Why Nancy Russell

What makes an interesting living history portrayal? An historic interpreter is an artist, creating a living portrait of a person whose life was worthy and meaningful in the context of the time in which that person lived, giving audiences a glimpse of the past. The living history artist makes choices about what will be interesting and what will sell; and a great deal of time, research, supposition and intuition are expended in the process.

Nancy Cooper Russell, wife and business manager of Montana artist Charles M. Russell, is hardly a household name. She was not an ardent feminist from the early years of women struggling for political and social equality, not the inventor of anything or the first woman to do something previously barred to her gender, the stuff of most first-person depictions. Many who know the story of Charlie Russell’s rise to fame and fortune give her credit for his success. She was the woman behind the man, a wife, a partner, a companion – what sort of compelling story would hers be?

Finding Nancy Russell meant reading between the lines in the many books written about Charlie, talking with art historians and scholars, seeing her in a turn-of-the-20th-century context, and avoiding the tendency to project present-day sensibilities on her and her times.

From the back woods of Kentucky to the lawless streets of Helena’s mining heyday, in poor health, with no education and abandoned as a teenager after her mother died, Nancy had little to recommend her for the role she would play when she married a young cowboy artist when she was 19 years old. Within a few years, she was in charge of Charlie’s art enterprise and changed both of their lives.

Nancy was a keen observer of everything she encountered, a sponge for details, blissfully unaware of what she didn’t know, impervious to criticism. She attended no self-improvement seminars or “how to succeed in business” workshops, had no mentors, male or female. Prevailing sentiments of the times saw women who ventured into the world of business as unfeminine and unwelcome. With no social standing or network of contacts, she forged ahead anyway, the very definition of an entrepreneur long before the term was used in reference to individuals who create businesses and manage the risks themselves.

So much for what she didn’t have. What did she have? She had grit: the perseverance and passion to achieve her goal of making Charlie into the successful artist she knew he could be. She didn’t do it to get her name in the papers and advance herself. Of course, Charlie had to cooperate, and he did, knowing she possessed the qualities that he lacked. They needed each other. Had they not met and forged their unique partnership, we would not have the rich legacy of Russell art and stories that exists today.

Hers is a woman’s story, and women relate to Nancy’s endeavors. Women sacrifice their time and energy, they encourage and urge and require and expect and believe and hurry and worry, sometimes with mixed results and often with mixed appreciation. But they don’t give up. Nancy never did – until the day she died she promoted Charlie and his legacy. A portrayal of Nancy’s life is a celebration of women, as well an appreciation of the strength of heart and will that should never be underestimated when it comes to the people they love.

Mary Jane Bradbury is a Chautauqua speaker for Humanities Montana and the Colorado Humanities and has been an Artist in Residence for the Charles M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, MT, and the National Wildlife Museum in Jackson, WY. Check out her performance at the Pioneer Museum on July 20 (see Page 6A)