Michael D. Fox
Curator of Cultural History

Michael has been the curator of history at MOR since 2006. His first museum job was as a curatorial assistant at South Pass City State Historic Site in central Wyoming, where his ancestors were settlers and gold miners in 1867. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Humboldt State University. His thesis focused on the diaries and other personal writings of women during the American West's overland trail period.

Fox earned a Master's degree in american studies from the University of Wyoming and again used personal documents as a basis for his thesis work, using a diary kept by his great-great-uncle on an exploration trip in search of gold in the Flattops region of Colorado in 1881.

His deep interest in the history of the American West led Fox into the museum world. He has worked at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Denver Art Museum, and the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. Michael also worked at the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC

Michael is grateful for the opportunity to grow with the history program at MOR. He works closely with exhibition and collection managers to ensure a high level of professional, academic, and aesthetic excellence in the galleries and collections he oversees. Over his career at MOR, he has curated exhibitions on photographers David F. Barry and Edward S. Curtis and the nation's first comprehensive exhibition regarding tourism in Yellowstone National Park.

Michael is currently leading a team working on a complete reimagining of the museum's Native American exhibition.

Contact Michael via email or 406.994.5330.