The aged ranks of eastern Washington's old-time warriors and women of the Chief Joseph band of Nez Perce, Chief Moses' Sinkiuse, and the San Poil-Nespelem, Yakima, Palouse, and other tribes were rapidly diminishing in the late 1930s. To compile an artistic and historical record of these people and their modern-day descendants, Washington State College established the Nespelem Art Colony." "In summer sessions from 1937 to 1941, students and instructors took up residence in and around Nespelem, the headquarters of the Colville Confederated Tribes in north-central Washington. It was a colony in the true sense of the word, producing a prodigious amount of regional art." "WSC's Art Department came of age during this period and was recognized as a grand addition to the college (now Washington State University). Well-known WSU artists - including Worth Griffin, Clyfford Still, George Laisner, and Glenn Wessels - spent their formative years at the college and served as instructors at Nespelem.