The collection is open to the public.
This collection helps to provide a context of the artistic world Helen Loggie occupied during her active years as an artist. A variety of beautifully engraved cards from several of Loggie's significant artist friends reflect her many contacts throughout the United States. Exhibit programs and catalogs listing her art for sale indicate the breadth of her success. Newspaper clippings detail Loggie's local, national and international activities and her awards confirm her state, national and international reputation.
On a local level, Loggie played a significant role in helping to establish the Studio Gallery at Western Washington College of Education, the precursor of today’s Western Gallery. A variety of photographs of her prints are included, and some of these works are held by the Western Gallery. An "Order Book", listing financial and property transactions over the course of 30 years, provides a peek into her domestic life. It was the landscape that brought Helen Loggie back to Bellingham and the collection contains photographs of some of her mountain sites. Also included is a copy of Helen Loggie’s description of her artistic career, which Loggie submitted to Who’s Who in America, 1972-1973 edition.
The artist Helen Amanda Loggie was born in Bellingham, Washington in 1895, where her father, George, and his brother, J.A., owned the Whatcom Falls Mill Company. Her family encouraged her early artistic interests and their wealth enabled her to pursue her talent for the rest of her life.
After studying at Smith College for 2 years, she entered the Art Students League in New York City in 1916, where she studied with George Luks and Robert Henri. She then traveled in Europe and lived and worked in New York City, studying privately with Mahonri Young and John Taylor Arms.
In 1927 Helen Loggie returned to Bellingham, where she lived in the family home and on Orcas Island for the rest of her life. She remained in close touch with her New York artist friends and others, exhibiting her etchings and drawings locally, nationally and internationally in both group and one-person exhibitions.
Of significance to the Bellingham community, beginning in 1938 Helen Loggie gave her tireless support and professional advice to the fledgling Western Washington College of Education’s Studio Gallery, and through her many contacts assisted the college in attracting high quality shows for exhibit.
She received numerous honors and awards during her life, and many of her etchings were placed in public collections, including the Library of Congress, the British Museum and the National Academy of Design. Her particular genius was to use her exceptional draughtsmanship and etching technique to capture the beauty of the Salish Sea region, particularly the trees.
Helen Loggie died in Bellingham in 1976.
Collection was transferred from Special Collections to the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies in 2016.
"Beyond the veil, the etchings of Helen Loggie" exhibit program, The Whatcom Museum of History and Art, text by Thomas Alix Johnston and Dorothy Koert, September 1979, held in the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies reference collection, Vertical Folder 318.
Helen Loggie Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Archives and Special Collections, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
To learn more about problematic content in our collections, collection description and teaching tools (including how to provide feedback or request dialogue on this topic), see the following
Cards by: Helen Loggie, 1895-1976 (4 with duplicate); John Taylor Arms, 1887-1953 (5); Ernest David Roth, 1879-1964 (3); Louis Conrad Rosenberg, 1890-1983 (1); Frank Hartley Anderson, 1891-1947 (1) [biographical information about Frank Hartley Anderson and his wife, Martha Fort Anderson, appears in "Southern Printmakers Society’s" 1942 publication, in file 2/4]; Samuel V. Chamberlain, 1895-1975 (1)
Letter from John Bryans (1925-) to Helen Loggie regarding The Arts Club and Smithsonian exhibits, 1964
Includes one negative of an etching with the inscription "Made test on this one L. M. H."
Titles taken from the artist’s notation on the back of the photograph or transcribed from a titled copy located in a printed source and dates taken from the front of the photograph or a printed source, when available: "Shuksan from Austin Pass", 1949 (2 copies); "This flowering earth", 1956 (4 copies); "One white camas", 1966 (2 copies); "Hymn to spring", undated; "Baby camel", undated (2 copies); "Ringling Bros. Camels", undated (2 copies); "Dog days", undated; "Coles Circus camels", 1949 (2 copies); "White light", 1946 (2 copies); "The sun-drenched cedar", 1954 (2 copies); "Christmas tree at night", 1948 (2 copies); "Olympic Rain Forest of the HOH", 1963 (3 copies); "Poppies and Queen Anne’s Lace", 1949 (4 copies); "Spring abundance", undated (3 copies); "High noon", 1960 (2 copies); "Blond giant", 1947 (3 copies); "Through forests green", 1959 (2 copies); "Winter path", 1951 (2 copies); "Ski slopes", undated; "Hill top", undated; "Indian Poke Lilies", undated; "Spirit of the Cascades", 1943 (3 copies); "Daffodil Way", 1962
Works described, with dates taken from the front of the photograph when available: View of mountains (including Shuksan?) with sloping hill and Indian poke lilies in foreground, undated (10 copies); View of small island from vine covered balcony, 1965 (7 copies); Ship (possibly the Vigilant) at dock with activity on deck, and log boom and 2 workers in foreground with 2 small craft on the right, 1933 (2 copies); 3 elephants moving to the left underneath a tent, with several tent poles visible, undated; Exterior scene of Cole Bros. Circus, with various tents, flags, signs, ticket wagon, customers and circus workers visible, undated; Twisted tree amongst wild flowers with water and land in background, 1965 (2 copies); Forest scene with stream on left running down in front of cedar in foreground, 1966; Forest view of the trunks of 4 trees on right, the trunk in the foreground separated from the others by a small stream, with under growth, 1968?; View of white cat sleeping on a bed, 1958
Titles taken from artist’s notation on the back of the photograph or transcribed from a titled copy located in a printed source and dates taken from the front of the photograph or a printed source: "Hemlock forest", 1955 (2 copies); "Flowering madrona", 1942 or 1941? (2 copies); "Minus tide", 1963 (3 copies); "Island shores", 1956 (4 copies); "Hosanna", 1960 (4 copies); "The Monarch of Woolard", 1952 (2 copies)
Studio Gallery, WWCE 1942 Studio Gallery, Arts Building, WWCE 1956 (2 copies); The Drawings of Helen A. Loggie June 7-July 1, 1965, Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences; The Etchings of Helen Loggie September 20, 1979: invitation to the exhibit "Beyond the Veil, the etchings of Helen Loggie, The Whatcom Museum of History and Art, text by Thomas Alix Johnston and Dorothy Koert; The Drawings of Helen A. Loggie, June 7- July 1, 1965, Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences; The Art of Helen Loggie by Ann Friedman (2 copies), 1993, Western Gallery in exhibit program "Helen Loggie"; "Rain Forest Nature Trail" brochure, Olympic National Park, Washington; "John James Audubon, the Man and His Achievement" exhibit catalog, Kennedy Galleries, New York
These contain information about prize awards, out of town exhibits and local exhibits at Western Washington College of Education and the Whatcom Museum of History and Art
Also includes an earlier version.
Kennedy Galleries Print Catalogues, 1956 and 1966; Sixty-Fourth Annual National Exhibition of the Washington Water Color Association catalog, 1961; Catalog of The Chicago Society of Etchers, 1956; Brochure of exhibition at Kleemann Galleries, 1938; Annual Exhibition of Etchings, The Philadelphia Sketch Club, February 1958; Annual Exhibition of Etchings, The Philadelphia Sketch Club, March 1960; "Southern Printmakers Society" publication includes Print Catalog, 1942
Contains Loggie household and property accounts and transactions, chiefly kept by Mrs. George W. Loggie
Photograph of Helen Loggie and negative print; Photograph of six unidentified women; Post card of Lake Cresent Tavern
Diploma of Honor, Internation exposition, France, 1937; National Academy of Design Associate Degree, 1949; National Academy of Design Certificate of Merit, 1963; National Academy of Design Samuel F. Morse Medal Certificate (framed) and Medal (in box), 1969; National Academy of Design Academician Certificate, 1971; Letter announcing reception of the Governor’s 1971; Arts Awards from the Washington State Arts Commission, 1972