Lora Webb Nichols Wyoming Photography Exhibit

Western Wyoming Community College will display the work of Lora Webb Nichols (1883-1962) Wyoming homesteader and photographer, in the Art Gallery through November 5, 2021.  

The exhibition presents a selection of images curated from the photography archive of Lora Webb Nichols. According to LoraWebbNichols.com, Nichols created and collected approximately 24,000 negatives over the course of her lifetime in the mining town of Encampment. The images chronicle the domestic, social, and economic aspects of the sparsely populated frontier of south-central Wyoming.  

“One remarkable and consistent aspect of the Nichols archive,” says Nicole Jean Hill, the co-curator of the Lora Webb Nichols archive and curator of the exhibition, “is her view of women of the early 20th century. Nichols photographed pioneer women and their duties as mothers and homemakers. The images provide a unique window into the role of women and their cultivation of community in this era. She made images in Encampment over the course of several decades, resulting in an intimacy and candor in the photographs that is unexpected and captivating.”  

The Lora Webb Nichols collection can be viewed in its entirety at the American Heritage Center (AHC) or the University of Wyoming. For those unable to visit the collection in person, the AHC has a searchable online database available. The Grand Encampment Museum in Encampment, Wyoming houses photographs, diaries, and letters for public viewing.  

The exhibit is available for viewing whenever the College is open. Western’s Art Gallery displays the work of students, local, and world-renowned artists. The exhibitions change regularly, and are always free to view, and open to the public. 

For information on Western's Art Gallery exhibits, or Western's Art program, contact Jacob Muldowney at jmuldowney@westernwyoming.edu.