Gordon W. Smith - Life

Life

Born in Fort Worth as the grandson of a pioneer family that had moved to North Texas in the 1870s, Gordon Smith grew up hearing tales of Indians from his grandparents. In 1925, at the age of five, while on a family vacation in Glacier National Park, Montana, Smith met Two-Guns-White-Calf, a Blackfoot chief who gave him a small black rawhide rattle. Meeting Two-Guns-White-Calf began a boyhood odyssey through the American West that would lead to an enduring love for the indigenous cultures of North America. The small rattle was the first object of a collection that grew to over 1000 pieces, almost all of which were collected between 1925 and the beginning of World War II from Indians themselves and from Indian traders.

In World War II, he served in the US Navy as captain of two ships in the Pacific. He was made captain of his first ship, LCT 68, in 1943 at age 22, and was spot-promoted to full lieutenant at age 23 upon taking command of his second ship, LSM 37 . As captain of these two ships, he participated in thirteen landings on Japanese-held islands.

After the war, he obtained an MA in English literature at Columbia University (‘50), where he also studied studio art with noted Italian sculptor Oronzio Maldarelli. He also had a BA in English literature from Southern Methodist University.

In 1950, he founded Smiths, Inc., a publishing house based in Fort Worth, and in 1962, he co-founded Smith Studios with his brother James Hulbert, an architectural arts firm of which he was principal and chief designer. Smith Studios completed over 800 commissioned works in 14 states before it closed upon his retirement in 2003 at the age of 82, to devote himself more fully to cataloging his collection of American Indian materials, painting on American Indian themes,and writing a book on his experiences with Indians.