Program at fair will focus on C.M. Russell's wife

The Faber Schoolhouse on the Great Northern Fairgrounds is a symbol of yesteryear.

It will come alive Thursday night when Mary Jane Bradbury tells the story of Nancy Cooper Russell, wife of the famed artist Charles M. Russell.

The actress and historian Bradbury will portray Nancy Cooper Russell at 6 p.m. at the schoolhouse, a building that was used to educate children in the Bear Paw Mountains a century ago before it was moved to the fairgrounds.

The program is sponsored by the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum through Humanities Montana.

Members of the museum’s board spent the weekend sprucing up the school in preparation for Thursday’s event.

Bradbury has brought history to life through her portrayals of historic Montana women including Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress 100 years ago.

Nancy Cooper Russell, she said, was a woman ahead of her time.

A self-taught business woman with the ability to take charge, she worked to make her husband the highest paid living artist of his time.

While Russell is given credit for his artistic talent, Nancy Russell had the shrewd business sense to make his painting business a success, Bradbury said.

In her discussion at the fairgrounds, Bradbury will tell the story of Nancy Russell’s chance meeting with the renowned cowboy artist that led to their marriage.

She goes on to tell the story of the couple as they traveled from New York City to the growing California suburb called Hollywood.