Frances Humphrey Lecture Series Online
The Nevada State Museum and University of Nevada, Reno conducted archaeological excavations at Fort Churchill State Park in the mid-1970s. Museum staff and research associates are re-examining these collections reflecting U.S. Army and other military units’ occupation of the fort between 1860 and 1869. Dr. Gene Hattori discusses the research. (Map of old Fort […]
While the Smithsonian Institution has collected and exhibited the United States First Ladies Inaugural Ball gown collection, Nevada also has a similar collection. Learn about our early day First Ladies, their gowns, their stories and their lives. This lecture starts chronologically with Nevada’s first governor and his wife, continuing through the decades up to […]
Local authors and historians David and Gayle Woodruff take a reflective look back at Lake Tahoe and Reno’s involvement in the Olympics over the years. Reno boosters first conceptualized the idea of a Winter Olympiad in Western Nevada… but Alex Cushing and the State of California brought the 1960 Winter Olympics to the Lake […]
U.S. Highway 50 through Nevada has become celebrated as “America’s Loneliest Road.” How did it get this way, and why does it hold such fascination for today’s travelers? The story of U.S. 50 begins with the Overland Trail and the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental road. Conceived in 1913, the Lincoln followed the trail […]
The story of John A. “Snowshoe” Thompson is not one of simply the extraordinary physical endurance needed to carry the mail on “snow-shoes” (now “skis”) over the desolate high Sierra, but one of compassion and earning the respect of his fellow man through integrity and honesty. Between 1856 and 1876, the “Mailman of the […]
Join retired curator Wendell Huffman for a presentation about the industries that developed in the late 19th century providing the Comstock with mining timbers, lumber and wood fuel. This lecture covers the sawmills, flumes and river drives that served this demand, as well as the Virginia & Truckee and big Lake Tahoe companies that […]
Prior to Sept. 2, 2023, Nevada Wolf Pack football had last played USC 94 years ago on November 9, 1929 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The University of Nevada had captured national attention before the game by announcing that the football team would fly in airplanes to southern California. The team’s novel method of […]
Local authors and historians David and Gayle Woodruff re-enact the characters of one of the wealthiest couples on the West Coast during the 1920s through 1950s. They kept an African Lion for a pet, owned over 25 miles of Lake Tahoe waterfront, built one of the most beautiful estates on Lake Tahoe’s shore, hosted […]
Putting on your face, or applying makeup, is an activity most women and some men do daily. Nevada State Museum Clothing and Textiles Curator Jan Loverin explores a brief history of this ritual and its meanings – from protecting our eyes from sun glare, to understanding the significance of “lip candy,” to disparate challenges […]
Seven U.S. Mints were established by Congress to receive, analyze and refine the gold and silver from the various mining districts. They were authorized to coin the metals to meet the monetary needs of our growing nation. Often, they were preceded by privately run Territorial mints to meet the early coinage needs. However, the […]