Elizabeth Lochrie papers, 1916-1979

Elizabeth Lochrie was born July 1, 1890, in Deer Lodge, Montana, to Frank and Mary Davey. Her father was an electrician for the City of Butte, and her mother was a musician, dietician and teacher. She had three younger brothers, Joe, Tom, and Clarence. She was educated in Deer Lodge and Butte, later attending the Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, N.Y. for teacher training. Her impressive art education includes instruction from Wienold Reiss, Dorothy Pucinneli, and Victor Arnotoff.

Mrs. Lochrie's art career spans from the 1920s to the 1950s. Her patrons included the U.S. Treasury Department, the State of Montana, the Ford Motor Company, New York Life Insurance Company, and the First National Bank of Seattle. During 1924-1925 she painted eighteen children's murals for the Montana State Hospital at Galen, Montana. After 1931 she specialized in Native American portraits, particularly of Blackfoot tribal members, having produced more that a thousand water colors, oils, murals, and sculptures. In 1937 she won the Treasury Department's competition to paint a mural for the new Dillon post office with "News from the States" depicting the arrival of mail to that community in 1869. From 1937 to 1939 Lochrie also painted historic murals in the post offices at Burley and Saint Anthony, Idaho. She studied with Wienold Reiss at Glacier National Park and from 1936 to 1939 she was staff artist for the Great Northern Railroad in Glacier National Park. Her artistic honors also include arts show in New York City and at the prestigious Whitney Museum in Wyoming.

Elizabeth Lochrie's ties to the Native American tribes in Montana extended beyond her artwork. She frequently used the fees charged for her lectures to purchase clothing and other necessaries for needy members of Montana's tribes, especially the Blackfoot. She was adopted by the Blackfeet and given the name Netchitaki which translates to "Woman Alone on Her Way".

Elizabeth Davey married Arthur James Lochrie on June 14, 1913. The couple had two daughters, Betty Jane and Helena; and one son, Arthur James, Jr. Elizabeth Lochrie died in 1981.