New museum director, new exhibits

With a few months of running the museum under her belt, West Texas Trails Museum (WTTM) Director Cindy Mosteller shares what people can look forward to at the museum.

The WTTM is currently displaying two new exhibits, one from the Mercer family that includes a pair of woolly chaps and several rifles, and the other is a beautifully preserved dress worn by Gladys Schlattman to her high school graduation in 1921 along with a plethora of photographs of that period.

A new exhibit about the women’s movement in Wyoming and the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote has been delivered to Mosteller’s office and is to be set on display within the next week or so.

“Numbers are down compared to last year,” says Mosteller, who has noticed the effect of the COVID 19 virus. “People are traveling, but they are outdoors.”

However, even with the lower guest count, the museum was visited by many guests during the month of July, including a group of parents and children from infants to young adults in a home school visit.

The museum does not, at this time, require guests to wear masks. “If people who visit are concerned,” Mosteller advises, “they can wear their masks.”

The museum has partnered with the Moorcroft Public Branch Library for the One Book Wyoming campaign in August, which is focusing on famous author Ernest Hemingway this year. Everyone who enjoys a good read is encouraged to read “In Our Time”. “If anybody wants to read the book, we can get them a copy, it’s 156 pages so it shouldn’t take long to read,” Mosteller smiled.

Reading this title will give guests a bit of background when well known Duffy Hudson returns to Moorcroft to entertain young and old alike on August 17; first with a magic show at 2 p.m. and with his characterization of Hemingway at 6.

“It’s going to be awesome!” she says.

The former librarian notes that she is settling comfortably into the role of museum director and that she is “not really shaking things up too much” right now, though she is planning a small addition to the schedule for the Heritage Roundup on September 12.

“We’re going to do the same format with the dinner, demonstrations and silent auction, but we’re also going to have some live music after [dinner] for dancing,” she says.

Mosteller encourages Moorcroft area residents to come by and take a walk through these tactile reminders of the past, oft times with familiar names in a living story of family.