Welcome to the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund

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Envisioning Wyoming as a place where the cultural life and heritage of the state thrives, and is valued, enjoyed, and supported by all.
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The Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund can provide grant funding for all forms of arts and culture.
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You fund the trust. We fund the cultural programming and projects that make Wyoming unique. Because Culture Matters.
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E-News

This e-newsletter is designed to provide a brief update on the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund and the happenings of its grant recipients.

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Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund Grant Application Process Now Electronic!

Beginning with the October 1, 2022 grant application deadline (with projects beginning January 1, 2023), the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund grant application process is now electronic.

The Cultural Trust Fund has worked with Foundant Technologies to create a convenient online grant application process. All new grant applications will now need to go through the online application process. To access the Cultural Trust Fund grant application portal CLICK HERE.

For grant applicants who have submitted grant proposals to the Wyoming Arts Council or the Wyoming Humanities Council, you will recognize the grant portal of Foundant. However, please note, you will need to create a new Wyoming non-profit or governmental entity Organizational and User Profile with the Cultural Trust Fund grant portal.

Beginning with this upcoming October 1 deadline, all grant processes from application to award notification and follow up documentation will be handled by the Foundant portal. Some items, such as a grant award grant agreement, will still require original ink signatures, but you will now be able to upload a scan of these documents to the portal for handling.

The October 1 deadline is a hard deadline. All grant applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on October 1, 2022.

But, you ask, can I still submit a draft application for review prior to deadline? Of course, just through the grant portal! The Cultural Trust Fund Program Coordinator, Renée Bovée, is still available to review drafts and will provide comments through the grant portal. Renée is available by phone, 307-777-6312, or email, renee.bovee@wyo.gov, to answer any general questions, or if you have any difficulties with the new application process.

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Attention Prior Grant Recipients:

If you received a WCTF grant prior to the October 1, 2022 grant deadline, no legacy information has been transferred into this Foundant portal. You must complete your Final Report and provide any supporting documents through the traditional paper process. A copy of the Final Report form is provided under the Grants Tab. This Final Report form is a Word (.doc) document which you can complete on your computer. However original ink signatures are still required with this form.

The one piece of good news is you do not have to US Mail the paper hard copy of the Final Report to the Cultural Trust Fund. You still need to complete the paper copy, get it signed with original signatures, but you can then scan it and send it and any supporting documentation via email attachment to renee.bovee@wyo.gov.

Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund
A Division of Wyoming State Parks & Cultural Resources
2301 Central Avenue, 3rd Floor, Cheyenne, WY 82002
307-777-6312, wyospcr.state.wy.us/CTF

This Month's Featured Story

Smith-Sherlock Company Store Exhibit, South Pass City, July 9-10

In the summer of 2022 a new exhibit will open at South Pass City State Historic Site. The Friends of South Pass & South Pass City State Historic Site are committed to expanding our audience’s relationship to history. Exhibitions with hands-on components, functioning 19th century technology & direct person-to-person interpretation is vital to the implementation of the organization's planning. The Smith-Sherlock Company Store was the dominant mercantile in South Pass City for nearly 100 years. Funds from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund and many other sources have come together to make this restoration and exhibition possible.

Janet Sherlock came to South Pass City with her husband Richard in 1868. They were among the first wave of speculators that rushed to South Pass City in pursuit of gold. They opened a bath house & mined the local hills. Richard died in 1873, despite the loss Janet was an enterprising individual & secured the lease on one of the local hotels, then the stagecoach concessions, she bought saloons & mining claims, & was appointed post mistress, a position that in today’s dollars would have yielded $20,000 salary. In 1875 she married James Smith, owner of another mercantile & expanded the family businesses even further. In the mid-1890s Janet & James decided to expand their operations by building a

new store. They purchased an abandoned church a few blocks away for the raw materials & made plans to open the Smith Sherlock Company Store. Unfortunately, James died leaving Janet to continue the expansion alone. Wasting no time she settled Smith’s estate, moved the abandoned church & opened the Smith Sherlock Company Store in August of 1896. She managed the businesses until her death in 1923. She was followed by her son Peter. Blinded in a mining accident in his twenties Peter expanded

the Sherlock businesses even further adding more properties, mines & ranching to the ledger sheet. The store would remain a hub in South Pass City until 1948 when Peter died & the property was sold.

The Smith Sherlock Company Store has a massive store front facing onto South Pass Main Street. Two large windows brought light & a place to showcase the best goods of the day. These windows are original to the building but have borne the brunt of 125 winters. The muntins & mullions had extensive rot and were collapsing under their own weight. Funds requested from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund have been used to restore the rotting store front windows, side lights & doors, return electricity to the building, provide funding for glass security barriers & finally provide conservation for the Smith Sherlock Company Store cash register. South

Pass City State Historic Site had exact replicas constructed from matching material & used the same techniques used to manufacture the windows in the early 20th century. The doors will be remanufactured to match the originals and the original hardware reinstalled. All replacement glass will be fully UV protected & help preserve historic collections.

The Smith Sherlock Company Store was the first building in SPC to have electricity. In 1904 this would have been an amazing sight to see the windows facing the street lit up with the strange glow of electricity. The project returned early 20th century knob & tube fixtures to the store. Fixtures replicate 1904 electrical technology with modern low voltage safety wiring concealed in the ceiling.

Glass barriers that will provide security while the exhibitions are not staffed will give visitors a chance to see the exhibition in full. When the exhibit is staffed, barriers will be able to be opened to allow access.

One of the most prized objects in the SPC collection is the original Smith Sherlock Company Store cash register. Purchased in 1904, the register is in excellent condition but required a conservation cleaning & oiling. A portion of the funding was used for the conservation of this key strike machine to operation. Its bell again rings signaling a sale!

Other funders have funded the restoration, to working order, of the 1910 telephone switchboard The Smith Sherlock Store was the only phone in South Pass City for nearly 50 years and now visitors from today will be able to make a call!

Other foundations have funded the manufacture of replica inventory items. In 1912 the store sold nearly $30,000 dollars’ worth of goods, nearly $82,000 in today’s dollars. So replicating the inventory has been a huge task. If you think supply chain issues are tough now, in 1910 everything was shipped via the Union Pacific Railroad to Point of Rocks, Wyoming. Then wagons brought the load 90 miles across the Red Desert to SPC!

The exhibition will open to the public July 9th and 10th, 2022 during the historic sites Gold Rush Days. The exhibit will be open with a guide and demonstrations weekends throughout the summer.