From the stories preserved in Wyoming’s archives to the fossils buried beneath its landscapes, the American West holds a history that continues to shape the region today. This week, Casper College is bringing those stories and perspectives together as it hosts its 41st Annual Humanities Festival, inviting the community to look at the West through the lens of its past, present and future.

Running through Friday, October 2, the festival’s theme, “The West: Past, Present, and Future,” brings together presenters from the social sciences, humanities and fine arts for a series of lectures, discussions, presentations and performances. The sessions explore the many forces that have shaped the American West, from its cultural and historical roots to its changing landscapes and the possibilities ahead.

Free and open to the public, the annual festival offers Casper residents, students and visitors an opportunity to engage with ideas that reach beyond the classroom and connect directly to the region they call home.

Exploring the West Through Different Perspectives

The American West is often remembered through familiar images of wide-open landscapes, frontier towns, cowboys and rugged independence. But its history is far more layered, shaped by generations of people, cultural traditions, scientific discoveries and changing relationships with the land.

This year's Humanities Festival takes a broader look at that history, bringing together subjects that might not ordinarily share the same stage.

From paleontology and regional conservation to literature, art and traditional Western food, the festival's programming highlights how different disciplines can offer new ways to understand the region.

Among the featured presentations is illustrator and author Zachary “Zak” Pullen, who is scheduled to discuss his children's book, A Home for Steamboat. His presentation explores the creative process behind the book, including the development of its illustrations, from early sketches to finished artwork, as well as the teamwork and marketing involved in bringing a published work to life.

The festival also features regional historians Geoff and Rebecca Hunt, whose presentation, “Cooking in the West,” invites attendees to explore the history of food and learn how to prepare dishes connected to the region's past.

Together, these sessions demonstrate that Western history is not limited to historical landmarks or dates in a textbook. It is also found in the stories people tell, the art they create and the everyday traditions that have endured across generations.

From Dinosaur Discoveries to Wyoming's Natural Heritage

Science and the natural world also take center stage during this year's festival, with presentations examining the discoveries and ecological changes that have helped define the American West.

On Thursday, October 1, JP Cavigelli is scheduled to present “The American West and Its Place in What We Know About Dinosaurs” at 2 p.m. The session examines the region's significant role in paleontology, tracing how fossil discoveries in the American West helped shape scientific understanding and sparked public fascination with prehistoric life.

The presentation offers a reminder that the West's history stretches far beyond the arrival of settlers and the development of frontier communities. Its geological record preserves evidence of ancient environments and creatures that existed millions of years before modern Wyoming took shape.

The festival's broader program also explores Wyoming's natural resources and ecological history. Sessions include “Wyoming Jade,” presented by Renee Stewart, and “Beavers – Ecosystem Engineers: Their Decline and What We're Doing to Bring Them Back,” presented by John McCoy.

These topics connect scientific research with the region's cultural identity, showing how geology, wildlife and environmental changes remain part of the ongoing story of the West.

A Campus Exhibition Bringing Collections Together

Running alongside the festival is the Casper College GLAM exhibition, a collaborative initiative that brings together the college's galleries, libraries, archives and museums.

The exhibition, themed “The West: Past, Present, and Future,” draws from collections across campus, including the Western History Center, the Tate Geological Museum, the Werner Wildlife Museum and the Casper College Foundation Fine Art Collection.

Housed in the Casper College Alumni Association Art Gallery inside the Dick and Marialyce Tobin Visual Arts Center, the exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to encounter the region's history and natural heritage through objects, artwork, archival materials and scientific collections.

The GLAM initiative highlights the value of preserving and sharing these collections.

Each offers a different perspective on the West, whether through historical records, geological specimens, wildlife exhibits or visual art.

The exhibition will remain on display through Thursday, October 22, giving the community additional time to explore the collections beyond the festival's scheduled presentations. Admission to the exhibition is free.

More Opportunities to Learn Before the Festival Concludes

The festival continues Thursday with a series of presentations at the Goodstein Foundation Library Classroom.

At 9:30 a.m., Hanz Olson will lead “Information and the Western History Center: Into and Beyond a Western Archives.” The presentation introduces attendees to the work of the Western History Center, exploring how books, archival collections, digital resources and exhibits help connect researchers with the American West.

At 11 a.m., Pullen will share the story behind A Home for Steamboat, followed by Cavigelli's dinosaur-focused presentation at 2 p.m. The day's programming continues at 3:30 p.m. in Room 224 of the Gateway Building, where Geoff and Rebecca Hunt will lead “Cooking in the West.”

On Friday, October 2, the festival shifts its focus to Indigenous cultural traditions, Western music and historic trails.

At noon, the Indigenous Student Alliance will present “Buffalo: A Way of Life” in the Goodstein Foundation Library Classroom. The session will explore the importance of buffalo to Indigenous communities, including their historical, cultural and spiritual significance and their role in providing essential resources for generations.

At 1 p.m., The Twang Gang will perform an hour of Western and folk music at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, followed by Reid Miller's illustrated presentation, “Illuminating the Trail Ahead,” at 2:30 p.m. Both Friday afternoon sessions are scheduled at the interpretive center, located at 1501 North Poplar Street in Casper.

The final day's programming offers an opportunity to consider how the West's traditions, stories and landscapes continue to influence the region's identity.

Keeping the Conversation About the West Alive

For more than four decades, the Casper College Humanities Festival has brought together different disciplines and perspectives through an annual theme. This year's focus offers a particularly meaningful subject for a Wyoming community whose identity is closely connected to the history, landscapes and traditions of the American West.

By bringing history, science, literature, art and cultural perspectives into one program, the festival creates room for conversations that might otherwise remain separate.

It also offers an opportunity for community members to see familiar places and traditions in a new light. A fossil, an archival photograph, a piece of artwork or a traditional recipe can each tell a different part of the same regional story.

As the 41st Annual Humanities Festival approaches its conclusion, its central question remains relevant: How has the West changed, and what will its future look like?

For those interested in exploring that question, Casper College's remaining festival sessions offer a chance to learn, reflect and take part in a community-wide celebration of the ideas and experiences that continue to shape the American West.

The GLAM exhibition will also remain open through October 22, providing another opportunity to explore the region's heritage long after the festival's final presentation.

Explore the festival's full schedule and additional details at Casper College's official Humanities Festival page.

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