Wyoming State Museum
A compact statewide museum moves from geology and archaeology through Indigenous histories, migration, industry, wildlife, politics, and everyday life.
Artwork inspired by Travis Ivey
The Wyoming State Museum is the state’s official repository for material that explains how land, wildlife, people, and government shaped Wyoming. Its galleries move across natural history, archaeology, Indigenous histories, migration, industry, military service, domestic life, and statehood, making it most useful as a connected introduction rather than a cabinet-by-cabinet survey.
Look for the tensions inside familiar Wyoming stories: Settlement beside displacement, extraction beside environmental consequence, and statewide symbols beside the experiences of individual communities. Rotating exhibitions and the hands-on family gallery change the pace, while the museum’s location one block from the Capitol makes it an especially strong companion to a walk through the civic district.
- Role
- Official state museum
- Admission
- Free
- Allow
- 1½–2½ hours
Quick guide
- Wyoming Wildscapes
- Use Wyoming Wildscapes to connect geology, habitat, and wildlife.
- Trace
- Follow how travel, mining, ranching, warfare, and government changed the landscape.
Read the collection at Wyoming State Museum
- Opening question
- Use Wyoming Wildscapes to connect geology, habitat, and wildlife before entering the human story.
- Wyoming Wildscapes
- Follow how travel, mining, ranching, warfare, and government altered life across the same landscape.
- Evidence to test
- Read object labels for who used, collected, or donated an item—not only what it is.
- Conditions check
- Walk one block to the Wyoming State Capitol and extend the story into the present civic landscape.
Good to know
Enter the Barrett Building from Central Avenue between 22nd and 24th streets. Galleries occupy both the first and second floors. Check the live exhibitions list rather than expecting a past traveling show; sensory packs can be reserved by phone or requested at the desk.
Notice these
- Official state museum
- Free
- Follow land, labor, transport, and extraction together.