Contact: Evan Green, 307-777-7022; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

 

Firearms Friday Brings History to Life at the Wyoming State Museum

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — April 7, 2025 —   “Welcome to Firearms Friday,” booms the voice of Evan Green, a volunteer at the Wyoming State Museum, who has been sharing snippets of Wyoming's history through a weekly YouTube program called Firearms Friday for the past six years.

 

"Firearms have played a crucial role in Wyoming and the broader United States from colonial times to the present day," Green explains when discussing his video series hosted by the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne.

 

Unlike many firearms videos that concentrate on the guns themselves, Green's episodes use firearms to highlight significant aspects of Wyoming's history. This includes discussing firearms owned by notable Wyoming figures and those used in infamous events in the Cowboy State.

 

"The State Museum's collection contains a Colt Single Action Army Revolver that Tom Horn owned, the donor claimed," says Green. "However, research revealed that the gun was shipped three years after Tom Horn's execution in 1903. I discovered that its true owner, Earl Hayner, had been part of a posse that hunted down Earl Durand."

 

Durand was famously known as the "Tarzan of the Tetons." In 1939, he went on a rampage that thwarted the efforts of Wyoming law enforcement and even the Montana National Guard until he was killed during a bank robbery in Powell, Wyoming.

 

Green conducts extensive research before each episode, bringing the stories of various firearms to life. His research is supported by serial numbers found on more modern weapons and his extensive knowledge of older firearms, developed through years of building his gun collection and participating in shooting sports.

 

"Initially, I volunteered to help at the museum's front desk. But when a curator brought by a cart of older guns from the collection, I was able to identify almost all of them on the spot. This led to me being tasked with re-cataloging the Museum's firearm collection, and the YouTube show followed shortly after," said Green.

 

While some of the weapons featured on Firearms Friday have included pristine "safe queens" that appear to have never been fired, one of Green's favorite rifles in the collection reflects his long-standing relationship with firearms, which began at a young age while hunting and shooting on his family's farm.

 

"One of my favorite firearms in the Museum's collection is a Winchester Model 1873 saddle ring carbine. While it is scratched and scarred, that carbine was carried and used on a daily basis under harsh conditions – a legitimate, working firearm."

 

Firearms Friday is a production of the Wyoming State Museum, located at 2301 Central Ave., Cheyenne, where visitors can view some of the firearms showcased in the series in person. You can watch Firearms Friday weekly on the Museum's YouTube channel @wyomingstatemuseum4598.

 

Learn more about the Wyoming State Museum and other events and programs by visiting their website at wyomuseum.wyo.gov.

 
Figure 1: Firearms from the Wyoming State Museum's collection. Figure 2: Evan Green, volunteer at the Wyoming State Museum, during a Firearms Friday episode.