RIANE MENARDI Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 12:00 am
The Casper College will announce the completion of the Western History Center and its independence from the Goodstein Foundation Library in a reception today.
The center has existed since 1964 when Casper historian and archaeologist Bob David donated his collective research and documents to Casper College and has always been housed in the library. Though the collections will remain in the library, the WHC will now act as a separate entity under Casper College.
The archivist at the center, Kevin Anderson, said it was necessary to become a separate entity due to the amount of inquiries and materials that have been growing tremendously since 2003.
Over the last 44 years, the collections has amassed to include more than 8,000 books and volumes, 500 maps and 500,000 photographs on the history of Wyoming. There is also a complete collection of local newspapers.
"The collection covers the entire western region because context is important to history," said Anderson. "But the closer we get to Casper, the more complete the collection becomes."
Anderson said individuals and organizations from across the country have inquired for information from the center.
The largest percentage of users are professionals doing research for books or articles but many are people interested in their genealogy and family history.
Anderson is the only person at the center and has been trained to handle historic documents, so he advises that visitors make appointments with him to browse the materials.
"Since preservation is really important to us, it's not like a normal library where people get to browse the shelves," he said.
He said he helps users find what they are looking for, and then they can do research in the reading room. Materials are not allowed to leave the center.
Anderson said the collection grows through personal donations from the public.
"Sometimes we go looking for things, but most of the time people come to us looking for a good, safe home for their historical documents," he said. "We're lucky they think of us as a place where that can happen."
Reach reporter Riane Menardi at (307) 266-0610 or riane.menardi@trib.com