George Catlin: First Artist Up the Missouri River 

Missoula photographer Lee Silliman illuminates the life of George Catlin, the first Euro-American artist to ascend the Missouri River as far as Fort Union, Montana. In the 1830s Catlin dedicated his energies to fixing on canvas the lifeways and portraits of the “vanishing races” who resided on the Northern Plains. The evolution of his ideals, as Catlin struggled to convince his fellow countrymen and Europeans that Native American culture was worth honoring and protecting, is a poignant story of triumph and failure. (Thursday Night at the Museum, 4/27/2017)