Onward Project

Photographs by Robert Branstead c. 1930's. Courtesy of Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College .

Titled "Two miles SE. of Rainbow Lodge". Photograph by Robert Branstead c. 1930's. Courtesy of Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College .

As an extra thank you for supporting us this Spring, we wanted to share a beautiful podcast episode that we think you would enjoy.

Madi Fair, Producer and Director of Social Media, was recently listening to an episode of the storytelling podcast, . She was surprised and excited when she heard Manuelito Wheeler's voice. Manuelito is the Director of the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, AZ, and a friend to The ONWARD Project. Our board member Ronald Maldonado introduced us to Manuelito many years ago, and he invited us to participate in the Navajo Nation Fair for several summers.

Manuelito's story is about how he worked with Hollywood to translate and dubb the first Star Wars movie into Navajo. To listen to this funny, heartfelt and moving story click here: https://themoth.org/stories/navajo-star-wars

Northern Arizona 2022, photograph by Nathan Fairchild.

Photograph by Expedition photographer Charles Brad McKee, donated by daughter Lissa McKee c. 1930's.

Photograph by Expedition photographer Charles Brad McKee, donated by daughter Lissa McKee c. 1940's.

We are soooo close to our $7,000 goal... all we need is $800 more. Will you help us get over the edge? Donate today at: https://onwardproject.org/donate

To mark the 1 year anniversary of debuting our Immersive Experience and film at MountainFilm Festival in Telluride, CO, we present to you our latest matching fundraiser that starts TODAY!

The ONWARD Project has been given an incredibly generous $7,000 matching gift to DOUBLE all donations made between TODAY and JUNE 9th. Help us move ONWARD with new opportunities!

With your donation you will help us further implement and disseminate our powerful Immersive Experience to the public and to school groups in the Southwest, Los Angeles and beyond. We will format and upload our many digital products to multiple headsets (generously donated by the Littlesalt Family) for distribution to a group of institutions focused on Native American history, cultural heritage and contemporary art. We are thrilled to accept the many offers that have come our way following our fantastic MountainFilm Festival debut.

Donate here: https://onwardproject.org/donate

Lantern slide c. 1930's from the Nina Webber collection at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College .

Lantern slide c. 1930's from the Nina Webber collection at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College.

These scrapbook pages from the 1930's may not look like much at first glance, but they are actually two pages from the storyboard that would soon become a film all about Rainbow Bridge Monument Valley Expedition. During the Expeditions, filming was an important part of daily work, and multiple filmmakers were part of the crew. These images show the thoughtful planning that went into these films. Enjoy!

We just realized... March was our 9 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

Thank you so much to every single person who supports our project! How should we celebrate our 10 year anniversary?

This photograph will be a part of our Gertie Austin biography that we are currently working on. Gertie is pictured second to the left and her husband Max Littlesalt is all the way to the right. They are standing in front of the Wetherill Trading Post c. 1933.

Rainbow Bridge Monument Valley Expedition base camp, c. 1930's. Courtesy of The Explorers Club.

This weekend we had the pleasure of showing our voice actor, Mike Fair, The ONWARD Project Immersive Experience in our VR developer Hanson of VR studio. It's so much fun to see the wonderful reactions we get to experiencing this project!

Beautiful photograph taken in the canyons by Lori Whitesell in 2022.

Missing the canyons today!
Photograph by Lori Whitesell in 2022. From left: Beryl Kahn, Cory Kahn, Lithuania Denetso and Marydee Donnan.

"Expedition Director Ansel Hall sent many letters back and forth with Husky. Including in 1936 when he offered Husky a rare paid position on the Expedition. Unfortunately, Husky had to be at Stanford for his job as football coach, but he was quite sad to have missed out on the opportunity, which we discovered reading through their many letters to each other."
As we continue to learn more and more about Husky, an Expedition filmmaker in 1933, we get to know how often he communicated with his fellow Expedition members after returning home. For many years he kept in touch with Director Ansel Hall and he traveled back to the Southwest many many times.

Over the last week or so we have been featuring an RBMVExpedition filmmaker named Ernest "Husky" Hunt. We were thrilled to dig through our archive to find connections with Husky and learn more details about the life he led before and after the 1933 Expedition he was a large part of.

Last week we sent out a newsletter and post introducing you to Ernest "Husky" Hunt, an RBMVExpedition filmmaker whose granddaughter recently reached out to us to share more information about him. Please check our last post for more information on Husky.

"In general Husky was a lover of nature and spent much time on the Colorado River, in Tahoe and the Sierras. He later opened a store in Tahoe where he sold Native American arts and crafts, and Navajo rugs.
We are so grateful to Carolyn for shedding more light on this Expedition filmmaker and the incredible life he led."

Recently we received an email from the granddaughter of Expedition member Ernest Paul "Husky" Hunt, an enthusiastic filmmaker on the 1933 Rainbow Bridge Monument Valley Expedition. His granddaughter, Carolyn Bredsteen was introduced to us by our great friend and Native American art collector, Philip Garaway. In time Husky became a well known collector and dealer in Native American art and an inspiration to Philip.

Since meeting Carolyn we have enjoyed learning more about Husky's life, and his love for the Southwest region. Husky was born in Indiana in 1888 and lived to be 90 years old. His nickname "Husky" would suggest he was of large stature, but really it signified his unusual physical vigor. He was a quarterback at the University of Indiana and graduated with a major in Geology. He then spent many years coaching football and physical education at a number of schools including Stanford. His love for Native American arts and culture began early in his career when he contributed as a filmmaker to the RBMVExpedition. Following his experiences with the Expedition Husky spent much of his spare time in Navajo and Hopi country purchasing artwork, promoting public interest, and filming and photographing what he saw and people he met. He was an advocate for preserving Native American ruins and encouraged the Federal Government to promote preservation through the creation of unique national monuments.

Photographer and date not known.

From the archive of the Wetherill Family, well-known traders in the Kayenta, AZ area who helped facilitate the Expedition.

Courtesy of Harvey Leake.

Image caption says, “Jessie.” Caption on another version of this image says, “NAVAJO LITTLE GIRL. Called ‘Jessie’, Made near Kayenta camp.”

Taken in 1934 by Expedition photographer, Grace Hoover.

Courtesy of The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College .

Photo captioned, “Showing cradle-board.” Another version of this photo (not visible) indicates that it was taken at the Wetherill store.

Photo taken in 1934 by Expedition photographer, Grace Hoover.

Courtesy of The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College .

Marsh Pass Camp, c. 1930's.
Courtesy of Fowler Museum at UCLA.

Northern Arizona, 2018 photograph by Bill Hanson.