Archives on the Air takes listeners deep into the archives of the University of Wyoming s
American Heritage Center. The AHC collects and preserves primary sources and rare books from Wyoming, the Rocky Mountain Region, and select aspects of the American and global past. Voiced by the AHC s Birgit Burke (previously by Molly Marcuse), each new episode of
Archives on the Air reveals a fascinating tidbit from the AHC s vast collection.
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Toe tapping, finger snapping, hummable tunes – that’s what Charles N. Daniels was known for.
Daniels exercised considerable influence on American popular music during the first decade of the twentieth century.
At the age of 18 he entered a contest and penned the notes to Margery . He won $25 for his efforts, and more importantly, the attentions of John Philip Sousa. Sousa’s band popularized the song and Charles Daniels’ career as a composer was off to an exceptional start.
His next major hit was Hiawatha . He sold the publishing rights to it for ten thousand dollars – an astonishing sum at the time. Several million copies of the sheet music were sold.
George Beck was one of the founders of the Shoshone Land and Irrigation Company.
The company was formed to divert water from the Shoshone River for irrigation in northwest Wyoming. With sufficient irrigation, ranchers and farmers could be enticed to homestead on the arid land.
One of the other investors in the company was William Buffalo Bill Cody. Cody was world famous for his Buffalo Bill s Wild West Show. Capitalizing on his name recognition, Cody was named president of the Shoshone Land and Irrigation Company. Soon surveying began on a new town – and Cody, Wyoming was founded.
A 1904 brochure advertising homesteads proclaimed that Cody was a beautiful little city of about 500 souls. Although it didn’t yet have electric lights, homesteaders were promised a telephone system, city water works and a fire department.
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C. Townsend Ludington was aviation pioneer. His career began when he taught flying at the U.S. Naval Air Station in San Diego during WWI. He admired other pilots of the era, including Charles Lindbergh.
Lindbergh is best known for completing the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in 1927. It took him 33½ hours to make the trip from New York to Paris. Lindbergh famously struggled to stay awake during the flight and navigated by using a periscope.
At only 25 years of age, Lindbergh became an immediate international celebrity.
30,000 Parisians greeted the aviator upon arrival. Lindbergh flew on to Belgium and England and then returned, by ship, to a hero’s welcome in Washington D.C.. New York City threw him a ticker tape parade.
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Dr. Charles Bingham Penrose was a promising young Philadelphia surgeon who moved to Wyoming after suffering from tuberculosis. His friend and fellow surgeon, Dr. Amos Barber had recommended the fresh air of Wyoming as a cure. Barber was serving as the second governor of Wyoming at the time.
While in Wyoming, Penrose was recruited to join a group from the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. In 1892, the Stock Growers were alarmed by the incessant problem of cattle rustling and horse stealing. They decided to take matters into their own hands and hunt down the rustlers.
The ensuing conflict between the powerful members of the Stock Growers Association and the ordinary cowboys who were accused of rustling became known as the Johnson County War.