As previously noted here, from 1928 through 1932 the Great Northern issued a new calendar each month, most of them featuring a painting of a Blackfeet Indian by Winold Reiss. In 1933, either as an economy measure or because they feared running out of paintings, the railroad cut this down to an annual calendar, each headed by an even larger image of a Reiss painting that was usually surrounded by faux-Indian decorations. While the monthly calendars were 10″x22″ (with a 7″x10″ painting), the annual ones were about 16″x33″ (with an 11″x20″ painting).
Click image to download a 3.8-MB PDF of this calendar.
The calendar identifies the subject of this painting as “Calling First–Blackfeet Brave.” The only reference I can find to him on line is a book that says that he was, for a time, the custodian of the Longtime Medicine Pipe, which was famous among the Blood tribe.
Underneath the calendar pad is a map of the Great Northern Railway. I was unable to scan this map without damaging the calendar but I photographed it and the photo is included with the PDF.
Great Northern continued with this annual calendar series until 1958. Below is a list of the subjects of all the paintings in this series. “The Drummers” (1933), “Sun Dance” (1937, as opposed to Sundance), and “The Sign Talkers” (1940) are not the names of the people but indicate what they are doing in the painting.
| 1933 | The Drummers |
| 1934 | Chief Mike Little Dog |
| 1935 | Chief Yellow Kidney |
| 1936 | First Stabber, Blackfeet Indian Boy |
| 1937 | Sun Dance |
| 1938 | Bull Head, Blackfeet Medicine Man |
| 1939 | Clears Up, Blackfeet Brave |
| 1940 | The Sign Talkers, Blackfeet Braves |
| 1941 | Calling First, Blackfeet Brave |
| 1942 | Sundance, Piegan Chief |
| 1943 | Take the Gun Strong |
| 1944 | Mountain Flower, Blackfeet Indian Maiden |
| 1945 | Wades-in-the-Water, Blackfeet Indian Chief |
| 1946 | Julia Wades-in-the-Water, Blackfeet Indian |
| 1947 | Dancing Boy, Blackfeet Indian |
| 1948 | Lazy Boy, Blackfeet Medicine Man |
| 1949 | Bird Sings Different, Blackfeet Indian Woman |
| 1950 | Tom Dawson, Mountain Man |
| 1951 | Angry Bull, Blackfeet Indian Hunter |
| 1952 | Nobody Has Pity on Me, Blackfeet Indian Youth |
| 1953 | Middle Rider, Young Blackfeet Indian Brave |
| 1954 | Evening Star Woman, Blackfeet Indian Princess |
| 1955 | Many Guns, Blackfeet Indian Brave |
| 1956 | Buckskin Pinto Woman, Blackfeet Indian Matron |
| 1957 | Crow Chief, Blackfeet Indian Chieftain |
| 1958 | Spider, Blackfeet Indian Song and Dance Man |