Juliette Elkon Hamelecourt papers
name: label: Creator
content: Hamelecourt, Juliette Elkon
label: Names
content: Chelsea Hotel
label: Names
content: Bettina, 1903-
label: Names
content: Brown, Robert Delford
label: Names
content: Childs, Bernard, 1910-1985
label: Names
content: Fecher, Rita
label: Names
content: Gershoy, Eugenie, 1901?-1983 or 6
label: Names
content: Glassgold, Adolph, 1899-
label: Names
content: Gordon, Maxwell, 1910-1982
topic: label: Occupation
content: Fiber artists -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Tapissiers -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women textile artists
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated by Juliette Hamelecourt, 1978-1997, and by the Juliette Elkon Hamelecourt estate via Leonard Spremulli in 2014.
creator: label: Creator
content: Hamelecourt, Juliette Elkon
setName: label: See more items in
content: Juliette Elkon Hamelecourt papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Juliette Elkon Hamelecourt papers measure 3.1 linear feet and date from 1911-2000, with the bulk of the records dating from 1940s-2000. The papers document Hamelecourt's career through resumes, personal business records, and writings, as well as general correspondence, printed material, scrapbooks, and photographs. The collection also contains a series of interviews conducted by Hamelecourt with artists at the Chelsea Hotel in New York.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Juliette Elkon Hamelecourt (1912-2002) was a fiber artist, tapissiere, and lecturer in Haiti, New York, and Cleveland. Hamelecourt was born in Belgium and spent her early years traveling with her father in England and China. Hamelecourt first learned needlework in China at the age of 10. After her father's death a couple of years later, she returned to live in Belgium with her grandparents where Hamelecourt worked alongside her grandmother who was a volunteer conservationist, repairing chasubles for the local clergy. Hamelecourt's early tapestries were ultimately lost or destroyed during World War II when she and her family moved to New York as refugees. Until the late 1950s she worked as a culinary editor, food consultant, and author of non-fiction, while needlework remained a hobby. Hamelecourt first visited Haiti reporting on French Caribbean cuisine in the late 1950s, and soon after moved there as a representative for the World Craft Council. In Haiti, she trained local women to embroider designs from their own environment and folklore. Hamelecourt moved to the Chelsea Hotel in New York around 1970, at this time she began receiving commissions for her work--some of which she sub-contracted to her Haitian embroiderers--and consulting as a designer. She established an embroidery workshop at the hotel with a grant from the New York Council on the Arts. Hamelecourt moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1980.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3.1 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1911-2000
label: Date
content: bulk 1940s-2000
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.hamejuli
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 6 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1972-1991 (Box 1; 7 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1943-1999 (Box 1; 12 folders)

Series 3: Interviews with Chelsea Hotel Artists, circa 1980 (Box 1; 5 folders)

Series 4: Printed Material, 1943-2000 (Box 2; .8 linear feet)

Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1911-1999 (Box 2-3, OV 4; 1 linear foot)

Series 6: Photographs, 1940-1990s (Box 3; 5 folders)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Christopher DeMairo in 2020.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The Juliette Elkon Hamelecourt papers measure 3.1 linear feet and date from 1911-2000, with the bulk of the records dating from 1940s-2000. Biographical material consists of resumes, notes and other writings, as well as some personal business records such as contracts, price lists, loan agreements, and consignment lists. Correspondents include customers, museums, galleries, friends, publishers, and family members and discussions regard exhibitions, sales, food, and personal matters. The collection's printed material consists of clippings about Hamelecourt, Haiti, the Chelsea Hotel, and other artists; exhibition announcements, invitations, and catalogs; press releases, newsletters, and bulletins; articles written by Hamelecourt; reproductions of her artwork; and the book jacket from Hamelecourt's Edith Cavell: Heroic Nurse (1958). Hamelecourt's scrapbooks contain a variety of material such as correspondence with museums, galleries, and family members about her life and artwork as well as correspondence for historical and cultural research purposes; photographs and slides of Hamelecourt, artwork, family, and friends; printed material; sketches; drafts of her autobiography; and biographical papers pertaining to her marriage in 1969. The collection also contains a series of interviews conducted by Hamelecourt with artists at the Chelsea Hotel including Arman, Bettina, Bernard Childs, Rita Fetcher, Eugenie Gershoy, Adolph Cook Glassgold, Maxwell Gordon, and others.