[13] Trigg often accompanied Russell and his wife on vacations, and she provided calligraphy for many of his letters, postcards, and illustrated items (such as place settings at dinner parties).

[18] Wall Street financier Malcolm S. Mackay collected another 60 paintings, watercolors, ink drawings, bronzes, letters, Christmas cards, and photographs.

[15][21] A collection of 16 works, held by the family of Cleveland, Ohio, banker and philanthropist George Gund, was permanently loaned to the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.

[22][23] Josephine Trigg, however, had a collection of 153 oil paintings, watercolors, illustrated letters, bookmarks, models and postcards,[9][24] many of which did not depict Old West images.

[24] Leonard Regan, an executive with the Montana Power Company, led a fundraising drive which netted $75,000, and in 1953 the Trigg-Russell Memorial Gallery (as the museum was originally known) opened on September 26, 1953.

[26] Also in 1960, the Great Falls chapter of the Junior League (a women's civic organization) paid for a study which analyzed expanding the museum.

In 1968, local television personality and civic booster Norma Ashby proposed hosting a worldwide auction of Old West art (both older and contemporary), to be named the C.M.

Flood donated a collection of more than 1,000 Russell letters, writings, postcards, and other memorabilia (including several pieces of art) worth $600,000 to the museum.

[26][31] In 1979, Montana sculptor Robert Scriver's lifesize bronze statue of Russell was donated to the museum and placed in front of the south main entrance.

[26][32] That same year, the city of Great Falls, which owned the Russell home and log cabin studio, turned over management of both structures to the museum.

[22] The museum took formal ownership of the Russell home and studio in 1991,[26] and in 1994 undertook a $250,000 renovation and preservation of the log cabin structure.

[37] The museum began a second, three-year, $5 million capital campaign ("Trails to the Future") in 1997, which was intended to fund construction of yet another expansion.

[38] The museum also sold the historic three-story brick Strain home at 825 4th Avenue North to local attorney Channing Hartelius for about $295,000.

Seltzer, a sculpture garden featuring 20 works[43] by sculptor Bob Scriver, and a new Frederic G. Renner Library and Research Center to house the museum's reference and archival materials.

"[44] One of the biggest logistical changes the expansion made was moving the main entrance of the museum from the south to the north side.

The work had been owned by the local salvage firm Carl Weissman & Sons, Inc., but in 1962 the company gave the museum a one-third interest in it.

[52] Two steel sculptures by Billings artist Lyndon Pomeroy, "Cow in the Mountains" and "Wheat", were installed on the boulevard on the far side of the north parking lot.

The following year, the museum received a $375,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in support of its new exhibition, "The Bison: American Icon, Heart of Plains Indian Culture.

[58] As of 2011, the museum consisted of 76,000 square feet (7,100 m2) of gallery and other space, and owned about 2,000 pieces of art, personal items, and artifacts associated with Russell.

Russell Foundation, which owns and operates the museum, home, and log cabin studio, is governed by officers and a board of directors.

[59] But when Ewen returned to his private business, the museum hired Denver, Colorado-based art consultant Thomas Maytham as interim executive director.

[70] Board member Barbara Moe agreed to serve as "acting manager" from November 2001 until a new executive director was hired.

[71] The Great Falls Tribune, a local newspaper, reported that board members had interfered with her grant funding, research, and work.

[85] Russell purchased a large number of Western red cedar telephone poles,[86] and constructed the one-room cabin from these materials.

[84] The interior was furnished with rough, hand-made stools and benches; carpeted with buffalo and bear skins; and contained hundreds of pieces of Indian and cowboy gear.

[6] The Russells also apparently constructed a gray stone wall 2 to 3 feet (0.61 to 0.91 m) high in front of their two properties and a concrete set of steps up to the house.

Nancy Russell signed an agreement with the city in 1928 turning over management of the log cabin studio and its grounds to Great Falls.

[26] Some time prior to 1976, the city gave the Montana Federation of Garden Clubs permission to furnish the interior of the house with period furniture and provide docents to help the public interpret the home.

[90] In early 1966—as National Historic Landmark status was about to be awarded to the Russell house—the city of Great Falls actually proposed tearing down the structure in order to build a parking lot for the museum.

[91] Demolition of the house was stayed only by the threat of legal action from the Montana Federation of Garden Clubs, which noted that the 1928 agreement required the city to maintain both structures built by the Russells.