Here's to women

This year the United States will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment. This historic amendment gave the right of citizens of the United States to vote, stating they shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

In other words, it gave women the right to vote.

While this American landmark amendment is hitting a century in 2019, Wyoming will celebrate the 150th anniversary of women voting. The Wyoming Territory approved the first law in the U.S. granting women the right to vote and hold office in 1869, more than two decades before it became the 44th state. Appropriately called the "Equality State," Wyoming's history is full of trailblazing ladies.

Many museums in Wyoming are celebrating the roles of local women in their area. Saratoga and the Hanna Basin museums are two that are featuring exhibits of their pioneering women.

Grand Encampment Museum (GEM) not only has an exhibit set up, but also is having a symposium titled "The History of Women in Wyoming and the West." It goes from Aug.2-3.

On Friday, from 7-8:30 p.m., a panel will discuss finding the stories. On Saturday, a full day of local women's legacies will be reviewed from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Friday night's symposium will be held at the Grand Encampment Opera House. Saturday's events are at GEM.

Tim Nicklas, director at GEM has been thinking about the women's exhibits since he arrived a year and half ago.

"A lot of times, when I come up with the an exhibit idea, it is through daydreaming," Nicklas said. "I am sitting there thinking about what is going on historically significant that we can relate to today and what anniversaries are coming up."

He said thinking about the nation's 100 year anniversary of women's suffrage was one of those times he started thinking about how outstanding Wyoming was, celebrating 150 years of women's rights.

"So, I realized we had to take advantage of this, especially since we had a basis on it, because of our exhibit on Lora Nichols," Nicklas said. "And Lora Nichols was the inspiration for me to want to do a women's history exhibit, even as far back when I was going through my interviews for here. I told the board back then, I wanted to have an exhibit that would be centered on 'Women of the West.'"

He said the start of the tribute to women was what Lora Nichols had done for the area. Nichols kept a diary and took an extensive amount of photos that recorded Grand Encampment from 1897 to the 1930s, and even a little beyond. She was also editor and publisher of the Encampment Echo from 1925-1930.

Her contribution to Grand Encampment and Wyoming cannot be understated, said Nicklas.

"If it weren't for all the work she did, we would not have the images and historical details we do of Encampment," Nicklas said. "We actually have her first diary out there on exhibit."

The women's exhibit also has a wedding dress component.

"I have had experience working with wedding dresses in an exhibit," Nicklas said. "It is something I have enjoyed because it is so different from today. We all think of white wedding dresses, but wedding dresses I have worked with are all different colors and different styles."

He decided to bring his past experience with wedding dresses to GEM.

"I thought to myself that it would be really fun to do here, and I thought,' why not have it be a part of the cornerstone of the Wyoming Women's history exhibit,'" Nicklas explained. "So we got a Wyoming Community Foundation grant for it, which was great."

He credits Lynda Johnson for all her hard work in getting the wedding dress collection together.

"Lynda has a masters degree in historic textiles and I have her working with me," Nicklas said. "She was one of the reasons I took the job, because. in a museum like this, where we have a lot of textiles, having her is like a dream come true."

Looking at the wedding dresses in the exhibit, Nicklas is correct in saying the wedding dresses are different from traditional white dresses.

"The idea of a white wedding dress, is actually fairly new in history," Nicklas said. "For Catholics, the color was blue back in the day."

Nicklas is excited as the date for the women's history symposium draws near for people to see GEM's exhibit on the history of Wyoming Women.

"I think anyone who comes is going to enjoy what we have lined up," Nicklas said.