Want a true picture of what daily life was like in early Wyoming?

A new exhibit opening in the Gallery of Dancing Bear Folk Center explores everyday experiences of frontier life from the 1880s to about 1915.

"Wyoming Women: A Photographic Exhibit" will open June 6 and be on display through June 30. It includes more than 50 photos from the collection of the American Heritage Center, Laramie.

"A large part of a woman's life on the frontier revolved around her family," said Mary Meyer, visual arts coordinator, American Heritage Center. "You can see that just by the number of photos that deal with family. There are women as mothers, wives and workers -- washing clothes, chopping wood, preparing meals."

Details in the pictures show the hardships most women on the frontier had to face -- woodburning stoves, water hauled in buckets, uninsulated houses, backbreaking labor that took its toll on youth and beauty.

There are also photographs of young women attending schools, parties and other frivolities. "There was plenty for them to do on the frontier," Meyer said. "They were involved in community plays and politics. They enjoyed outdoor activities just as men did -- camping, fishing, horseback riding and gardening."

Many of the photos were developed from early glass plate negatives. These negatives were popular until about 1910 because they produced such sharp detail. They required some skill, however. The glass plates had to be coated with an emulsion, exposed and developed in less than 15 minutes while the plates were still wet. Enlargements were not practical, so glass plates were normally cut to the same size as the desired print.

The photographic archives of the American Heritage Center contains over 200,000 images from the early 1860s to the present. It is housed at the University of Wyoming.

"Wyoming Women" is sponsored by Big Horn Basin Foundation of Thermopolis in conjunction with the American Heritage Center. The exhibit gallery is located in the Old West Wax Museum complex. It is open daily 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information, call 307/864-9396.