Wyoming Territorial Prison Museum
The semester is finally over for me. I had my last final and had to turn in my last paper yesterday. The paper was an interesting paper, however, because it involved the history of the Wyoming Territorial Prison Museum. It wasn't about this history of the prison itself, but rather of the site as a museum. The research we did was original research. One of the requirements for the paper was to conduct an oral interview with a person who has been involved somehow with the administration of the museum at some point since it became a museum in 1990.
My interviewee was originally supposed to be a lady who has worked there (and still continues to work there) since the early nineties. Unfortunately I was unable to get ahold of her in time, so I ended up interviewing my professor who was involved with evaluating a couple of grants for the Prison Museum, reviewing a script for a movie that was to be made about the prison and is even currently serving on the Master Planning Committee for the Prison Museum.
As the first oral history interview I've ever done, I think it actually went rather well. The interview will be archived at the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming for future reference.
The West: An online game (Update)
In my previous post about the online role playing game called "The West," I stated that I hadn't found an English version of it, but thanks to one of my readers, Jeff Smith, I now have a link to an English version for you.
And here it is: http://www.the-west.net.
The West: An online game
A little while ago I ran across an interesting text and image based online role playing game with an old American 'wild west' theme. I debated about whether or not to write about it here on History Rhymes as the game is unfortunately in German, but in the end, I decided to go ahead and write a blurb about it.
Although I haven't really played it much due to a complete lack of time, it looks like quite a fun game. The idea is that you are new to the wild west and from there, you can be a wandering cowboy, a farmer, a shop keeper, bar tender, etc. You can found your own towns, engage in gun fights with other players, etc. I am not the type that usually enjoys role playing games, but I suppose you might say this game has a theme that hits home with one of my biggest interests. I am going to delve into it more as I go along.
I really wish I could find a game like it in English, but unfortunately have been unable to find anything even remotely similar. If I do run across something however, I will also post about it here.
You can find the game at http://www.the-west.de.
Mining in the Modern West
I was looking around on YouTube today and came across a really interesting video about modern mining in the Rocky Mountains by National Geographic. The primary focus of the video is about an 1872 mining law that allows mining companies to purchase federal land from the government at 1872 prices. They also talk about the effects modern mining practices have on the environment. Here is the video:







