George C. Frison papers, 1920-2015

George C. Frison was an archaeologist and professor at the University of Wyoming. He was born on November 11, 1924 in Worland, Wyoming and grew up on his family’s ranch near Ten Sleep. He enlisted in the United States Navy during WWII, being honorably discharged in 1946. George Frison returned to ranching, until enrolling at the University of Wyoming in 1962 and earning his bachelor’s degree. Frison then attended the University of Michigan, graduating with a masters and doctorate in archaeology. He returned to Wyoming and headed the new Department of Anthropology at the University of Wyoming and was Wyoming’s first State Archaeologist. Frison’s awards include: a lifetime achievement award from the Society for American Archaeology, a Regents’ Fellowship Award from the Smithsonian Institute, and the UW’s George Duke Humphrey Distinguished Faculty Award. In 1997, George Frison was named to the National Academy of Sciences, becoming the only University of Wyoming faculty to ever be elected in. Frison died on September 6, 2020 in Laramie, Wyoming, at the age of 95.