Oral history interview with Helen Williams Drutt (English)
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 13 digital wav files. Duration is 8 hr., 28 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Drutt, Helen Williams
label: Interviewer
content: Pacini, Marina
label: Interviewer
content: Sewell, Darrel, 1939-
label: Names
content: Helen Drutt Gallery
label: Names
content: Moore College of Art
label: Names
content: Philadelphia Council of Professional Craftsmen
label: Names
content: Philadelphia Museum of Art
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art dealers -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
label: Occupation
content: Gallery directors -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
label: Topic
content: Handicraft -- Exhibitions
label: Topic
content: Handicraft -- Collectors and collecting -- Pennsylvania -- Pennsylvania
label: Topic
content: Decorative arts
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Drutt, Helen Williams
label: Interviewer
content: Pacini, Marina
label: Interviewer
content: Sewell, Darrel, 1939-
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Helen Williams Drutt (1930- ) is a curator, art dealer, and gallery director of the Helen Drutt gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Known as Helen Drutt or Helen Williams Drutt and later Helen Williams Drutt English.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 164 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1991 July 5-October 20
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.drutt91
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Helen Williams Drutt English conducted 1991 July 5-1991 October 20, by Darrel Sewell and Marina Pacini, for the Archives of American Art Philadelphia Project.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Drutt English speaks of early childhood in Winthrop, Massachusetts and growing up in Philadelphia; memories of her parents and grandparents and connection to the decorative arts and style; attending Birney Elementary School; art lessons as a child; attending Tyler School of Art; early training as an artist and interest in art history; first jobs and working at the Smith Memorial Recreation Center and the Psychological Research Institute and teaching; travel in Europe after college; marriage to Lawry Weiss and divorce; attending classes at the Barnes Foundation; teaching school children; second marriage to William Drutt; starting an interior design firm; moving to her current home; attempting to build a craft center in Philadelphia; joining the Arts Council of the YM/YWHA and significant exhibitions; marriage to Maurice English; serving as Founding Director of Philadelphia Council of Professional Craftsmen and organizing exhibitions; advising Calvin Hathaway on collecting for the Philadelphia Museum of Art; starting the Inter-Society on Twentieth Century Decorative Arts and Design; attending the World Crafts Council in Dublin; teaching at the Philadelphia College of Art, and creating an original course on contemporary craft.

She recalls ppening Helen Drutt Gallery; relationships to artists and to collectors; collecting philosophy concentrating on ceramics and jewelry; developing her archive; developing relationships with European goldsmiths; changing locations of gallery (Old Town, Walnut Street); teaching at Moore College of Art and becoming Director of the Moore College of Art Gallery; relationship of the gallery to the Philadelphia Craft Show and the Fabric Workshop; developing relationships with collectors beyond Philadelphia; working with the National Endowment for the Arts; various European scholars; travel to Hawaii and relationships there; interest in poetry; Opening a branch of her gallery in New York; discussion of the changing perception of craft as art. Close friendship with Stella Kramrisch; association with George Nakashima; development of the gallery system for crafts; discussion of her association with Calvin Hathaway; the development of COLLAB; Difference between work with non-profits and the commercial sector; developing the Robert Arneson exhibition at the Gallery of the Moore College of Art; the financials of running a gallery; work in Australia; ongoing network of international contacts. 

She also recalls Rudolf Staffel, Gladys Myers and Gallery 1015, William Daley, Ted Hallman, Stanley Lechtzin, Olaf Skoogfors, Bill Daley, Dick Reinhardt, Paula Winokur, Richard Kagan,  Claus Bury, Robert Pfannebecker, Peter Voulkos, Society of North American Goldsmiths, Tom Rippon, Emmy Van Leersum, Gijs Bakker, Breon O'Casey, Mark Burns, Emily Reinsel, Evan Turner, Stephen Berg, Robert Arneson, Stella Kramrisch, Claire Zeisler, Dale Chihuly, James Surls, Peter Chang, among others.