Gene M. Gressley papers, 1960-1988

Gene M. Gressley joined the University of Wyoming in 1956 as University Archivist. As University Archivist, Gressley began to collect material that documented the range cattle and petroleum industries in the Rocky Mountain West, as well as western economic development. In 1963 Gressley’s program was promoted to the Division of Rare Books and Special Collections, and by 1976 the Division was transformed to the American Heritage Center. He served as director of the American Heritage Center until 1988 and was instrumental in developing the institution. Aside from his career as an archivist and administrator, Gressley was a historian and was the author of several books including: the "Twentieth-Century American West: a Potpourri"; "Voltaire and the Cowboy: the Letters of Thurman Arnold"; "Bankers and Cattleman"; and "West by East: the American West in the Gilded Age". He served on the editorial boards of the Western History Quarterly, Great Plains Quarterly, and Pacific Historical Review. He was the twenty-fourth president of the Western History Association. Gene Gressley earned a bachelor degree from Manchester College in 1952, a Master of Arts degree from Indiana University in 1956, and a doctorate from the University of Oregon in 1964.