Grades: 4-6

The Oregon Trail (along with California Trail and Mormon Trail) was a moment in time with huge cultural significance. Our Oregon Trail trunk lets teachers bring this journey to life in their classrooms. Not only is it chock-full of education items, but it also has a world-class curriculum that lets you helps tell the story of these immigrants.  

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Oregon Trail Education Trunk:

What was it like to walk 2,000 miles over six months? What was it like to eat the same food every day? What was it like to sleep under the stars, get pelted by hail, watch your family die from disease, cross dangerous rivers, and experience the worst dangers of your life? These are the questions that the Oregon Trail Education Trunk, along with our amazing Travel the Oregon Trail Field Trip try to answer.

The trunk itself is filled with educational replicas (and a couple actual artifacts from the 1800s) that help bring the story of the Oregon Trail to your classroom. Additionally, we have created a fun-filled, educational curriculum that you can use in your classroom - whether you are receiving the education trunk or not! This cross-disciplinary curriculum includes reading, writing, vocabulary, history, and even math.

The files below contain the full Teacher's Guide (which also includes the inventory list for the trunk) and each individual section, too. The curriculum for this trunk is designed to work alongside our Travel the Oregon Trail Field Trip - either as an On-Grounds Field Trip or a pair of Virtual Field Trips.

Education Trunk Sponsors:

This trunk was made possible due to the generosity of the BYU Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, who funded the creation of the first Oregon Trail education trunk and its curriculum. In 2025, the Wyoming Semiquincentennial Task Force provided funds to create additional copies of this incredibly popular education trunk. The Wyoming State Museum thanks these organizations for their generosity and support! 

Videos for the Oregon Trail Curriculum

Video for Section 1: Introduction to the Oregon Trail 

Videos for "Section 4: Music of the Oregon Trail"

Videos for "Section 5: Patriotism and Symbolism"

Video for Section 7: Packing Your Wagon 

Locations With the Oregon Trail Education Trunk: 

There are six copies of this trunk, located across Wyoming. 65% of the state's population is within an hour drive of one of these trunks. You can find two copies at the Wyoming State Museum, and one copy at each of the following state parks or historic sites: Bear River State Park, Hot Springs State Park, Edness K. Wilkens State Park, and Fort Phill Kearny State Historic Site. By having these trunks across the state, it eliminates the need for many teachers to have to ship the trunks back to the museum.

Regardless of where you'll be picking the trunk up from, complete the museum's program request - below. 

Details on Trunk Shipping vs. Trunk Pick Up:

• Pick up and drop off at the museum is free to every school! If you drive here, you can borrow the trunk! 
   
• As mentioned above, we have one of these trunks located in different state parks and historic sites around the state. If you're within an hour and a half of the museum or one of these locations, you'll be picking up your trunk. 
   
• If your school is within Wyoming, but more than an hour and a half from all of these locations, the museum can pay to ship the trunk to you. But you must cover the cost of shipping back to the museum. The museum has a yearly budget allocated to shipping trunks; once that budget is depleted, shipping costs have to be covered by the school. 
   
• If your school is outside of Wyoming, you must cover the cost of shipping both ways. Additionally, we are limited to locations that North Park Transportation can deliver to. This usually includes Northern Colorado, Denver, and some other regional states. Check with the museum to learn more. 

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