University of Wyoming
Stanley Hathaway was born on July 19, 1924, in Osceola, Nebraska. He was the fifth of six children born to Robert and Lily Knapp. His mother died when he was two years old. He was adopted by his first cousin, Velma Hathaway, and her husband Earl. In 1928 the Hathaways moved from Nebraska to homestead in Goshen County, Wyoming, near what would become Huntley. He was raised on a farm near Huntley and received his primary education in the one-room country schools at Table Mountain and New Fairview, Wyoming. He attended the University of Wyoming for one year before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He trained as a radio operator and gunner. He was assigned to the Eighth Air Force’s 401st Bomb Group, flying B-17 bombers from England. He participated in 35 combat missions over France and Germany and received the French Croix de Guerre, U.S. Presidential Unit Citations, and five Air Medals.
After his discharge from the Air Corps, Hathaway continued his undergraduate education at the University of Nebraska. He graduated in 1948, and was accepted into the University of Nebraska law school. He met Roberta “Bobby” Harley at the University, and they married on November 25, 1948. The couple settled in Torrington, Wyoming following Stanley’s graduation from law school in 1950. His wife taught science and chemistry at the Huntley High School and Torrington Junior High while Hathaway established his law practice. Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway had two daughters, Susan and Sandra.
Hathaway was elected Goshen County Attorney in 1954 and served two terms, while continuing private practice with his own law firm of Hathaway, Sigler, and Callahan. Hathaway had a lifelong interest in Republican politics. He was elected Chairman of the Goshen County Republican Party and Secretary of the Republican State Central Committee in 1962. In 1963 he was elected Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee and served for two years on the Republican National Committee. In 1966 he was elected Governor of Wyoming and was re-elected in 1970. He declined to run for a third term.
His tenure as Governor was marked by reorganization of State government and passage of environmental laws – the enactment of air and water quality standards, surface mining regulations, and the creation of the Department of Environmental Quality. His administration is equally notable for enacting Wyoming’s first mineral severance tax in 1969, and a constitutional amendment creating the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund during his last year in office. The Permanent Mineral Trust Fund required the legislature to impose a 1.5% tax on the extraction of minerals, the proceeds of which were deposited in the Trust Fund. The principal of the Trust Fund can never be spent. The income from the Trust goes into the State’s general fund to pay for State operations. While Governor, Hathaway served as Chairman of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission, Chairman of the Western Governor’s Conference, the National Governor’s Conference Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Management, and the Federation of Rocky Mountain States.
In 1975, Hathaway was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Gerald Ford. He was Wyoming’s first cabinet officer. During his brief tenure he was responsible for moving the federal coal leasing program forward. More coal leases became available in Wyoming, and its coal industry became the nation’s largest. Health issues resulted in his resignation from the Interior Department later in his appointment year, and he and Mrs. Hathaway returned to Wyoming where he established the law firm of Hathaway, Speight and Kunz in Cheyenne. Hathaway also served on the Board of Directors of PacifiCorp, Nerco, Inc., First Wyoming Bank, and Apache Corporation. He was an Emeritus Member of the Ruckelshaus Institute Board. At the time of his death in 2005 he was of counsel to the firm of Hathaway and Kunz, P.C.
The Stanley K. Hathaway papers contain personal and professional correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs from his career as Wyoming Republican State Committeeman, Governor of Wyoming, and U.S. Secretary of the Interior. His work with the National Governor’s Conference, the Western Governor’s Conference, and the Republican Governor’s Association is particularly well-represented, as is his work with the state and national Republican committees. His efforts at reorganizing Wyoming state government is a strong component as well. Hathaway’s papers also contain copies of legal documents and correspondence pertaining to the University of Wyoming Black 14 protest, which occurred during his tenure as Governor. There are newspaper clippings, correspondence, and photographs of Stanley Hathaway’s campaign involvements and personal life. The collection contains large scrapbooks of photos, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia dating from 1966–1994. Audiovisual materials in the collection include phonograph records with voice recordings of John F. Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, and the 1969 Apollo 11 and audio tape recordings of radio announcements from KGOS in Torrington, Wyoming. Mrs. Hathaway’s correspondence while Wyoming’s First Lady from 1967 to 1974 is also included.
There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.
The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.
There are two other archival collections created by Stanley K. Hathaway located at the Wyoming State Archives and the University of Oklahoma Political Commercial Archive.
This collection was donated by the Hathaway family in 2006, 2009, and 2010.
The collection was processed by Jamie Greene in March 2008; biography and scope notes revised by Leslie C. Waggener in August 2008. Accretions to the collection were processed by Shaun Hayes in November 2011.
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Digital reproductions of select material from this collection are available at
This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title. It contains personal correspondence, political correspondence, congratulations and thank you letters, newspaper clippings, appointment books, a file containing copies of legal documents and correspondence on the University of Wyoming Black 14, governor convention correspondence, Republican Committee and Convention correspondence, and files regarding the governor's reorganization from 1967-1974.
This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title. It contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, a book issued by the U.S. Department of Interior on energy, and legislative reports dating from 1975.
This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title. It contains correspondence, congratulatory letters, newspaper clippings, a state chairman handbook, a folder on the 1960 Republican National Convention, and the "Wyoming GOP Trunkline" publication from 1964-1966.
This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title. It contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, voter opinion surveys, “Wyoming Directory and Election Results" dated from 1963-1972, campaign brochures, press releases, and the “Wyoming GOP Trunkline” publication from 1965-1966.
This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title. It contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, a file containing information on a Wyoming cruise, hosted by the Hathaways, to the Panama Canal and Western Caribbean in 1980, and a file containing information on the Cheyenne Animal Shelter in 1980. There are personal letters between Dita Beard, ITT lobbyist, and the Hathaways and newspaper clippings of Dita Beard’s involvement in funding the Republican National Convention and the ITT antitrust suit in 1972.
This series contains photographs of Stanley Hathaway and Bobby Hathaway from 1967 – 2005, family photographs from 1967- 2005, political and campaign photographs from 1964-2005, personal photographs from 1976 – 2005, and photo albums of the National and Republican Governors’ Conferences that Hathaway attended from 1967 – 1974 and his swearing in as United States Secretary of the Interior in 1975.
This series consists of eight large scrapbooks containing photographs, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia spanning the Hathaways' life from 1966-1994. There are audio visual recordings in the form of phonographs, audio tapes, and one Russian film. The phonographs contain material that is political in nature, such as the voice recordings of John F. Kennedy and Berry Goldwater. The audio tapes are radio announcements from KGOS in Torrington, Wyoming from 1960-1967. There is a Blue Angels print that Stanley Hathaway received as governor.