By CSC College Relations
CHADRON – Longtime historical researcher and interpreter Bill Gwaltney will present Beyond the Pale: African Americans in the Fur Trade of the Far West, at the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center Tuesday at 7 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the Nebraska State Historical Society and the Galaxy Series. Admission is free and open to the public.
Gwaltney, a member of the Fur Trade Museum east of Chadron, plans to speak about the diversity of the fur trade industry while specifically addressing black trappers and traders on the northern and southern plains, and the far west.
A seventh-generation American from Washington D.C., Gwaltney has extensive experience with the history of the fur trade as a historian, interpreter, and contributor. He has established fur trade encampments, including the Mountain Man Outpost and Bent’s Old Fur Trade Encampment, worked as a technical advisor for historical films, instructed students and museum parishioners, and belonged to numerous boards related to museums or western history.
Throughout his professional career, Gwaltney served in a variety of roles for the National Park Service. He was a museum curator, a seasonal interpreter, a ranger, interpretive specialist, superintendent at Fort Laramie National Historic Site and Booker T. Washington National Monument, and the Chief of Interpretation at Rocky Mountain National Park.
Gwaltney has been involved with more than 50 Civil War interpretive public events and more than 100 fur trade interpretive events. He has remained involved with the Boy Scouts of America as a scoutmaster, earned numerous awards and commendations for his interpretive work, and recently made a historical replica of a Derringer flintlock trade rifle with hand tools.
