Museum Minute: A Postcard to Charles Russell

It’s normal for librarians at the McCracken Research Library to find postcards, photos and other pieces of paper tucked away in a book. But it isn’t every day that you find a postcard written to the famous painter Charles Russell.

Eric Rossborough, an associate librarian at the McCracken Research Library, found just that. One day Rossborough opened a book of Charles Russell prints from the mid 20th century and a postcard fell out.

“This one was a little different. It was written in a squirelling pencil,” Rossborough recalled. “The salutation was, “Hey, old man,” which is kind of familiar.”

Rossborough looked at the address and found it was addressed to C.M. Russell of Great Falls, Montana. He said from the note it was obvious that the person knew Russell pretty well.

The postcard started off with, “Hope you and the wife are well. We are relaxing at Chico Hot Springs.”

Rossborough said informal communications like this aren’t something seen every day.

Museum Minute was a series co-produced with Wyoming Public Media (WPM).