Welcome to the City of Casper, Wyoming
"Soldiers of the Republic: The 11th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry"
March 24, 2023 to February 24, 2024
Learn about the Kansas soldiers posted to Fort Caspar in 1865 when Caspar Collins died in an Indian battle.
"Terror in the Theater: Sci-Fi Movie Posters from the 1950s"
On view thru November 25, 2023
To help get you in the mood for Halloween, Fort Caspar Museum has opened an exhibit of scary movie posters from classic science fiction movies of the 1950s. On loan from the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center, “Terror in the Theater: Fifties Fears” showcases films that reflected the concerns—whether real or imagined—faced by Americans in the 1950s. This display of eighteen posters, accompanied by insightful commentary on the times, will remain on view through November 25, 2023.
The great number and popularity of science fiction movies in the 1950s has led some to call that decade “The Golden Age of Science Fiction Films.” The fantasy and adventure embodied in the science fiction movies of the time often masked real fears and anxieties of the Cold War era. The advent of atomic weapons, the rise of Communism, and the confrontation with the Soviet Union seemed to threaten the future of the United States. These factors, along with increasing numbers of flying saucer sightings, led to a climate of paranoia. Science fiction films of that decade commonly expressed several themes: fear of technology leading to unintended consequences; invasion of the planet by aliens; and the effects of atomic radiation. Because science fiction movies were not constrained by reality, more imaginative outcomes and plot lines could be addressed in creative ways. Often included were monsters ranging from aliens from the furthest reaches of space to prehistoric monsters from the depths of the oceans.
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