Selected illustrations of Royal Canadian Mounted Police from the Potlatch Collection

Over 75 years ago, the Northwest Paper Company of Cloquet recruited the image of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or Mounties, to advertise the quality of its paper to the printing industry. The company wanted to establish a corporate identity that would reflect the integrity of its product.
By the 1930s, the image of the Mountie as a strong, successful figure from the Great Northwest had been firmly established in American popular culture through film, fiction, photographs, toys and souvenirs. With these associations, the Mountie promised to maintain the right image for the company.
The images, reproduced for nearly 75 years on the Northwest Paper/Potlatch calendars, notepads, broadsides, and print ads, have long been collected by those seeking images of the northwoods, as exemplified by the pioneering deeds of the steadfast Mountie.
Now, the public has an opportunity to view these images at a RCMP exhibition through Sept. 7, at the Tweed Museum in Duluth.
Free and open to the public, the Tweed Museum of Art is located in Ordean Court on the campus of the University of Minnesota Duluth. Museum and Museum Store hours are Tuesday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.
In celebration of the RCMP exhibition, the Tweed Museum Store is offering 20-percent off all Mountie merchandise, now through Sept. 7.