Columbia River Expedition Invitation

Great Northern’s invitation to the Upper Missouri Historical Expedition was bigger than 13″ by 20″, and I’ve never seen one folded so it must have been delivered in an even bigger envelope. This invitation to the Columbia River Historical Expedition is a much more modest 7-1/2″ by 11″, yet is still impressive.

Click image to download a 905-KB PDF of this invitation.

Where the Upper Missouri invitation was built around the image of a beaver pelt, this one is based on a sailing ship, perhaps the Columbia, which American captain Robert Grey used to explore the Northwest and discover the Columbia River (which he named after his ship). The Missouri invitation had a golden seal affixed to it that also held a small leather strip with beads. This invitation shows a similar seal and beads, but they are merely printed on.


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