Mildred Stead Capron was a photographer and filmmaker. She also traveled the U.S. giving lectures as a member of the Society of Women Geographers. After living in China for fourteen years and travelling extensively around the world, she eventually settled in Wyoming.
Her documentary film “Sky High in Wyoming”, produced in 1951, was an ode to her adopted home state. About Wyoming, she said “there is room for the spirit”.
Capron’s silent film was designed to be accompanied by her lectures on the many unique aspects of Wyoming. She filmed the Shoshone and Arapaho on the Wind River Reservation, where she lived for a time. She patiently waited to capture wildlife on camera – bison, elk, bear and coyote. Her work took her across the state, filming rodeos, sheep shearing, blizzards and more.
You can view the film “Sky High in Wyoming” in the digital collection of Mildred Stead Capron’s papers at UW’s American Heritage Center.