CHEYENNE - Beverly Holmes and her husband, Robert, have been collecting the history of Wyoming's Army and Air National Guard for more than 20 years.

They have always wanted to tell the extended history of this state's National Guard but have had trouble finding a place to show it.

They even helped start a nonprofit group in 1987 called the Wyoming Militia Historical Society. With the help of other society members, they began compiling and researching the Guard's experiences here.

In July 2007, with help from Wyoming Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Ed Wright, the Holmeses finally had the facility to display their years of work. In what was once used as a Guard warehouse and recently vacated by the Wyoming Department of Homeland Security, now sits an official museum dedicated to this state's National Guard history.

The museum still shares the space with the Wyoming Military Department, but it has its own divided area to showcase the Guard history dating back to 1870 - 20 years before Wyoming became a state.

The facility has a recently renovated interior, with eight display rooms showcasing historical photographs, uniforms, artifacts and even original transcripts from military orders and deployments.

Beverly said the latest estimate of the total number of artifacts within the museum is nearly 10,000 - although not all are on display.

She said that although the museum is a "dream come true," there still are a lot of items to be added in the near future.

Eventually, Beverly said, they would like to have a full-time curator at the museum so it can stay open most of the week. For now, the facility is staffed by volunteers and is only open on Wednesday mornings from 9 a.m. until noon.

"We've been working on it for a long time," Beverly said. "The collecting wasn't difficult, just the place to store them."

She said the mission itself for the National Guard has not changed over the years since it began its work in Wyoming. But how the soldiers and airmen accomplished their missions has changed dramatically.

Still, the history that is most important to the Holmeses is the stories that are lost with the people who created them.

"There's so much important history that is not on record that we must save," Beverly said. "You gotta have firsthand information for that."

The museum also hopes to eventually improve its library so that people can research both individuals and specific units within Wyoming Guard history. Beverly said they are currently working to digitize many of their files to create a database of information. They also would like to eventually include displays of Guard equipment outside the facility.