Charles M. Love papers, 1955-2008

Charles M. Love (1944–2024) was a Wyoming-based teacher, geologist, and anthropologist known for his work on Easter Island and in the American West. Born in Laramie, Wyoming, in July 1944, he was a third-generation Wyomingite and the second of four children of John David Love, director of the Wyoming branch of the U.S. Geological Survey. He spent his childhood in Laramie and Jackson Hole and graduated from Laramie Prep High School in 1962. He earned a bachelor's degree in geology from Bates College in 1966, followed by a master's in geology from Montana State University in 1968, and a master's in anthropology from the University of Wyoming in 1972. Under the mentorship of William Mulloy, a noted anthropologist who had participated in a 1955 scientific expedition to Easter Island, Love developed a lasting academic interest in Rapa Nui. He later settled in Rock Springs, Wyoming, where he taught geology and anthropology at Western Wyoming Community College (WWCC) for nearly four decades, retiring in 2011. He held a year-long research assistantship at the Smithsonian Institution and was invited to lecture at the British Museum and the Royal Geographical Society. He died in May 2024.

Love’s research focused on archaeological and geological fieldwork, particularly his investigations on Easter Island. He conducted studies on pollen analysis, excavation stratigraphy, cultural site destruction, and the effects of tidal waves on moai platforms. He proposed a theory that the moai statues were transported upright, rolled on logs, and in 1986 collaborated with a team at WWCC to build a nine-ton concrete replica to test the idea. The replica was moved across a desert stretch behind the college with the help of local volunteers and was documented by a BBC film crew for the NOVA series. His geological work included glacier mapping and photographic documentation of glacial retreat in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.