Dr. Nelson and widow honored by Russell Museum

The C.M. Russell Museum gave Helen and the late Dr. Van Kirke Nelson of Kalispell the prestigious Josephine Trigg Award at a private dinner ceremony in Great Falls on May 14. 

The Josephine Trigg Award is the museum’s highest award. Van Kirke Nelson, a longtime Kalispell physician and art collector, died at age 83 on April 18.

The award is presented for dedicated and outstanding contributions in preserving the memory and works of Charles M. Russell and for significant support toward the growth and success of the C.M. Russell Museum. 

Helen Nelson accepted the award at the C.M. Russell Museum with many family members present.

“The Nelsons’ tremendous support for the C.M. Russell Museum has remained constant over the past 46 years,” Museum Executive Director Michael Duchemin said. “Their generous relationship with the museum is highlighted by dozens of donations of artworks and artifacts, including works by C.M. Russell, Edward Borein, Earle Erik Heikka and Joe DeYong.” 

The Nelsons showed a special interest in the conservation of the Russell Home and Studio, and they supported the “Trails to the Future” campaign with a major gift to expand the museum in 1997.

Van Kirke Nelson started collecting Western art and Americana around the time that he and Helen married in the mid-1950s. 

Nelson’s passion for “The West in Paint and Bronze” grew when he moved his young family to Montana in 1962. He specialized as an obstetrician-gynecologist operating out of Kalispell, delivering 7,000 babies over the next 52 years. 

As his medical practice grew, Nelson parlayed his success into a second business, opening Glacier Gallery in 1969. 

Glacier Gallery specialized in fine works by noteworthy Western artists of the 19th and 20th centuries; Native American artifacts, pottery and weavings; rare books and photographs; and contemporary Montana artists with an emphasis on Glacier National Park. 

From the beginning of his life as a collector, Nelson threw his support behind the C.M. Russell Art Auction, serving as a consignor and exhibitor for the very first auction event in 1969.

He joined the National Advisory Board of the C.M. Russell Museum in 2005 and the Trigg-C.M. Russell Museum Foundation Board in 2010. 

“The museum has benefited immeasurably from his good governance, relentless optimism and generous spirit. His legacy will be carried on,” Duchemin said.

Josephine Trigg was a good friend and neighbor of Charlie and Nancy Russell. At the time of her death in 1951, she willed her extensive personal collection of Russell art, letters and sculptures to the establishment of a Russell museum. 

The C.M. Russell Gallery opened to the public in 1953.

The mission of the C.M. Russell Museum is to collect, preserve, research, interpret and educate on the art and life of Charles M. Russell; the art and lives of his contemporaries; and the art of preceding and ensuing generations that depicts and focuses on the culture, life and country of Russell’s West.