Helmi Juvonen Papers, 1934-1986

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Juvonen, Helmi, 1903-1985
Title
Helmi Juvonen Papers
Dates
1934-1986 (inclusive)
Quantity
6.46 cubic ft. (14 boxes, 8 sound cassettes, 1 oversize folder)
Collection Number
2731
Summary
Papers of a female artist from the Pacific Northwest.
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to all users.

Languages
English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Helmi Juvonen was an artist of considerable talent during a time when women artists in the Northwest were not taken seriously and few made art their vocation. She received considerable attention toward the end of her life and can be loosely associated with the artists who have come to be called the Northwest School. Morris Graves, Mark Tobey, and Guy Anderson were her friends and contemporaries. Known to all as simply “Helmi,” she brought a light-hearted joy and humor to a group of artists known more for their somber mysticism. She focused on primitive art at a time when there was very little interest in it. She is described by those who knew her as a person of endless energy and generous nature. She was prolific in her art production and totally without pretense. She could be called eccentric, but also independent, colorful, and whimsical. Although quite gregarious, Helmi also was a loner. It is sometimes difficult to pin down the facts of her life. The following information was gleaned from the sources listed in the bibliography which follows, and from her own papers.

Helmi Dagmar Juvonen was born in Butte, Montana, on January 17, 1903. She was the second daughter of Finnish immigrant parents. Art was a common means of expression in the family. Her father made pencil drawings for his two daughters, and her older sister worked in water colors. Helmi moved to Seattle with her mother and sister in 1918 at age 15. She attended Queen Anne High School and learned dressmaking and millinery in home economics classes. It was already quite apparent at that time that Helmi’s vocation would be art. While still in high school she was selling hand drawn greeting cards and rag dolls through local department stores. She designed the high school yearbook in 1922, the year she graduated.

Helmi was energetic and enterprising. Following her graduation she took on a variety of jobs using the skills she had learned in school, sewing trousseaus for society women and trimming hats for Staadecker & Company, Milliners. In her correspondence with Wesley Wehr, later in life, Helmi reminisces about doing various creative jobs while studying art whenever she could. She drew illustrations for newspaper columnists, murals and displays for department store windows, handmade invitations, place cards, party favors, wedding announcements, and holiday cards for members of society. She attended evening classes at the Seattle Art School, studying illustration with William Horace Smith, drawing and portraiture with Francis Tadema, and nude drawing. She attempted to establish a career as a commercial artist, learning drafting while working for Cascade Fixture Co. Helmi became estranged from her family during this time and moved away from home. Her mother and sister were strongly opposed to her attempts to study art and establish a career as an artist.

Helmi’s well-to-do society friends provided her with scholarships to study at the Cornish Art Institute. Beginning in 1929 she studied illustration with Walter Reese, puppetry with Richard Odlin, and lithography with Emelio Amero. Helmi would later say that “Miss Cornish taught us to be practical if we wanted to be artists.” Under her tutelage, Helmi became determined to make her living as an artist. Mark Tobey was teaching at Cornish at this time. Helmi greatly admired his work but never studied with him.

In 1930, following a severe depression, Helmi was hospitalized and diagnosed with manic-depressive illness (now more often called bipolar disorder). She spent three years at Northern State Hospital at Sedro Woolley before she was released in September 1933. This condition would cause Helmi to be hospitalized several times over the next 30 years and finally institutionalized in 1959. In her early years she apparently was not greatly hindered by her illness.

During the Great Depression, Helmi studied and made a living as she could. She did society portraits, and she continued to sell rag dolls and paintings in department stores, and drawings and small ceramic items such as key chains and ashtrays at downtown gift shops. She also began to exhibit her work and enter contests, in which she sometimes won cash prizes.

While doing drawings of the recently revived Seattle Potlatch festival for the newspaper in 1934, Helmi met Chief Shelton of the Lummi Tribe. The following year she met Chief Colowash (also known as Jobe Charlie) of the Yakima tribe and White Eagle of the Chippewa. This was the beginning of a lifelong interest in native art and culture. She met the leaders of many of the Northwest tribes and was invited by them to attend special ceremonies, some of which seldom were witnessed by outsiders. These friends also included Charlie Swan of the Makah.

In 1937 Helmi bought a tiny cottage on a steep hill overlooking Alki Beach. Nestled in the trees, she loved the feel of being in the midst of primordial nature. The house was reputed to stand atop old Indian burial grounds, a fact which perhaps appealed to her interest in native culture.

In the spring of 1938 Helmi participated in a Federal Art Project sketching Hooverville (the shacks making up a haven for the unemployed). Beginning in 1940, under the auspices of Bruce Inverarity, she and other women artists on the project created hooked rugs for ski lodges in floral and Native American designs. She also helped create dioramas of tribal life for University of Washington anthropology professor Erna Gunther and the University of Washington Museum (later known as the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture). Many of the Northwest’s most well-known artists also found employment with the Federal Art Project. It was during this time that Helmi most likely met fellow artists Morris Graves, Fay Chong, Jacob Elshin, and Julius Twohy. At this time she also met Seattle Art Museum director Richard Fuller, who would become her trusted friend and patron throughout her life.

During the war years 1943-1945 Helmi worked at the Boeing Company doing drawings in isometric perspective. She attended night school to improve her knowledge of mechanical drawing, studying under Hiram Chittenden and Charles E. Douglas. Her battle with mental illness apparently put an end to her pursuit of a career in mechanical drawing. In her correspondence with Richard Fuller, Helmi mentions picking up her last Boeing check after her release from the hospital in 1946.

In February 1946, while traveling by train to South Dakota to sketch at a tribal event, Helmi became confused and agitated. She was hospitalized for a brief time in South Dakota, and upon her return to Seattle she was placed in a psychiatric ward at Harborview Hospital. She regained full control of her legal and financial affairs in December 1946.

Regardless of what else was going on in her life, Helmi devoted much of her time to recording Indian culture and art. When she could, she continued to attend and sketch regional Indian ceremonies. She often spent weeks at a time on the reservations. She recorded the tribal dances of the Lummi-Swinomish on the La Conner Reservation near Bellingham during the winter of 1945. In 1946 she spent a week with the Yakima Indians sketching their ceremonies. In 1947 she stayed for several months on Vancouver Island and was allowed to attend the initiation ceremony of a secret society. She spent a week at Neah Bay in August of 1951, sketching Makah Indian dances, costumes, and artifacts. She attended the ‘Treaty Day’ ceremonial dances at a gathering of many different tribes at La Conner in 1953. When she could not travel out of town she did hundreds of drawings of Native American artifacts in the Washington State Museum.

In the winter of 1950 Helmi met paleontologist and artist Wesley Wehr while he worked as a security guard at the Henry Art Gallery. Wehr became a close friend and trusted advisor in Helmi’s later years. After her death, Wehr acted as executor of her estate. Wesley Wehr describes Helmi during the early 1950s as an outgoing, gregarious person, with a personality as distinctive as her pictures. She sketched anything and anyone that caught her eye, and filled her sketch books with the names and addresses of the people she befriended.

During these years Helmi struggled to earn her living as an artist and to maintain her isolated and dilapidated home. She relied on Richard Fuller of the Seattle Art Museum as confidant and financial patron. He purchased many of her major works for the Seattle Art Museum collections and helped with specific financial needs from time to time. Her letters to Fuller during this time are filled with her plans for selling her art work and her frustration over never having enough money for art supplies and home repairs. Her letters always ask for money, but they also record her detailed research and study of Northwest Indian culture and are filled with philosophical discussions of the nature of art and its relationship to primitive culture. Helmi loved to draw and paint, and was frustrated by the need to spend her time, energy, and resources on ceramics and prints for the tourist trade in order to make a living.

In several letters to Richard Fuller in 1952, Helmi wrote that she had come to believe that her most important responsibility as an artist was to record the native art that would vanish when the current generation of elders died. “One should do that which is of most benefit to mankind – I believe my knowledge of primitives is of most importance…. I believe this is practically the last generation that can obtain this material -- for the younger ones do not believe in it.” But Helmi did not limit herself to just recording native cultures. In one these letters she wrote, “I also occasionally like to run amuk [sic] & do highly imaginary, creative things based on primitives.”

Helmi’s admiration for Mark Tobey grew out of control in the early 1950s. She became obsessed with what she saw as a possible romantic relationship between Tobey and herself. Her letters became intolerable to Tobey when she sent out handmade engagement announcements toward the end of 1951. It was clear that Helmi longed to start a family. Tobey’s image appeared often in her prolific work at this time, as did images of the children she hoped to have with him. Mark Tobey was highly embarrassed by her attention and asked his attorney to look into the problem in October 1955. Helmi’s obsessive behavior apparently was greatly reduced after November 1955.

In January 1952 Helmi was hospitalized again, probably at least partly as a result of her obsession with Mark Tobey. She was discharged at the end of May and gained full legal responsibility for her affairs a year later. During her time away from home, her beloved house at Alki Beach was vandalized and became uninhabitable. Helmi already spent a great deal of time in the University District, sketching at the University of Washington Museum and visiting with her many acquaintances. A close community of artists, many of whom would later be identified with the Northwest School, lived and worked in the University District. This was a natural place for Helmi to find a new home. She found a job at a children’s nursery and attended Bahai meetings regularly with Mark Tobey and his long-time companion, Pehr Hallsten. Helmi apparently was allowed to use Mark Tobey’s studio on occasion, when he was out of town.

In 1956 Helmi moved to a house in Edmonds and attempted to pay her bills by selling her prints in a rented stall at the Seattle Public Market downtown. She made enough to get by from week to week. The house was not much more than a small, dilapidated shack which she shared with a menagerie of cats and chickens. Helmi had no money for maintenance. The condition of her home, the presence of the many animals, and Helmi’s eccentric behavior caused neighbors to complain persistently to the landlord.

Helmi’s mental state was again called into question, and in February 1959 she was removed to the Northern State Hospital (in Sedro Woolley). Helmi was legally declared incompetent. She had no relatives or friends willing or able to take responsibility for her, so she became a ward of the state and was sent to Oakhurst Convalescent Center (Elma, Washington), a home for the mentally impaired. She lived there until her death in 1985. Although she often wrote letters asking people to help her in obtaining a release and constantly complained of the lack of privacy and a secure place to keep her art work, Helmi also seemed happy and productive much of the time. She was allowed to keep cats and have art supplies. She continued to draw and paint. Her fascination with primitive cultures continued to be fueled by constant reading. Her letters speak of her gratitude for reading materials sent to her by friends.

From the mid 1960s Helmi corresponded frequently with friends, acquaintances, and even public personages. Some of her correspondents were famous people, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, President Lyndon Johnson and his daughters, Emperor Halei Selassi, and Pablo Picasso and his children. It may seem improbable, but Helmi actually had met many of the people to whom she wrote, and she often received polite correspondence in return. Helmi kept address books full of names and vague addresses for the people she met or read about. Because she lacked addresses and funds for postage, she sent batches of letters to the Seattle Art Museum, asking her friend Richard Fuller to forward them. In later years the Museum ceased to forward these. They were kept by the museum and came to the University of Washington Libraries along with her other correspondence. Many of the letters contained hand painted cards, paper cutouts, and even embroidery. Some also contained gum, candy, and other treats.

In 1975 Anne Gould Hauberg and Betty Bowen mounted a retrospective exhibit of Helmi’s work under the auspices of the Pacific Northwest Arts Council. The exhibit brought Helmi’s art to the attention of an appreciative art community. It was the first of several retrospective exhibits during the final ten years of Helmi’s life. Many were curated by her devoted friend Wesley Wehr. Friends made sure that Helmi could be present at the openings, which she attended with much enthusiasm until her death. Helmi died at Oakhurst on October 18, 1985. She was 82.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

Accession numbers 2731-1 through 8 (2.86 cubic ft.) contain Helmi’s correspondence, notes and other writings, and many sketches and prints. Most date between 1951 and 1958, with a few earlier and later items. As Helmi seldom dated her artwork or her correspondence, it is likely that some items may not fall within those date spans. In addition there are two recorded interviews which are part of this accession. The first was conducted by Carol Pearl, Sara Navarre, and Gary Lundell in 1970. The second was done under the auspices of the Henry Gallery’s Archives of Northwest Art program in 1977. Regina Hackett was the interviewer. Correspondents include Irene J. Asher, Otto Fisher, Wesley Wehr, and Mark Tobey.

Accession number 2731-16 (3.39 cubic ft.) comprises Helmi’s personal possessions, correspondence, artwork, and other items from the period of time that she was institutionalized, from 1958 until her death in 1985. Helmi illustrated many of her letters and often enclosed small gifts of artwork or candy. Many examples are included in this accession. The Wesley Wehr subgroup of this accession includes the records generated as he made preparations for exhibitions of Helmi’s work. Correspondents include Richard Fuller, Wesley Wehr, Brent Goeres, and Morris Graves.

Accession number 2731-17 (38 items) consists of letters and handmade cards that Helmi sent to interior designer Allen Salsbury during the years 1965-1977. Salsbury lived in the former home of Morris Graves in Woodway, Washington (bordering Edmonds) during that time.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

All of Helmi’s rights, including rights regarding reproduction of artwork, have been transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

Organized into 3 accessions.

  • Accession No. 2731-001, Helmi Juvonen papers, 1951-1977
  • Accession No. 2731-016, Helmi Juvonen papers, 1934-1986
  • Accession No. 2731-017, Helmi Juvonen letters / Helmi Juvonen papers, 1965-1977

Acquisition Information

Helmi’s papers came to the UW Libraries in small installments between 1970 and 2000. Most were gathered and conveyed by Helmi’s long-time friend Wesley Wehr. The remainder came via other repositories such as the Seattle Art Museum, the Henry Gallery’s Archives of Northwest Art, and the University Libraries’ graphics collection.

Processing Note

These papers have been gathered into three accessions. Accession 2731-1 is a merger of Accessions 2731-1 through 2731-8. It was processed in 1983 by Nan Cohen. Accession 2731-16 is a merger of Accession 2731-9 through 2731-15 and was processed in 2000. An additional small group of 38 handmade cards and letters, Accession 2731-17, was received from Allen Salsbury in May of 2002, and it was organized and described in the same year.

Bibliography

Ament, Deloris Tarzan, "Juvonen, Helmi (1903-1985): The Pearl of the North," in Iridescent Light: The Emergence of Northwest Art (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002).

Fritzsche, Ulrich, Helmi Dagmar Juvonen : Her Life and Work, a Chronicle (Seattle, WA : U. Fritzsche, 2001)

Helmi Dagmar Juvonen, 1903-1985: An Exhibition Catalog and Chronology (Seattle: Davidson Galleries, 1998). Chronology compiled by Ulrich Fritzsche

Wehr, Wesley C, “Helmi Juvonen: The Nordic Pearl,” in The Eighth Lively Art (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000).

Wehr, Wesley C, “Helmi – Letters from Elma,” Columbia ( Summer 2003), p.24.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

 

Accession No. 2731-001: Helmi Juvonen papers, 1951-1977Return to Top

2.86 cu. ft. (5 document cases, 8 cassette tapes and 2 oversize boxes)

Scope and Content: Correspondence, drawings, notes, writings, legal documents, financial records, tape recorded interviews and transcripts; ca. 1937-1977 (bulk 1951-1977) Accession includes photocopies of four prints from linoleum blocks. The originals are in the collection of Tim Stander, Seattle. Also included are two interviews with Juvonen, in 1970 and 1977.

Restrictions on Access: Open to all users.

Restrictions on Use: Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Digital Content/Other Formats: Listen to the audio recording and view the transcript of this interview on the Libraries Digital Collections site.

Listen to the audio recording and view the transcript of this interview on the Libraries Digital Collections site.

Acquisition Info: Donated in installments by Wes Wehr in 1970, 1982, and 1983, and by Helmi Juvonen in 1977.

Container(s) Description Dates
Transcripts of Interviews
Box/Folder Accession
1/1 2731-001
Interview with Helmi Juvonen by Wesley Wehr, with Carol Pearl, Sara Navarre, and Gary Lundell
Apr. 10, 1970
1/2 2731-001
Interview with Helmi Juvonen by Regina Hackett
Nov. 3, 1977
Incoming Letters
Box/Folder Accession
1/3 2731-001
Asher, Irene Juvonen (sister to Helmi)
1954-1958, undated
1/4 2731-001
Fisher, Otto
1957-1958, undated
1/5 2731-001
Wehr, Wesley
1956, 1975-1976
1/6 2731-001
A-J
1938, 1952-1958, 1975
1/7 2731-001
K-M
1951-1958
1/8 2731-001
N-Z
1938, 1953-1958, 1975, 1982
1/9 2731-001
Family
1951-1958
1/10 2731-001
Unidentified
1933, 1953-1957, 1975, undated
Outgoing Letters
Box/Folder Accession
1/11 2731-001
Blackwood, Helen
undated
1/12 2731-001
General
1953, undated
Box/Folder Accession
1/13 2731-001
General Correspondence from the Ford Motor Company and Ford Foundation
1952-1957, undated
Notes
Box/Folder Accession
1/14 2731-001
Loose Addresses, Shopping Lists, Memos
undated
2/1 2731-001
Book of Addresses, Memoranda
Scope and Content: Cover block printed by Helmi Juvonen.
undated
2/2 2731-001
Book of Sketches, Addresses, Memoranda
undated
2/3 2731-001
Miscellaneous Philosophical
undated
2/4 2731-001
Miscellaneous
undated
2/5 2731-001
"Ideas and What to Do"
undated
2/5 2731-001
From a Book, Quaint Customs and Manners of Japan
undated
2/6 2731-001
From a Book, Dictionary of American Slang
undated
Writings by Helmi Juvonen
Box/Folder Accession
2/7 2731-001
Topsy Turvy Tuda
undated
2/8 2731-001
Description of a Sketching Trip to Neah Bay
Aug. 27, 1951
Writings by Others, Annotated by Helmi Juvonen
Box/Folder Accession
2/9 2731-001
Meet the Totem by Viola Garfield
1951
2/10 2731-001
Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletings
1938, 1943, undated
2/11 2731-001
Totem Poles by Marius Barbeau
undated
3/1 2731-001
Land of the Thunderbird by W.J. Granberg
1952
3/2 2731-001
University Course Work by Pehr Hallsten
1950
Artwork by Helmi Juvonen
Box/Folder Accession
3/3 2731-001
Small Block Prints
15 items
undated
3/4 2731-001
Print over Wesley Wehr Music Manuscript
before 1958
3/5 2731-001
Drawings for Transfer to Blocks
undated
3/6 2731-001
Block Prints (xerox copies)
4 items
1939-1940
3/7 2731-001
Block Prints (xerox copies)
23 items
undated
3/8 2731-001
Drawings: Tibetan Art
undated
3/9 2731-001
Design for House
undated
3/10, 3/7 2731-001
Sketches of Butterflies and Animals
undated
3/11 2731-001
Sketches, Egyptian
undated
3/12 2731-001
Sketches, Plains Indians
undated
3/13-14 2731-001
Doodles
undated
Box/Folder Accession
3/15 2731-001
Sketches by Leon Applebaum
undated
Subject Series
Scope and Content: Includes notes, sketches, etc.
Box/Folder Accession
3/16-19 2731-001
Tobey, Mark
1951-1955, undated
3/20-4/4 2731-001
Northwest Coast Indians
undated
box:oversize
6-7 2731-001
Northwest Coast Indians
undated
Box/Folder
4/5-6 2731-001
Lummi / Swinomish Indians
1952, undated
box:oversize
7 2731-001
Lummi / Swinomish Indians
1952, undated
Box/Folder
4/6a-8 2731-001
Makah Indians
1952, undated
4/9 2731-001
Muckleshoot Indians
undated
4/10-11 2731-001
Tlingit Indians
undated
4/12-14 2731-001
Yakima Indians
undated
box:oversize
6 2731-001
Hooverville Houses
undated
Box/Folder
5/1-4 2731-001
Baha'i Faith
undated
5/5-7 2731-001
Bon Odori
1952, undated
5/8-9 2731-001
Buddhism
undated
Legal Documents
Box/Folder Accession
5/10 2731-001
Title Insurance
1936
5/10 2731-001
Court Order
Scope and Content: Concerns mental illness of Helmi Juvonen.
1953
5/10 2731-001
Property Deed
1937
Box/Folder Accession
5/11 2731-001
Financial Records
Scope and Content: Includes receipts, check stubs, cancelled checks, bank statements, invoice, tax statement.
1951-1958
5/12 2731-001
Address Books
undated
5/13 2731-001
Guest Book
undated
Ephemera
Box/Folder Accession
5/14 2731-001
Exhibition Catalogs
1952-1954
5/15 2731-001
Miscellaneous
undated
Box/Folder Accession
5/17 2731-001
Clippings
1952

Accession No. 2731-016: Helmi Juvonen papers, 1934-1986Return to Top

3.39 cu. ft. (10 boxes, 1 oversize folder)

Scope and Content: Correspondence, exhibit programs and announcements, photographs, art work, ephemera, posters, clippings and artifacts, 1934-1986

Restrictions on Access: Open to all users.

Restrictions on Use: Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Acquisition Info: Received in eight installments in 1984-1985 and 2000 from Helmi Juvonen, Wes Wehr, the Archives of Northwest Art, and the Seattle Art Museum.

Container(s) Description Dates
Personal Papers
Box/Folder Accession
1/1 2731-016
Biographical Features
undated
Incoming Letters
Box/Folder Accession
1/2 2731-016
2nd Grade Class, Shelton, Washington
undated
1/3 2731-016
Alps, Glen
1974
1/4 2731-016
Callahan, Kenneth
1967, 1974
1/5 2731-016
Eckstein, Joanna
1971
1/6 2731-016
Garfield, Viola
1967
1/7 2731-016
Honningfort, Eleanor
undated
1/8 2731-016
Johnson, Lyndon Baines and Family
1967-1971
1/9 2731-016
Keller, Dale
1968-1978
1/10 2731-016
Salsbury, Allen
1967-1968, 1980
1/11 2731-016
Vesanen, Eijo
1966-1985
1/12-15 2731-016
Wehr, Wesley
1959-1985
1/16-18 2731-016
A-Z
1960-1985
Outgoing Letters
Box/Folder Accession
1/19 2731-016
Reed, Gervais
1960-1968
Unsent
Box/Folder Accession
2/1-3 2731-016
A-Z
undated
2/4 2731-016
Asher, Irene
undated
2/5-6 2731-016
Eisenhower, Dwight D.
undated
2/7 2731-016
Frederick & Nelson
undated
2/8 2731-016
Hirohito
undated
2/9 2731-016
Honningfort, Eleanor [Elenore Honningford]
undated
2/10 2731-016
Mellauarvi, Elma
ca. 1960s
2/11 2731-016
Picasso, Pablo
undated
2/12 2731-016
Rockefeller, Nelson
undated
2/13-3/1 2731-016
Vesanen, Eijo
ca. 1960s
3/2 2731-016
Christmas Cards (unpainted)
undated
3/3 2731-016
Cards (painted)
undated
Box/Folder Accession
3/4 2731-016
Re: Trust Fund
undated
General Correspondence
Box/Folder Accession
3/5 2731-016
Blackwood, Helen
1966-1984
3/6 2731-016
Bridge, Ben/Herb Families
1961, 1972-1984
Fuller, Richard
Box/Folder Accession
3/7-11 2731-016
Cards
1961-1976
4/1-6 2731-016
Letters
1940, 1946-1962
Box/Folder Accession
4/7 2731-016
Goeres, Brent
Scope and Content: Includes one poem.
1978-1984
4/8 2731-016
Graves, Morris
1967-1977
4/9 2731-016
Osborne, Ellen
1967, 1974
4/10 2731-016
Raymond, Eugenia
undated
4/11 2731-016
Seattle Art Museum
1959-1980
4/12 2731-016
Tobey, Mark
1953-1976
General Correspondence of Others
Box/Folder Accession
4/13 2731-016
Fuller, Richard, concerning Helmi
1959-1961, 1977, 1980
4/14 2731-016
Tobey, Mark to Pehr Hallsten
1953
Box/Folder Accession
4/15 2731-016
Programs and Cards with Artwork by Helmi
undated
5/1 2731-016
Programs and Announcements of Exhibits
1976, 1984-1985
5/2 2731-016
Exhibit Program and Reviews of Pehr Hallsten
1982
5/3 2731-016
Art Postcards - Morris Graves
undated
Notes
Box/Folder Accession
5/4 2731-016
Addresses, Books
undated
5/5 2731-016
Addresses
undated
5/6 2731-016
Spiral Notebook concerning Anthropology and Indians
ca. 1953-57
5/7-8 2731-016
Contents of Notebook concerning Art, Indians, Anthropology, Royalty, etc.
1966-1967
5/9-10 2731-016
Miscellany, Sketches
undated
Box/Folder Accession
5/11 2731-016
Press Releases
1982
Photographs
Box/Folder Accession
5/12 2731-016
Helmi
undated
5/13 2731-016
Nordic Heritage Museum Reception (Priscilla Chong)
1984
5/14 2731-016
From Dresser at Oakhurst
1985
5/15 2731-016
Oakhurst
1980
5/16 2731-016
Family
undated
5/17 2731-016
Vesanen Family
undated
5/18 2731-016
Helmi's Works
undated
5/19 2731-016
PNAC Exhibition
Bob Sarkis (photographer)
1975
5/20 2731-016
Marshall Hatch's Collection of Helmi's Works
undated
Box/Folder Accession
6/1 2731-016
Newsletters
1984
Clippings
Box/Folder Accession
6/2 2731-016
Helmi Juvonen
1934, 1952, 1975-1985
6/3 2731-016
Mark Tobey
1953-1982
6/4 2731-016
Miscellany
1960-1981
Box/Folder Accession
6/5 2731-016
Ephemera
undated
Box
7 2731-016
Food Items
Scope and Content: Includes enclosures with Letters to D. Eisenhower.
undated
8 2731-016
Artworks
undated
box:oversize
9-10 2731-016
Artworks
undated
Wehr, Wesley
Incoming Letters
Box/Folder Accession
6/6 2731-016
Goeres, Brent
1984
6/7 2731-016
Juvonen, Helmi
undated
6/8 2731-016
Randlett, Mary
1985
6/9 2731-016
A-Z Misc.
1975-1985
Helmi's Exhibits
Box/Folder Accession
6/10 2731-016
Burke Museum
1982
6/11-12 2731-016
Evergreen College/Washington State Capitol Museum: "Helmi: Observations and Transformations"
1982-84
box:oversize
4 2731-016
Evergreen/Washington Capitol Museum Poster
1984
Box/Folder
6/13 2731-016
Nordic Heritage Museum: "Helmi"
1984
6/14 2731-016
Seattle Art Commission
1984
6/15 2731-016
Whatcom Museum: "Helmi: Observations and Transformations"
1984-1985
box:oversize
4 2731-016
Whatcom Museum Poster
1985
Box/Folder
6/16 2731-016
Miscellany
undated
Box/Folder Accession
6/17 2731-016
Sketches, Drawings
1955, undated
6/18 2731-016
Clippings
1967, 1985
Subject Series - In Memoriam
Box/Folder Accession
6/19 2731-016
General Correspondence
1985
6/20 2731-016
Funeral Program and Notes
1985
6/21 2731-016
Funeral Guestbook
1985
6/22 2731-016
Nordic Heritage Museum Memorial Party
1985-1986
6/23 2731-016
Clippings
1985

Accession No. 2731-017: Helmi Juvonen letters / Helmi Juvonen papers, 1965-1977Return to Top

.21 cu. ft. (38 letters/cards)

Scope and Content: Cards, mostly hand made by Helmi, to Allen Salsbury, Seattle area interior designer, 1965-1977. Includes 2 clippings and exhibit notice. At the time of writing, Helmi lived in Oakhurst Convalescent Center in Elma, Washington.

Restrictions on Access: Open to all users.

Restrictions on Use: Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Acquisition Info: Donated by Allen Salsbury via Wes Wehr in May 2002.

Container(s) Description Dates
Box/Folder Accession
1/1-2 2731-017
Outgoing Letters to Alan V. Salisbury
34 items
1965-1977
1/3 2731-017
Envelopes for Correspondence with Salisbury
1968-1977
1/4 2731-017
Ephemera
undated
1/5 2731-017
Clippings
1976, undated

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Art, American--Indian influences
  • Art, American--Northwest, Pacific--20th century
  • Art, American--Washington (State)--20th century
  • Artists--Northwest, Pacific
  • Artists--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Finnish Americans--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives
  • Indian art--Northwest, Pacific--Influence
  • Indian art--Northwest, Pacific--Themes, motives
  • Manic-depressive persons--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives
  • Northwest school of artists
  • Painters--Northwest, Pacific
  • Painters--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Painting, American--Northwest, Pacific--20th century
  • Primitivism in art--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Women artists--Mental health--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Women artists--Washington (State)--Seattle--Archives

Personal Names

  • Asher, Irene J. (Irene Juvonen)
  • Fisher, Otto
  • Fuller, Richard E. (Richard Eugene), 1897-1976
  • Goeres, Brent
  • Graves, Morris, 1910
  • Juvonen, Helmi, 1903-1985--Archives
  • Juvonen, Helmi, 1903-1985--Mental health
  • Salsbury, Allen V. (Allen Vance)
  • Tobey, Mark
  • Wehr, Wesley, 1929-

Form or Genre Terms

  • Drawings
  • Exhibition catalogs
  • Interviews
  • Photographs
  • Prints
  • Sound recordings
  • Transcripts

Other Creators

  • Personal Names
    • Hackett, Regina (interviewer)
    • Wehr, Wesley, 1929- (interviewer)

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)