By Granddaughter Pamela June Morris
Little did I know the impact of Charles E. Morris’ induction into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame, having been nominated by Lifestyle magazine’s MCHF Trustee Hope Good in 2022. Charles Morris had been recognized by the Smithsonian decades ago, and I helped my father publish a book titled True, Free Spirit: Charles E. Morris, Cowboy/ Photographer. Still, people kept asking, “Why haven’t I heard of this Montana cowboy?”
A dear friend, who had inherited oil money, challenged me and offered to finance me to find and publicly preserve our Morris heritage. Working through the Foundation for Montana History, I have been finding, preserving, and making available to the public countless images produced by Charles and Helen Morris between 1895 and 1922.
Over 900 Morris-related pictures stored at Chinook’s Blaine County Museum, were identified by curator Sam French. Sam then worked with Cascade County’s History Museum’s curator Kristi Scott who arranged for her archiving expert Megan to have digital copies downloaded to the Montana History portal. These are now available for the public to view.
The only known surviving negatives stored in a steamer trunk had been donated to the University of Montana. With the opening of U of M’s stunning Museum of Arts and Culture, my colleague and photography expert Mark Hight and I were honored to be among the first to use their research room. I arranged funding for these materials to be archived and made visible by U of M via computer.
We now have evidence that the Morrises distributed millions of postcards, many of which set a high standard by Helen for colorizing. What is now apparent is the volume of early 19th Century Montana images marketed by Morris and Company to impressible individuals, which undoubtedly contributed both to Montana’s homestead boom and to the romanticizing of the West.
To further preserve the Charles and Helen Morris heritage, I am creating a traveling exhibition of their works, featuring restored (not altered) Morris pictures and an assortment of Morris-distributed postcards from my collection. I am devoting 2025 to complete a narrative nonfiction book on Charles and Helen Morris, tentatively titled Montana Revealed. Maybe then people will know of Charles and Helen Morris.