Local Treasures – Missoulian 8/10/1936

University’s “Treasures” Will Have Real Home When Journalism Building on Campus Is Finished

When the new journalism building on the campus of Montana State University is opened in the fall of 1937, the University’s “treasures” will at last have a home – a place where they may be displayed and where students of Northwest history may go to study the works that have been collected.

Not that there isn’t already a home for these treasures – there’s a little, musty room on the top floor of the library, where the smell of mothballs is heavy on the air and the space is inadequate for the proper housing of works whose value increases daily. There are the Gibson and Lewis collections, there are valuable old books and historical papers – the first book printed in Montana territory for example – copies of old Kaimins – the University publication – and various odds and ends of historical interest which have been donated or bought by the University.

Of course Dr. Paul C. Phillips is happy with the prospects of a home for these treasures. Dr. Phillips, chairman of the history department and authority on Northwest history, long has been interested in conserving the books and articles of interest to students of the Northwest. Right now he’s chairman of the state, municipal and county records survey, the purpose of which is to ferret out every bit of material in the entire state which relates to the history of this region.

Varied Collection.

Into this new home for the treasures will go many things. There will be large display cases for the Indian collections and the other donations. There will be shelves for the books and desks and tables for students. And nearby, in an office on the third floor, Dr. Phillips himself will be directing the work of making the treasures available.

It is within the past three months that the Lewis collection was given the University by Mrs. Nettie C. Lewis, sister of John Ellsworth Lewis, who with his wife collected Indian relics for 40 years. The Gibson collection, also highly prized, was donated several years ago.

Dr. Phillips and Dr. Harry Turney-High, University anthropologist, have recently finished an inventory of the Lewis collection. There are approximately a hundred articles, among which are:

A shirt and leggings belonging to Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux medicine man, made by one of his daughters.

A Brule Sioux war shirt, heavily beaded and fringed with scalp-locks and weasel skins. There are traces of white women’s hair in some of the fringes. This outfit was worn in the Rosebud fight, eight days before the lamented Custer and his gallant men lost their lives at the battle of the Little Big Horn.

A pipe and fire bag, once the property of the famous Shoshone chief, Wisakie[1], in Wyoming.

A scout coat worn by Jack Crawford, Sheridan’s favorite scout, and decorated with porcupine quills.

A Winchester carbine, found on the field after the battle of the Big Hole.

A war bonnet of Chief Plenty Coups of the Crows.

Jim Bridger’s rifle, originally an old flintlock.

Each Has A Story.

But there are so many articles in the collection that descriptions of each would run into many, many words. And each has a story.

Frequently someone has presented the University with old rifles and carbines, with the result that one corner of the present “treasure room” now has 20 of such guns.

But let the inventory tell the story of one of these articles:

“Louis Riel’s knife and sheath . . . This knife was authenticated by Mus-Que-Sish (Little Bear), head chief of the Canada Crees, who made Mr. Paxson (from whom the Lewises purchased an Indian collection) a visit. On his entering the studio, he immediately noticed and recognized the knife and through his interpreters, informed Mr. Paxson of its history. He used all means of persuasion to procure it and was much disappointed upon being refused.” It is a strong, heavy knife of English make with handle broken and bound together with rawhide. The sheath is heavy and studded with brass nails. The letter “R” is cut into the leather of the sheath and it shows long and hard usage.

When Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Gibson were killed in an accident on December 31, 1927, the heirs of their Indian collection, Archie Strang and Franklin Rutherford, gave the Gibson collection to the University, and it became the nucleus of the present aggregation of relics. Included in it are 245 historical volumes, and Indian relics which include beaded bags, saddle bags, buckskin vests, moccasins, birch bark containers, Indian peace pipes, many arrows and beads, baskets, an elaborately beaded buckskin dress and two spinning wheels. The presentation of these gifts was made in March, 1928.

Individual donations to the treasure room include canoes, old carbines, pottery and articles of Indian apparel. One birchbark canoe is an example of Cree handiwork.

Explorers’ Statue.

Among the outstanding pieces of work, which is to go into the new treasure room, is the statue of Lewis and Clark, done by Stanley Martineau, two years ago. The statue shows Clark pointing to the far sky-line while Lewis stands by his side. Another piece of Martineau’s work, which is to be placed in the treasure room, is the plaque of Granville and James Stuart, who are pictured as examining some old books purchased from an old trader, Neil McArthur. The Stuarts had spent an entire winter without so much as an almanac to read, their diary records. The plaque is six by three feet.

Several thousand volumes of historical works will be housed in the new building. Among this group are the first book published about Montana – “Montana as It Is,” by Granville Stuart – and “A Trip to the States by the Way of the Yellowstone,” by J. Allen Hosner, first book published in Montana. This volume bears the date, 1867, “Virginia City, Montana Territory.”

Work on northwest history has been done by three members of the University faculty. Dr. Phillips is primarily concerned with general history and the study of the fur trade; Dr. R. L. Housman, executive head of the journalism school, has written several papers on the history of Montana newspapers and their effect upon institutions; and Al Partoll, who received his M. A. degree in 1930 from the University and is now an assistant in the journalism school, has written much on the history of the northwest Indians.

Dr. Harry Turney-High will publish shortly a survey of Flathead Indian ethnology, which he has studied for several years.

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on August 10, 1936.

 

Stanley Martineau, mentioned above, became a very successful sculptor. His best-known work may have been his huge (13ft /3 ton) bust of F.D. Roosevelt. His work included several famous people, including J. P. Morgan. He worked with the military during WW 2 as a designer/artist for the Ghost War program. Artists and craftsman designed various figures – “carefully crafted illusions” – such as ships, tanks and other arms and are credited with saving American lives because of it.

Martineau worked at UM about the same time that the western artist, Irvin ‘Shorty’ Shope did. These two were mentioned in a Missoulian article about Richard Brooks, another highly regarded, but lesser known, Missoula artist:

 

Artist Spends Few Days Here

Richard Brooks, Famous Mural Painter, Was Once Missoulian.

This summer several men, former residents of Missoula who have attained national fame in science and medicine, have visited this city. Latest to arrive here is Richard Brooks of New York city, who has attained fame as a mural painter.

He is the son of W. B. Brooks, who for many years was a Missoula merchant. Richard Brooks is visiting at the home of his uncle, George Brooks.

He came here when he was four months old. He left the Missoula high school in his second year and in 1910 went to Virginia Military institute. In 1912 he attended the Art school in Boston, and in 1916 went to New York city.

He is a member of the Art Student’s league of New York city. He enlisted and spent 20 months in France during the World war, and was in the air service.

His latest achievement was to paint, with Eric Gugler, also famous artist, the ceiling in the Hall of Culture, a unit of the new state education building at Harrisburg, Pa. The ceiling consists of a representation of the heavens, and on it are pictured mythological figures, representing the various constellations. More than a thousand stars are designed in proper positions, and illuminated by electric lights. On the walls of the chamber are depicted historical paintings, showing the advancement of culture.

Richard Brooks visited the State University and inspected the paintings of Irvin Shope, and the sculpture designs of Stanley Martineau. He feels the work done by PWA in giving employment to artists and sculptors is particularly a worthy one.

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on October 7, 1934.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/352073778