Clarice T. Whittenburg (1899-1971) moved to Laramie, Wyoming, in 1930 and taught at the University of Wyoming Laboratory School for 11 years before becoming a UW elementary education professor, from which she retired in 1964. Whittenburg also did a great deal of historical research (particularly on Wyoming and the West). Her collection includes historical Wyoming photographs and as well as audiotapes of a radio broadcast titled Portrait of a Pioneer City about Laramie.
Additional content for this collection can be found in the "Inventory for collection.”
Copy of the photograph "Carmichael's Camp, Bitter Creek Valley" by Andrew J. Russell, 1868
Caption on back of photo: "This view of 'Carmichael's Camp,' named for the construction contractor who bossed it, is typical of graders' camps along the U. P. line. The site of this particular camp was the North Bitter Creek Valley."
Pine Bluffs, Wyoming Territory, 1868
Pine Bluffs, originally "Rock Ranch," received its start with the arrival of the Union Pacific in 1868. At that time, Pine Bluffs consisted of a tent, a slab shack with a stone chimney, and a square shed of canvas-covered poles. These buildings were a grocery store, a bakery, and a saloon. Cattle herds moved up the Texas Trail which ran through Pine Bluffs and the town became the largest cattle shipping point on the UP Railroad.
Laramie, Wyoming Territory, 1868
Union Pacific construction crews laid the track connecting Laramie to the rest of the country on May 4, 1868. A few passengers arrived the same day and regular service began less than a week later. The arrival of the railroad inspired entrepreneurs to build more permanent structures in what had been a “Hell-on-Wheels” tent city (http://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/eduoutreach/exhibits/hell-on-wheels/8.html). For just a few months, Laramie was the western terminal of Union Pacific Railroad.
Thornburg Hotel and Union Pacific Depot in Laramie, Wyoming, ca. 1900.
Caption on the back of the photograph: "At foot of Ivinson Avenue on east side of the railway tracks."
Program 1: "A Town is Born," part of the series "Portrait of a Pioneer City" created by Clarice Whittenberg, 1968
"Portrait of a Pioneer City" was a series of radio broadcasts commemorating the 100th anniversary of Laramie, Wyoming. It was presented over radio station KOWB in Laramie. "A Town is Born" was the first in this series of 10 fifteen-minute broadcasts. This episode covers the establishment of Laramie along the transcontinental railroad and its namesake, Jacques LaRamie.
Transcript of Program 1: "A Town is Born" (see above)
Transcript of "Portrait of a Pioneer City."