Hello Members This RMB-Info.TXT file will explain about these 9 scans which are included in this ZIP file. Anyone wishing the larger full-size original high resoloution scans may simply write to me and I will e-mail them to you. The "RMB" version is my 3-D Presentation matte (small) version. The FileName shown beside each "RMB" FileName is the one to request as Full-Sized. The Full-Sized versions have no Eagle Ranch Logo's nor comments: Members wishing a (free) full-size scan of these images may request them from me at the Eagle Ranch Archive. The FileSize(s) are 285 KByte download(s). The image(s) are 900 x 1200 x 16.5 M Colors. RMB-0001.JPG -- MornBird.JPG RMB-0002.JPG -- CAL-1931.JPG + DBLSteel.JPG RMB-0003.JPG -- ChiefTwo.JPG RMB-0004.JPG -- Mike_Oka.JPG RMB-0005.JPG -- Dec-1932.JPG RMB-0006.JPG -- Scaping.JPG RMB-0007.JPG -- WhiteDog.JPG RMB-0008.JPG -- DBLSteel.JPG RMB-0009.JPG -- CAL-1931.JPG The Great Northern Railway commissioned several such authentic paintings to Honor Native Americans along their routes across the Western USA's Northern States of Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. Their Railway routes necessarily crossed thru many Native American ancestral lands as well as present-day Reservation Lands. These paintings were made available as large Calendars and hung proudly in their Railway stations and offices. The era was 1928 thru 1932. Such calendars are an antique rarity now and seldom found. These scans are from a friend's personal collection of such rare Railroad and Native memorabilia. His RMB Collection. Morning_Bird ---------------- MornBird.JPG ---------------- RMB-0001.JPG ---------------- My friend wrote the following that may be of interest to you: [quote] [RMB-0001.JPG] This scan is of Morning_Bird, of the Blackfeet Nation, Kainah Tribe, in Northwestern Montana. Near Glacier National Park, and Waterton Lakes National Park. Originally a Pastel-Portrait, by the artist Winold Riess, commissioned by the Great Northern Railway, circa 1928. The Winold Reiss painting method is with "Pastels": These are similar to crayons, in that they are a dry stick that deposits a sort of powder onto the canvas or paper. This beautiful portrait of Morning_Bird is the top half of one of the 1928 Great Northern Railway single-month calendars. The artist's name is pronounced "Vinnold Rice," according to a Seattle antique dealer who is acquainted with the artist's descendants. Many of these portraits were detached from the calendars and saved, as most people considered the portrait more interesting than the railroad advertising on the bottom half of the sheet. The monthly calendar was printed on cardstock slightly thicker than an index card, and roughly 10 inches wide by 23 inches high. Each calendar was folded in half and delivered in an envelope with a heavier cardboard insert to protect it from bending. Each year from 1928 through 1932 twelve different monthly calendars were distributed. The 1929 calendars contained Glacier Park and Waterton Park scenes rather than NA portraits, and the artist was Adolph Heinze; but all the other monthly calendars displayed NA portraits. There was also an artist named Kuhn, I believe, who may have done a small number of the earliest NA portraits. In later years, the railroad produced larger, annual calendars, also with NA portraits. These were generally printed on heavy paper, were delivered rolled in mailing tubes, and displayed one large NA portrait at the top with 12 tear-off calendar pages at the bottom. The scanner is not large enough to show the entire border of a 1928 portrait. The calendars were made slightly smaller in later years. This scan is larger than what was expected, but I wanted to be sure you could read the artist's name at the lower left and the railroad name at the lower right. The outside border is missing because the scanner isn't large enough. The jpg image looks better than I expected it would. This is the sort of thing that jpg is apparently quite good for. [unquote] [RMB-0002.JPG] This paragraph tells you a little about the RMB-0002.JPG image, which is my 3-D Presentation matte showing, in-miniature, the two scans my friend sent me that are from the top and bottom of a 1931 Great Northern Railway calendar. This, another of Winold Reiss's original Portraits, seems to show an Elder Mother, and probably her Daughter. Likely, they are Blackfeet, as Reiss did much of his artwork in the Glacier National Park / Waterton Lakes National Park region. The Elder's name: Double_Steel and the Daughter's: Two_Cutter. My friend had these words to say about the technical details: [quote] [RMB-0002] [RMB-0008] [RMB-0009] "These pictures are scans of color photocopies, so will not be quite so good. Each was reduced when copied, and the whole thing fits the scanner. I scanned it at 150 dpi and decided not to reduce it because the interference patterns (moire) were bad enough and seemed to get worse with a reduction in size. This one is from 1931. I can tell because the border matches the bottom half of a 1931 calendar that I photocopied and saved with the GN advertising. Maybe I'll send a very small scan of that part so you'll have an idea how the whole calendars looked." You are probably right that the picture of Double_Steel and Two_Cutter is a mother and daughter, but it certainly is not obvious at first glance. The picture has nothing more in the caption than the words Glacier National Park. However, since you are becoming so interested in these portraits, you might be happy to know that there are sets of a large number of portraits that were made available beginning in the 1930's (probably continuing through the forties and maybe into the fifties). A "set" came in a manila envelope with no calendars and little or no reference to the GN Railway, but it probably contained more information about the subjects of the portraits. My mother once had a set (both my grandfathers worked for the GN in Whitefish), but I don't know what became of it. She may have used these pictures to practice her portrait painting by trying to duplicate Reiss's work. The last time I saw a set, the price was around a hundred dollars. [unquote] Chief Two_Guns_White_Calf ------------------------- ChiefTwo.JPG ------------ RMB-0003.JPG ------------ This particular portrait appeared as a 1928 calendar, which my friend scanned recently for us. This PIX is of Chief Two_Guns_White_Calf of the Montana region nearby to the vicinity of Glacier National Park. The portrait artist again, is Winold Reiss. Probably this Chieftain was of the Blackfeet Nation, of that Northwestern Montana area. Perhaps one of our members can provide more detailed historical information. If so, please let us hear from you. My friend's technical comments were: [quote] The two calendar pix for today are the last of the originals, all from 1928. Since there is so much white area, they compressed into reasonable size files, and I'm sending them in the full size as scanned at 150 dpi. There are three more of the color copies that I'll scan and send to you. [unquote] Brave Mike_OKA -------------- Mike_Oka.JPG ------------ RMB-0004.JPG ------------ Here is the fourth scan from my friend derived from his RMB Collection of Great Northern Railway calendars. This particular portrait appeared as a 1928 calendar. This PIX is of a Brave, named Mike_Oka of the Montana region nearby to the vicinity of Waterton Lakes National Park, along the Great Northern Railway's route. The portrait artist again, is Winold Reiss. I believe the Blood are a Tribe of the Blackfeet Nation, of that Northwestern Montana area. Perhaps one of our members can provide more detailed historical information. If so, please let us hear from you. DEC-1932 No Name Scaping_Woman White_Dog ---------------- ------------- --------- DEC-1932.JPG Scaping.JPG WhiteDog.JPG ------------ ----------- ------------ RMB-0005.JPG RMB-0006.JPG RMB-0007.JPG ------------ ------------ ------------ And my friend's final comments about these three: [quote] These are the last three of the NA portraits, and are from color copies. The file DEC-1932.jpg has no label on the portrait, but it is from December of 1932, so the name seems logical. It was the last monthly calendar printed. White_Dog is 1930, and Scaping_Woman is 1928. [unquote] We hope you have enjoyed looking at these antique images, and reading what little we actually know about them. Cordially, Rex WB Eagle Ranch Archivist Eage Ranch