Re-Storying the West Podcast

Season 1 Episode 4:
Place & Memory

This episode is about the way memory is linked to place and the way those places can become sites of reverence and sources of creative regeneration. In the first story, we'll take you to Cheyenne to learn about a forgotten hero whose memory is now celebrated and preserved near City Hall. Next, you'll meet the woman who became the caretaker of the magical museum at Crimson Dawn on Casper Mountian. In the last story you'll meet a man who has discovered Wyoming to be place where his music and his creativity can flourish.

Listen or download here, find us on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts.

Vernon J. Baker bronze statue in Cheyenne.
Photo by Aubrey Edwards

Season 1 Episode 3:
Family Legacies

In this episode, the team and I want to explore the tiny, intimate legacies our family members leave behind. You'll hear three stories from grandchildren whose lives were shaped and inspired by the determination, patience and compassion they learned when they were young.

Listen or download here, find us on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts.

Ernest and Jeanne Stanley in Casper.
Photos provided by Susie Lape.

  • Our music is composed by John Wilhelm, additional recordings provided by the Audio Library of the West and Pixabay. This episode was written and produced by Misty Springer.

    Interviews for this episode were provided by Susie Lape, Allison, and Gloria Bruner.

    The Re-Storying the West team includes Aubrey, Jess, Nancy, Nichole, Rob and me (Misty). Our podcast is made possible by the University of Wyoming Department of English, and the College of Arts and Sciences.

  • Audio Library of the West

    "Bluessy": Music by u_yaokc77pf6

    "A Road Over Mountains": Music by HarumachiMusic

    "Tenderheart": BackgroundMusicLab

Season 1 Episode 2:
Crimson Dawn - Neal Forsling's Whimsical Legacy

This summer the Re-Storying the West team traveled north to Casper. There we met Rebecca Hunt and her husband Geoff. Rebecca now presides over the Crimson Dawn Midsummer's Eve celebration as the Storyteller, the role created by Neal Forsling almost 100 years ago. We also met Laura Bjorkman, Neal's granddaughter and the family’s historian. They told me the story of a remarkable women who reinvented herself in Wyoming and in doing so, created a cherished community tradition and preserved a beautiful piece of western nature.

Listen or download here, find us on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts.

Within Neal’s cabin, a scrapbook page pays tribute to her life and memory.
Photo by Aubrey Edwards.

Season 1 Episode 1:
Western Art and Mythology

For many people across America and beyond, the mythos of Wyoming as a place of jagged mountains, violence sagebrush and rugged cowboys looms so large in the collective imagination, there is very little room for anyone else. In our first episode, the team and I thought we should talk about some of the origins of Western mythology and how it lives on today in how this place and space is (re)storied.

Listen or download here, find us on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts.

Thomas Moran.
Tower Falls and Sulphur Mountain,Yellowstone.
Image source: University of Wyoming Art Museum.

  • Our music is composed by John Wilhelm, additional recordings provided by the Audio Library of the West and Pixabay. This episode was written and produced by Misty Springer.

    Thomas Moran and the art critics were played by Mathew Greenberg.

    Research was done with the help of the American Heritage Center, the UW Art Museum and the website, the National Park Service and the Denver Art Museum.

    The Re-Storying the West team includes Aubrey, Jess, Nancy, Nichole, Rob and me (Misty). Our podcast is made possible by the University of Wyoming Department of English, and the College of Arts and Sciences.

    Special thanks to Jessica LaBozetta and Brie Blazi, and Katherine from Studio Coe.

  • National Park Service: ⁠HydenExpedition⁠

    National Park Service Yellowstone: ⁠ThomasMoran' Diary ⁠

    Denver Art Museum: ⁠KentMonkman - History is Painted by the Victors⁠

    University of Wyoming Art Museum - Thomas Moran

  • AHC:

    The Thomas Moran papers
    Pamphlet "Thomas Moran's Journey to the Tetons in 1879". By Fritiof Fryxell

    Magazine "Fine Arts Journal", January No. 7, 1909

    Catalogue of Olis and Water Colors of Thomas Moran, N.A. Galleries of Messre Ortiges & Co., 87 Broadway, New York 1886  

    UWAM:

    Thomas Moran (English-American, 1837-1926)

    Tower Falls and Sulphur Mountain, Yellowstone, 1874

    chromolithograph on paper, 9-3/4 x 14 inches

    in memory of John D. Fryxell, 2009.3.11.

  • Video discussion of Moran's painting, The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.⁠ Smarthistory⁠

    ⁠US Department of the Interior website⁠

    The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone ⁠Jackson'sphotographs⁠ from the Hyden Expedition      

    1930s film from the Yellowstone National Park collection (Coll.10464), “Old Faithful Speaks.”