5 Years of The Active Historian

Hey, friend! Welcome back to another post. Last month, we celebrated 5 years of “The Active Historian.”

Five years ago on June 1, 2020, I made my first post as “The Active Historian.” This blog has given me so many opportunities to grow as a person, experience new things, meet lots of great people, and share my passion for American Western history and women’s history.

This blog has been the constant in my life for the past five years and I’ve poured a lot of time and effort into my content hoping to teach people about history, museums, and the cowboy code.

I’m extremely grateful for those people who have helped me create content, those who have gone to museums with me, those who have listened to my latest research project or book review, and those who wanted to know more about Oklahoma or cowboy culture.

I’m grateful for the museums I’ve worked at and the museums I’ve visited. There are a lot of good people out there preserving history for the generations to come.

I’m thankful for all of the podcasts I’ve been invited to talk on and presentations I’ve been able to give about why history and museums are important.

When reflecting back on the last five years, I can only sum it up by saying ‘thank you.’ Thank you for being here. Thank you for reading and interacting with my content. Thank you for your encouragement day in and day out. Y’all have helped me through some hard times without even realizing it.

This community is something I will always love and appreciate. I can’t wait to see where the next five years takes us. I’m excited for the ride!

Now, let’s take a trip down memory lane!

2020

Here’s the post that started it all! My graphics and photo taking skills have come a long way in five years, but I am grateful for having the courage to start somewhere.

We spent several months doing “5 five facts” about historical figures, but I knew I wanted to tell the whole story and eventually moved on to longer blog posts here on my website and in the captions on IG.

Exploring this history of various athletic events and weightlifting was super niche, but very interesting!

Book reviews have been a staple form of content since the beginning!

2021

In 2021, I was finally able to start visiting museums again after the pandemic.

We celebrated one whole year (and now here we are five years later!)

Me and the orange hat started going on adventures! It’s my favorite!

My first time presenting at the Western Heritage Association Conference – it was virtual.

2022

I got to see Carrie Nation’s hatchet in Guthrie!

I attended a rodeo for the first time in years…

I took a Public History class and got to help with a museum exhibition! My portion covered the history of ROTC at Oklahoma State University.

Museum visits were had! This is one of my favorite paintings.

2023

Lots more museum visits!

I was privileged to work at my dream museum for a year!

Walking around the floor of Lazy-E Arena for a photoshoot was super cool!

We celebrated three years of The Active Historian!

More book reviews! Reading a friend’s book makes it even better. 10/10 would recommend anything Adrian writes!

Really started experimenting with photography and fell in love with the process.

More museums and trying different angles for photos.

I attended my first live PBR event and got to sit front row to take photos for the museum. It was a pinch me kind of moment.

Had the greatest honor of being selected as a member of COWGIRL Magazine’s 30 Under 30 Class of 2024.

2024

More museums!

An acquaintance let me down on the dirt at PBR so I could take a photo by the gate. Again, pinch me. I even got to meet one of my favorite people!

More museums and orange hat adventures.

Attended COWGIRL 30 Under 30 Weekend in Fort Worth. Pinch me!

Visit the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame for the first time since I was a kid.

Fort Worth Stockyards Museum!

Attended the first ever PBR Teams Draft!

Hung out with friends at the Western Heritage Awards!

Met one of my favorite authors, Chris Enss!

Visited the Historic Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum!

Visited El Reno to do research for an article that I wrote. Stopped and took a photo in this large sign!

Continued practicing photography and honing my skills. Golden hour is my favorite hour to take photos at!

Did contract work for another museum which involved taking photos at events!

More museum visits!

2025

More photography practice and several days off due to snow!

More golden hour photo shoots.

Attend the final rodeo in historic Jim Norick Arena in OKC.

Practiced a lot of motion photography.

Re-visiting another museum I hadn’t been to since I was a kid.

Met Buckaroo Bart at a museum event and he taught me how to flat loop spin. Trick roping has since become one of my favorite hobbies.

Visited the Fort Worth Stockyards for Cowgirl Content Class and attended the Women’s Rodeo World Championships.

More photography practice – I think there’s a theme here!

More trick roping!

More book reviews and checking books off of my To Be Read List!

Concluding Thoughts

Thank you so much for being a part of my community. I have loved meeting all of you and getting to know your stories. I hope you enjoyed going down memory lane with me and will hang on for the the future journeys!

I’ll talk to ya soon! 🙂