Star-Tribune staff

The Bureau of Land Management National Historic Trails Interpretive Center will celebrate Women's History Month by hosting a presentation Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. given by Dorene Ludwig on early Western women. The program is free and open to the public.

In Across the Great Divide: How Women Made the West, Ludwig will use first-person vignettes of early Western women to encourage discussion about how women of varied backgrounds poured their hearts into families, their spirits into towns and their energy and hard work into the land.

Ludwig's presentation is offered by the Wyoming Humanities Council through its 2009 Humanities Forum.

In her program, Ludwig portrays Western women in the roles of missionary, school teacher, homemaker, artist, rancher, physician and scout. Her characterization of women raises questions about the impact of women on Western settlement.

Ludwig is the artistic director of the American Living History Theater in Greybull. She has appeared in one-woman productions before audiences coast to coast. Ludwig travels widely and has served as a trainer for NASA, the U.S. Army, the National Park Service and various other institutions.

Wyoming Humanities Council programs explore the human experience - our lives, our communities, our world - in partnership with nonprofit organizations throughout Wyoming. Emphasis is placed on fostering forums for discussion among Wyoming residents.

For more information, contact Robin Morrison at 261-7604.