Several of the people who where interviewed for the Encampment Journeys were on hand for the unveiling of the new exhibit at the Grand Encampment Museum. Together, they share many memories of what the Encampment Valley used to be like. Left to right, front row, are Charlotte Kraft, Betty Merrill and Kate Moon. Back row, H.R. (Bob) Herring, Curtis (Jack) James and Dick Blake.
Have you ever wondered what it was like to grow up in the 1930s and 40s in and around Encampment? The answer is in the new display at the Grand Encampment Museum (GEM) "Encampment Journeys".
Students from Encampment School interviewed several residents, including Dick Barkhurst, Dick Blake, Bob Herring, Betty Merrill, Kate Moon, Charlotte Kraft and Jack James about growing up in the Platte Valley.
The project was part of the Smithsonian Institutes "Journeys" program, which is coming to the Grand Encampment Museum from Sept. 27 through Dec. 15, 2014.
One of the requirements was to create a display reflecting journeys of the local area, Judy Stepp, GEM director said.
"Everyone kept telling me we should get their stories," Stepp said of the people who were interviewed. "That is the reason I signed up for the Smithsonian tour, so that I had a great reason to get their stories."
Stepp said that she hopes this is just the first of the stories she will get.
The exhibit was built by Jerry Anderson and his brother. Linda Bryant donated the money for the exhibit. The Silver Spur Ranch donated money too and Stepp used that money to purchase frames and mounts for the iPads. The iPads currently being used for the exhibit are on loan from Encampment School until the museum can purchase their own.
The students used the iPads to record the interviews of the above-mentioned people.
Encampment English teacher Leslie McLinsky had her freshman class interview the Encampment Valley residents.
David Keto, from the University of Wyoming Extension Office in Laramie worked with the students on how to interview and set up the video clips. Keto is a video producer who works all over the state on educational videos. Keto has been filming at the GEM when Stepp told him about the project the students were working on for the museum. Keto met with McLinsky, who told him she would like the students to learn about producing videos for this project.
Keto primarily works with colleagues and 4-H students, but wanted to help the students at Encampment learn how to develop a video, how to get good sound, good lighting and how to edit a video.
Sierra Loftice interviewed Bob Herring. Loftice said she learned that life was really different when Herring was growing up. "The way the children treated the elders was really different," Loftice said. Back in Herring's younger days, more respectful titles were used when referring to elders, such as ma'am or mister, rather than using their first names.
Loftice said the freshman class was the guinea pig for this project, but that she would be very interested in doing the video project again.
After listening to the interviews, Stepp said she discovered that the Encampment community was more intertwined that she had first thought, as many of the interviews overlapped with each other.
"That was a great eye-opening, learning experience," Stepp said.
She organized the pictures on the exhibit panels to reflect the histories of the interviewees.
The interviews will be archived to be used in the future.
Bob Herring joked "Some of the funniest things that happened, you couldn't publish." His comment brought laughter from the interviewees and those attending the unveiling of the exhibit.
The exhibit will be shown until December 15 Stepp said, and may be moved down with the Smithsonian exhibit when it arrives in September.
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