Paper or Plastic? and What’s Cooking Exhibitions

The Campbell County Rockpile Museum is pleased to announce the opening of two exhibits this month at the museum.  Paper or Plastic? The History of Grocery Stores in Wyoming is a traveling exhibit from the Wyoming State Museum that examines the history of retail food sales in Wyoming from the late 19^th century to the present.  The Rockpile Museum has supplemented this exhibit with 12 photographs of local grocery stores including the Hopkins Grocery, The Pines Grocery, Red Owl Grocery, Lindsey Food Market, Decker’s Food Center, and many others. 

What’s Cooking features various kitchen utensils and other cooking related objects from the museum’s collections.  Many of the utensils and gadgets exhibited in the two cases, which complement the traveling exhibit, were available for purchase through the early Sears Roebuck’s and Montgomery Ward’s catalogues.

These two exhibits are being held in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit Key Ingredients: America by Food that will be on display at the Campbell County Public Library from March 16^th to April 25^th.  The exhibit is part of Museum on Mainstreet, a collaboration between the Smithsonian and the Wyoming Humanities Council. Locally, Campbell County Public Library and Campbell County Rockpile Museum are teaming up to bring this exhibit to Gillette. Key Ingredients explores the cultural and historical forces that shape American regional cuisine and the connections between Americans and the foods they produce, prepare, preserve, and serve.