Made in Montana: Montana's post office murals

As part of a national program to create public art for the enjoyment of all Americans, the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts commissioned murals for six new post offices in Montana between 1937 and 1942, allocating 1 percent of the building's cost for each painting.1 At heart, this program reflected President Franklin Roosevelt's desire to give Americans "a more abundant life" as well as his support for programs designed to put people to work.2 In the early ig8os Great Falls artist Leo Beaulaurier, reflecting on the mural he painted for the Billings post office, recalled: "It was a real boon to us because it was a hard time for the arts. People could barely afford necessities, much less paintings."3Artists secured mural commissions in two ways. In some instances, they anonymously submitted drawn-to-scale entries to a local jury. When the jury had made its decision, the entrieii were sent to Section officials who awarded the commission. A more streamlined method allowed officials to appoint an artist. If a submission did not win the local competition but found favor in Washington, D.C., the artist was invited to paint a mural for another location. Elizabeth Lochrie, Verona Burkhard, and Forrest Hill won commissions to paint murals for Dillon, Deer Lodge, and Glasgow through the jury process. Officials commissioned J. K. Ralston, Henry Meloy, and Leo Beaulaurier to create the Sidney, Hamilton, and Billings murals.4 Artists received about twenty dollars per square foot with payment in three installments: the first when the contract was signed, the second when the project was half completed, and the balance upon installation.5

In keeping with the nature of the post office as a town center and a place where residents frequently stopped for business or pleasure, the Section of Fine Arts limited the subjects depicted in the murals. Program director Edward Bruce wanted safe American subjects. He did not want social protest, "ladies in cheesecloth," or "abstractionist tripe" adorning post office walls. Echoing this preference, his colleague Edward Rowan wrote to selection committee member George Yphantis that Treasury officials "have found that artists studying local history . . . often unearth material of universal interest and importance."6

The program to provide murals for Montana's post offices began at the behest of Jerry O'Connell, the state's sole congressman. In spring 1937 O'Connell contacted Secretaiy of the Treasury Inslee Hopper and Section official Edward Rowan about a competition for a mural for the new Dillon post office. He apparently felt that the state had been unfairly excluded from the national project; no Montana post office had a mural and no Montana artist had received a commission. O'Connell pointed out that Montana had at least five nationally known artists and that the community would be pleased to have the work done by a Montana man. Indeed, O'Connell had a specific man in mind: Tom Moore. In deference to the congressman, Rowan and program head Edward Bruce agreed to award a commission for a Montana mural and to limit the contest "to those artists resident of or attached to Montana."7

Fifteen Montana and twelve out-of-state artists submitted designs. The Jury, chaired by Olga Ross Hannon, director of the art department at Montana State College in Bozeman, met in Dillon on September 10, agreed on their first three choices, and mailed them to Washington.8 Though he had again written to Rowan that he hoped Moore's entry "will permit the work going to him," O'Connell graciously accepted defeat when Rowan advised Elizabeth Lochrie that she would be given a contract. Tom Moore's entry won second place and Irwin Shope's third.9

Completed in May 1938 Lochrie's mural, News from the States, showed a varied group gathered by a communal "post office" in Frying Pan Basin northwest of Dillon, which Lochrie had visited with Dillon postmaster Harry Andrus when creating her design. Situated on the stage route between Butte and Dillon, this locale provided a logical setting for a mailbox that symbolized the importance the mail to early residents and stressed how the postal service facilitated the sharing of ideas and goods. These themes nicely tied Lochrie's painting to the competition guidelines and allowed her to incorporate key elements of local history in the mural. Of the six murals in Montana, hers was the only design to address the theme of mail. Section members "considered [it] quite unusual and interesting."10

A letter from Postmaster Andrus gave Section administrators solid feedback about the mural. "[T]He colors blend in perfectly with colors of our lobby and has at same time given true picture of our country," he wrote. "I am sure the artist and department have made many friends in the community through this exciting work. Thanks for a gift appreciated by all." Lochrie, too, expressed her appreciation for the commission. "This work . . . has done more for my courage and moral [sic] than anything that ever happened to me; I never worked harder nor so happily."11