is furniture from original Courthouse, 1888, the Sundance Kid was on trial here; a Vore Buffalo Jump Diorama and display; a Custer Trail diorama showing the route taken by Custer through Crook County and the Black Hills; and Crook County photographs, brands, and local artifacts. The Museum has a complete microfilm collection of Crook County newspapers.
Fort Caspar Museum and Historic Site
Fort Caspar Museum and Historic Site, located in Casper, collects, preserves and exhibits artifacts concerning the social and natural history of Fort Caspar, the City of Casper and central Wyoming. Exhibits include Native American artifacts, western art, and exhibits relating to the history of the area.
Campbell County Rockpile Museum
The museum's exhibits focus primarily on general history with an emphasis upon Campbell County, Wyoming.
Western History Center
The center's exhibits cover historic, prehistoric, and paleontological subjects. Exhibit topics include archaeology, the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage Route, mining, the Texas Trail, emigrant trails, Spanish Diggings, and paleontology. Collections include regional materials ranging from Cretaceous fossils, Pleistocene mammoths, and Paleoindian artifacts to a variety of historical objects, records, and oral histories.
Fossil Country Museum
Fossil Country Frontier Museum collects, preserves, researches, exhibits, and interprets materials related to the natural and cultural history of South Lincoln County and southwestern Wyoming, for the education and enjoyment of the public.
Children's Museums
Association of Children's Museums
The Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) is a professional member service organization for the children’s museum field. ACM is the only organization representing museums and professionals dedicated to early childhood play, the starting point in the continuum of lifelong learning. The Association promotes the impact children’s museums have in preparing children for school, building 21st century skills and nurturing a love for lifelong learning.
Wyoming Dinosaur Center
Located in Thermopolis, the Wyoming Dinosaur Center features interpretive displays, dioramas, and life-size dinosaur mounts. It has 12,000 square feet of exhibition area. Fossils and life-forms from earliest geologic time periods are displayed in a time-perspective. There are over 200 displays throughout the museum. The central hall houses 20 full-size mounted skeletons, including 10 dinosaurs. There are also over 60 identified active digsites in a 500-acre area. They also offer Kids' Digs.
Natural History Museums
Wyoming Dinosaur Center
Located in Thermopolis, the Wyoming Dinosaur Center features interpretive displays, dioramas, and life-size dinosaur mounts. It has 12,000 square feet of exhibition area. Fossils and life-forms from earliest geologic time periods are displayed in a time-perspective. There are over 200 displays throughout the museum. The central hall houses 20 full-size mounted skeletons, including 10 dinosaurs. There are also over 60 identified active digsites in a 500-acre area. They also offer Kids' Digs.
Multidisciplinary Museums
Community Fine Arts Center
The Community Fine Arts Center in Rock Springs is a "cultural oasis" in southwest Wyoming’s high desert country. The CFAC offers a permanent collection and changing displays of fine art as well as a year round schedule of performing arts programs.
Featured Resources
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