Janet deCoux papers
name: label: Creator
content: De Coux, Janet, 1904-1999
label: Names
content: Guild of Liturgy, Art and Design
label: Names
content: Liturgical Arts Society
label: Names
content: Fraser, James Earle, 1876-1953
label: Names
content: Fraser, Laura Gardin, 1889-1966
label: Names
content: Gurney, George
label: Names
content: Jennewein, Carl Paul, 1890-
label: Names
content: Lindbergh, Anne Morrow, 1906-2001
label: Names
content: Manship, Paul, 1885-1966
label: Names
content: Milles, Carl, 1875-1955
label: Names
content: Moore, Bruce, 1905-1980
topic: label: Occupation
content: Sculptors -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
label: Occupation
content: Educators -- Michigan
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women sculptors
label: Topic
content: Women educators
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The Janet deCoux papers were donated in 1992 by the artist and in two later installments in 2000-2001 by her longtime companion, Eliza Miller.
creator: label: Creator
content: De Coux, Janet, 1904-1999
setName: label: See more items in
content: Janet deCoux papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of sculptor Janet DeCoux date from 1895-2000 and measure 3.92 linear feet. The collection documents DeCoux's career through scattered biographical material, correspondence, audio cassette tapes of an autobiographical narrative, an interview transcript, miscellaneous notes and writings, sketchbooks and drawings, files for commissioned sculpture projects, printed material, photographs of DeCoux, family members, friends, colleagues, and artwork.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Janet deCoux was born on October 5, 1904 in Niles, Michigan, the youngest of the five children of Bertha Wright deCoux and Rev. Charles John deCoux, an Episcopal clergyman. The family moved to Grand Rapids in 1908 and four years later to a farm in Gibsonia, outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

deCoux studied with Joseph Bailey Ellis at the Carnegie Institute of Technology from 1925 to 1927. She then apprenticed in the New York studio of C. Paul Jennewein for fifteen months, followed by a year at the Gorham Bronze Division learning architectural modeling. She also worked with Aristide Cianfarani in Providence, and for Alvin Meyer in Chicago. While serving her apprenticeships, she attended night school at the New York School of Industrial Arts, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the Art Institute of Chicago. deCoux was then employed in James Earle Fraser's studio where she had previously assisted Gozo Kawamura.

In 1932 deCoux met Eliza Miller in the sculpture department of Carnegie Tech, beginning a sixty-year relationship in which they shared a shop and adjoining studios in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania. For several months in 1935, deCoux traveled to Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, where she joined her friend Aly Moore, the wife of sculptor Bruce Moore. She first met longtime friend Father Hughson on a ship returning to the United States from Europe.

A Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to deCoux in 1938 was renewed for a second year. In 1943, she became resident instructor at Cranbrook Academy of Art. 

Janet deCoux died in December 1999.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3.92 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1895-2000
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.decojane
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
label: Type
content: Drawings
label: Type
content: Poetry
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 8 series. Glass plate negative housed separately and closed to researchers.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1895-1993 (Box 1; 13 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1895-2000 (Boxes 1-2; 1.0 linear feet)

Series 3: Interviews, 1978, 1990 (Box 2; 3 folders)

Series 4: Notes and Writings, 1937-1996 (Box 2; 23 folders)

Series 5: Artwork, 1928-1929 (Boxes 2, 6; 9 folders)

Series 6: Project Files, 1942-1982 (Boxes 2-3, 6; 36 folders)

Series 7: Printed Material, 1906-2000 (Box 3; 20 folders)

Series 8: Photographs, 1926-1996 (Boxes 3-6, MGP 1; 1.3 linear feet)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Letters received in 1992 were microfilmed upon receipt on Reel 4909. Later additions were merged with the letters and processed as one collection in June 2007 by Jean Fitzgerald. Glass plate negative re-housed with a grant provided by the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
altformavail: label: Alternative Forms Available
content: Portions of this collection are available on 35mm microfilm reel 4909 at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of the material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Poetry
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The papers of sculptor Janet deCoux measure 3.92 linear feet and date from 1895 to 2000. Found within the papers are scattered biographical material, including curriculum vitae and a file concerning deCoux's induction as a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania. Correspondence is primarily between family, friends, and colleagues. It includes letters from Carl Milles, Bruce Moore, C.P. Jennewein, the Guild of Liturgy, Art and Design (GLAD), the Liturgical Arts Society, Inc., sculptor James Earle Fraser, offering advice on various sculpture projects, his wife Laura Gardin Fraser, a letter of congratulations from Paul Manship on the occasion of deCoux's election to the National Academy of Design, and approximately fifty letters, 1944-1952, from Anne Morrow Lindbergh, writer and wife of aviator Charles Lindbergh. There are also one or two letters from Lu Duble, Joseph Bailey Ellis, Mark Tobey, and Albert Wein.

Found within the papers are a transcript of an interview of deCoux by George Gurney, and audio cassettes with transcripts of an autobiographical narrative by deCoux. Miscellaneous notes and writings include autobiographical accounts and poems by deCoux and miscellaneous writings by others. Seven of deCoux's sketchbooks and a folder of drawings by deCoux, as well as a portrait of deCoux by C. Paul Jennewein are found in the Artwork series. Project files contain letters, receipts, clippings, brochures, and photographs for sculpture projects primarily commissioned by religious organizations. Printed material includes clippings, exhibition catalogs, and miscellaneous brochures. Photographs are of deCoux, family members, friends including Anne Morrow Lindbergh and her children, colleagues including James Earle Fraser, Laura Gardin Fraser, Carl Milles, and Bruce Moore, and sculpture.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Material
content: Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Janet deCoux done by George Gurney, May 5, 1978.