Nina Crumrine was born in Indiana and trained at the Art Institute of Chicago. She lived in Seattle, where she gave birth to her daughter, Josephine, in 1917. In 1923, Nina and her daughter moved to Alaska to live with Nina’s uncle, H.V. McGee, in Ketchikan. They later took a sternwheeler down the Yukon River, traveling from Whitehorse to Marshall, a village on the lower Yukon River. From there they followed the coast of the Bering Sea to Nome, and traveled north to Point Barrow, stopping at villages to spend time while Nina painted pastel portraits of Native Alaskans.

Both Nina and Josephine were commissioned by the Alaska Steamship Company to paint Alaska scenes and portraits for its offices and to use as menu covers aboard its steamships. Nina continued to produce works until her death in 1969.