A Detour to Fort Laramie National Historic Site

On our way back to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument after one of our weekends at home, we made a detour to Fort Laramie National Historic Site (FOLA) to meet with one of the interns who had been working with the collection at AGFO. 

Shaye gave us a tour of FOLAs museum collection, and she answered some of our questions about the journals and books at AGFO. Although Tim and I had previously visited FOLA, it was fun to see some of the areas not typically open to the public.

Scenes from Fort Laramie National Historic Site

Finally, We Started Our Project

While we were waiting for a virtual meeting with the former curator to provide us with some direction, Tim and I finally decided to develop our own project, with the approval of AGFO, of course.

AGFO preserves the library of James Cook, and this collection includes at least 5,000 books and journals or bulletins. It’s an amazing collection. However, we had been warned that the journals and books had not been arranged according to National Park Service (NPS) standards and that curators would walk into the Archives Room, where the collection is stored, look around, and then throw up their hands and close the door. We decided that reorganizing the journals by sequential catalog number would be our main goal. We viewed this goal as a challenge and a doable project that would provide the most benefit to the park.

We determined that we needed to insert paper tags with the catalog number, written at the top, into each journal. Adding these tags to all the journals would serve two purposes. First, the tags would provide an easily-visible catalog number, eliminating the need to remove the journal from the shelf, open the journal, and search for the catalog number. Second, it would make rearranging the journals by catalog number much easier.

We began with the first row and removed all journals from each shelf, one shelf at a time. We inserted the new tabs and rearranged the journals sequentially by catalog number. What a difference that made!

Preparing and Inserting Paper Tags into each Journal

Shelves of Journals - Before and After

Working at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO)

Coming to a new park for volunteer opportunities always brings with it a bit of uncertainty. When we arrived at work last Wednesday, we learned that the museum curators that we thought we would be working with had moved on to new positions elsewhere. Okay, we can deal with that.

Since new background checks were required, we knew that we would not have computer access for some time. Tera Lynn, the park’s lead interpreter and volunteer coordinator, gave us a great introduction to AGFO and made it a point to provide us with anything we needed. She had several interim projects for us as we waited for our clearance to come through.

We Even Have Volunteer Shirts to Wear at AGFO

Housekeeping and organizing curation rooms seems to be a first step for us at most parks, and Tim and I attacked this self-imposed task with gusto. It feels so much better to work in a clean and organized space. We then tackled our interim projects. While Tim fashioned trays for fossils used in interpretive programs, I created a database of the hundreds of excess books that had recently been culled from the park’s library.

Before and After in the Main Curation Room

Before and After in the Curation Office

The staff at AGFO is quite small, and everyone is friendly and appreciative of what we’re doing. Interacting with park staff is one of our favorite things about volunteering at national parks, and we are looking forward to working with everyone here.

Tera Lynn is very flexible with our schedule, and Tim and I have elected to work every Tuesday through Friday. We leave work early on Friday and drive to Colorado for the weekend, returning to AGFO late Monday afternoon. We’ve never been able to do this before, but so far, it’s working out well.

The Drive to and from Colorado Is Easy, Although the Hailstorm We Encountered Last Monday Wasn't So Fun!

Arriving at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO)

Tim and I left on Tuesday morning for Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) in Nebraska for our three-month volunteer opportunity. The easy drive took about three hours on a combination of interstate highways, state routes, and tiny county roads. We arrived around 1:00 pm and checked in at the visitor center.

Everyone seemed happy to see us, and we were escorted to our RV site in the employee housing area of the park. We are in a huge site with full hookups, including Wi-Fi, and we spent the afternoon setting up. All of our systems continue to work well, thank goodness.

Our Very Spacious RV Site

Because of all the rain this summer, the landscape is very green for this time of year, and the surrounding fields are covered with prairie sunflowers. They’re such happy flowers!

The Landscape Is Quite Lovely, and the Skies Can Be Very Dramatic

AGFO is known for the fossilized skeletons that are preserved in the Niobrara River valley here, and the discovery of these fossils in the early 1900s was important to the developing science of paleontology. Most of the land that is now AGFO was once part of the Agate Springs Ranch owned by James and Kate Cook. 

When paleontologists came to western Nebraska looking for fossils, Cook convinced Chief Red Cloud and the Oglala Lakota that the scientists were indeed looking for bones, not gold. In time, Cook and Red Cloud developed a warm friendship, and the Indians brought gifts when they visited Cook’s ranch. The family’s collection now belongs to the park, and many of these amazing items are on exhibit in the visitor center.

AGFO Is Significant for Both Fossils and American Indian Heritage

Before arriving at AGFO, I had been worried about the heat and the high temperatures that the plains are known for. Although it was hot when we arrived, our air conditioner and the fans that I had purchased made things comfortable. It actually got chilly overnight, and the comforter was quite welcome!