WCHNA Survey Report

The Wyoming Roving Archivist Program (RAP) is pleased to announce the publication of the Wyoming Cultural Heritage Needs Assessment (WCHNA) Survey Report. The RAP is funded through grants from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) and the Wyoming State Historic Records Board (SHRAB).  The Wyoming State Archives (WSA) facilitates this program in partnership with the University of Wyoming's American Heritage Center (AHC).

The first phase of the project has focused on conducting a needs assessment survey, which took place in late 2022 and early 2023, creating recommendations based on the survey results, and building an online directory of cultural heritage institutions in Wyoming with archival holdings. The second phase will utilize the results of the survey to establish offerings, such as in-person institutional needs assessment surveys and regular educational workshops, to Wyoming’s cultural heritage institutions. 

The WCHNA Survey Report is a comprehensive analysis of the survey data collected from a total of seventy-seven institutions out of 174, equaling a response rate of 44.3%. The report interprets the data, addressing topics such as staffing, funding, collections management, preservation strategies, and more. By analyzing this data, Project Archivist Jordan Meyerl highlighted noteworthy findings and crafted a series of recommendations to be implemented in future RAP operations. Culminating over a year’s work, the RAP anticipates the report will serve as an influential resource impacting the future of Wyoming’s cultural heritage landscape.