Virtual Wyoming

Lori Van Pelt, local rancher, award-winning author and assistant editor of WyoHistory.org, took the Friends of the Saratoga Library on a virtual tour through Wyoming history on Oct. 21.

Van Pelt has been a contributing writer and assistant editor of the website since 2011. In that time Van Pelt has authored over 20 essays and encyclopedia entries on historical topics for the website.

The website is a project of the Wyoming State Historical Society and has about 35,000 individual visitors each month according to Van Pelt.

The mission statement of WyoHistory.org states, "The mission of WyoHistory.org is to encourage exploration of Wyoming and its past by building and maintaining a permanent, interactive encyclopedia of Wyoming history as an ongoing project of the Wyoming State Historical Society." "We would like you to explore actual Wyoming as well as virtual Wyoming," Van Pelt said.

To facilitate actual exploration, the articles, educational series and encyclopedia entries on the website provide maps and suggested educational tours and activities. The site has an education section with packages that meet the latest version of Wyoming's Social Studies Content and Performance Standards, benchmarked for grades 2, 5, 8 and 12. The current packages are about the Oregon Trail system in Wyoming and the Indian Wars. Education packages provide lesson plans, field trip ideas, activities and quizzes.

"It's a website for the general public, but we want scholars to be able to use it. We want the young people to be able to see where we got our information and help them to build on things," Van Pelt said. To this end, all of the information presented on the website includes bibliographic references and other information for scholarly research.

Historical narratives for all 23 Wyoming counties are available on the website as a place for students, researchers and the general public to foster their education on Wyoming history.

Other sources of information provided by WyoHistory.org include oral histories, historic photographs, travel guides and links to other resources.

Membership to WyoHistory.org is free and the group also has a Facebook page.