Shields Library is closed through January 1. Requests for books, digitization services, and interlibrary loan will be fulfilled after the new year.
Western Art
Paintings
The Harrison Collection includes oil paintings, watercolors, etchings, lithographs, prints, and other fine art. Many of the artists were known personally to the Harrisons.
Baskets and Pottery
The Harrison Collection also includes Native American handicrafts from the Southwest, Northwest Coast, California, and Alaska. There are approximately 30 pieces of pottery and 80 baskets including delicate Pomo feathered baskets.
Sculpture
Harrison admired the bronze sculptures of Michael Westergard because of their historical accuracy and minute detail. The Harrison Western Research Center contains one of the most complete collections of Westergard’s work with more than fifty bronzes. Michael Westergard is a self-taught sculptor whose studio, the Westergard-Ragucci Bronze Studio is located in the northeast part of Montana. Westergard’s work portrays the people and wildlife of the American West. A number of his bronzes are based on the watercolor paintings by Karl Bodmer (1809-1893). Bodmer traveled with Prince Maximillian zu Wied in 1832 through 1834 across nearly three-quarters of the North American continent. Bodmer’s work documented the indigenous populations of the Missouri River Basin and the northern Great Plains. Westergard’s bronzes bring these works “alive” as three dimensional forms.