Elizabeth Willis DeHuff

Elizabeth Willis DeHuff (1886–1983)[1] was an important contributor to the development of easel painting in the 1920s and 1930s.[2] She is also a children's book author who writes predominantly utilizing Native American folklore and themes. Among these books are Blue-Wings-Flying[3] and TayTay's Tales.[4] In writing these children's books, and other works by her like Kaw-eh and Say the Bells of Old Missions: Legends of Old New Mexico Churches[5] that are not necessarily children's books, DeHuff is instrumental in documenting Native American folklore and providing authenticity in the telling of it. Overall, she wrote 65 works in 118 publications.[6] These other works included non children's books and periodical articles Native American, Hispanic, and New Mexico subjects.[7]

Elizabeth Willis DeHuff
Born1886
Georgia, US
Died1983 (aged 96–97)
NationalityEuropean
EducationLucy Cobb Institute, Barnard College
Known forPainter, teacher, educator, writing, writer, children's literature
Notable work
Taytay's Tales, Taytay's Memories, Kaw-eh, Swift-Eagle of the Rio Grande, Say the Bells of Old Missions: Legends of Old New Mexico Churches, Blue-Wings-Flying

Life and career

Elizabeth Willis DeHuff was likely born in 1886, though some people say 1892, in Augusta, South Carolina, to John Turner and Ann Boyd Wilson Willis as one of their five children. She went to school at Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens, Ga.. Later, she went to Barnard College in New York City for her teaching degree, and then she went to the Philippine Islands to teach in 1910. During her time there, she met her husband, Jeff David DeHuff. Upon returning to the United States, she married John David and then went to live in Pennsylvania in 1913. Her husband's job was at the Carlisle Indian School there.[7]

However, it wasn't until 1916 that she first really started to get involved with Native peoples by following her husband to Santa Fe, New Mexico. She was twenty-four at the time. Her fascination with Native American culture quickly started developing as she became involved with the community surrounding the Santa Fe Indian School, which her husband had become the superintendent of. As a result of the Bureau of Indian Affairs prohibiting arts training,[8][9] she became an art instructor, particularly on that of painting, starting from inside her own home. Some of her students came to include natives from the Hopi tribe, like Fred Kabotie and Otis Polelonema, and those from the Zia Pueblo tribe, like Velino Shije Herrera, and other Native American tribes.[10] Awa Tsireh was also among the students she taught.[8][9] As an instructor, her contributions in art are seen to help represent the Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Her teaching of painting to these students has been described as a seminal event in the development of the Southwest Movement of Native American painting.[11] In 1919, the work of DeHuff's students was displayed at the Museum of New Mexico.[8][9]

As a result of her instruction methods, some people accused her lessons of pushing beliefs of paganism onto students. This was because the works resulting from her instruction reiterated tribal stories and customs of Native Americans.

DeHuff's first children's book was published in 1922 called Taytay's Tales. Art from Fred Kabotie and Otis Polelonema, her students, were included in this work.[10][12] This was the first book illustrated by Native Americans.[7] She often had students or former students illustrate her works for children. Her next children's book was published in 1924, Taytay's Memories.[10][12] In 1924, a play DeHuff wrote, Kaw-eh, was performed by students from Santa Fe Indian School.[13]

While she was in Santa Fe, DeHuff also took part in many civic and artistic events. In general, she also wrote multiple periodical articles on American Indian, Latin American, and New Mexico historical and cultural topics as well as publishing regularly in the magazine of the Museum of New Mexico, El Palacio.[7]

By 1927, DeHuff was no longer directly in contact with students as she left for another school with her husband.[10] From about this time till about 1945, she took part in the Santa Fe Indian Detours where she lectured several nights a week at La Fonda Hotel. Her closeness thus continued with Native Americans throughout her life. As a result, she maintained her friendship and encouragement of Indian artists, especially that of Fred Kabotie, who she was especially close to.[7]

In 1943 she published her book, Say the Bells of Old Missions: Legends of Old New Mexico Churches,[5] in which DeHuff is noted for her documentation of thirty different folktales as presented by Catholic Native Americans of New Mexico. Like all of her works, it is also noticed for its use of illustrations. Unlike her other works, the illustrations in this book are that of photographs while her other works contain significantly more artwork created by hand.[14] It also provides readers with history on New Mexico missions initiated by the Catholic Church.[15]

Two years later, 1945, DeHuff's husband, John David, died, resulting in DeHuff going back to Georgia. She continued her writing there and took on genealogical research writing until she died in 1983.[7]

In 1977, DeHuff wrote her final children book, Blue-Wings-Flying.[3]

In life, DeHuff had three children by the name of David, Ann, and Frances.[7]

Postmortem, DeHuff's collection of Native American artwork became most of the work incorporated in the Elizabeth Willis DeHuff Collection of American Indian Art, which contains 199 pieces of art from different Native American artists from various tribes. Represented in it are more than fifty-five Native American artists.[10]

Historians note that DeHuff and her husband were significant patrons of Pueblo culture.[13]

Works
  • Taytay's Tales (1922)
  • Taytay's Memories (1924)
  • Kaw-eh (1924)
  • From Desert and Pueblo : Five Authentic Navajo and Tewa Indian Songs (1924)
  • Telling Stories to Primitives (1926)
  • Swift-Eagle of the Rio Grande (1928)
  • Five Little Kachinas (1930)
  • Books for Indian Children (1932)
  • Pals (1936)
  • Two little Hopi (1936)
  • Hoppity Bunny's Hop (1939)
  • Say the Bells of Old Missions: Legends of Old New Mexico Churches (1943)
  • Little-Boy-Dance (1946)[6]
  • Toodle's Baby Brother (1946)[16]
  • The New Junior Classics : Volume Three ; Myths and Legends (1949)
  • Family of the Rev. James Wilson of Barnwell County, South Carolina (1958)
  • Descendants of John Willis, of will in Richmond County, Virginia, 1715 (1962)
  • The Family of Robert Willis of Barnwell County, South Carolina (1962)
  • The Ashley Family (1962)[6]
  • Military: Brown Family of Virginia and South Carolina (1964)[17]
  • Coyote Wisdom (1965) – Part of a collection of stories by Texas Folklore Society[18]
  • The Weathersbee Family of Halifax and Martin Counties, North Carolina and Barnwell, South Carolina (1965)[19]
  • The Miller Family of North and South Carolina (1967)
  • The Bush Family as Desended from John and Mary Bryan Bush of North Carolina (1967)
  • The Bush Family as Descended from Richard and Elizabeth Beby Bush of Virginia (1968) – Written with Mary Smith Black
  • The Family of Thomas O'Bannon of Fauquier County, Virginia, and Barnwell County, South Carolina (1969)
  • Blue-Wings-Flying (1977)[6]

References
  1. "Online Books by Elizabeth Willis DeHuff", The Online Books Page, University of Pennsylvania Library
  2. McGreevy, Susan Brown (May 4, 1993). "Review of When the Rainbow Touches down: The Artists and Stories behind the Apache, Navajo, Rio Grande Pueblo and Hopi Paintings in the William and Leslie Van Ness Denman Collection". American Ethnologist. 20 (1): 200–201. doi:10.1525/ae.1993.20.1.02a00200. JSTOR 645429.
  3. Huff, Elizabeth Willis De (May 4, 1977). Blue-Wings-Flying. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 9780201015393 – via Google Books.
  4. "Taytay's Tales". Harcourt, Brace. May 4, 2018 – via Google Books.
  5. Huff, Elizabeth Willis De (May 4, 2018). "Say the Bells of Old Missions: Legends of Old New Mexico Churches". B. Herder Book Company – via Google Books.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 6, 2018. Retrieved May 6, 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "DeHuff, Elizabeth Willis, 1892- @ SNAC". Snaccooperative.org. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  8. "Velino Shije Herrera." St. James Guide to Native North American Artists. Gale, 1998. Gale Biography in Context. Web. October 4, 2011.
  9. Arthur Silberman. "Herrera, Velino." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. October 4, 2011
  10. "Elizabeth Willis DeHuff Collection of American Indian Art – Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library". Beinecke.library.yale.edu.
  11. Saradell Ard, et al. "Native North American art." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. October 4, 2011
  12. Huff, Elizabeth Willis De (May 4, 2018). "Taytay's memories". Harcourt, Brace and Company – via Google Books.
  13. Gram, John R (Summer 2016). "Acting Out Assimilation: Playing Indian and Becoming American in the Federal Indian Boarding Schools". The American Indian Quarterly. 40 (3): 251–273. doi:10.5250/amerindiquar.40.3.0251. S2CID 165014471.
  14. Wilgus, A. Curtis (May 4, 2018). "Doors to Latin America". World Affairs. 106 (2): 135–140. JSTOR 20663862.
  15. Keleher, Julia (January 1944). "Review: Say the Bells of Old Missions by Elizabeth Willis De Huff". California Folklore Quarterly. 3 (1): 77–78. doi:10.2307/1495919. JSTOR 1495919.
  16. "Catalog of Copyright Entries. New Series: 1946". Copyright Office, Library of Congress. August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2018 – via Google Books.
  17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 20, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. Society, Texas Folklore; 1888-1964, Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank) (August 13, 2018). "Coyote Wisdom". The Portal to Texas History. Retrieved August 13, 2018.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. Huff, Elizabeth Willis De (August 13, 1965). "The Weathersbee Family of Halifax and Martin Counties, North Carolina and Barnwell, South Carolina". De Huff. Retrieved August 13, 2018 – via Google Books.
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