Museum Minute: Wyoming’s Early Printed Books and the Shoshone Vocabulary, 1868

The McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West has an extensive collection of rare books.

That includes the second book printed in what’s now the state of Wyoming, titled, “A Vocabulary of the Snake, or, Shoshone dialect,” by Joseph A. Gebow.

Research Assistant Nathan Bender explains that the book, printed in 1868, is a vocabulary book of Shoshone language that was written primarily for traders in the region. The 24 page book includes translations of word and number.

“The very first printed material in Wyoming Territory was actually a publication in the Sioux language. This was quite common across Western states—many of the earliest publications in these territories were focused on American Indian languages,” Bender said.

The library also has a survey publication called, “Wyoming Territorial Imprints,” which lists the earliest books printed between 1866 and 1890 before Wyoming became a state.