Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- c 1950s (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
23 genealogical charts
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Helen Tooker was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, in the United States of America. Having studied art with a local painter in her teenage years, she then trained for a year at the Boston Museum School of Art before marrying and starting a family. Following her husband's death during the Great Depression, Helen supported her five children by working as a professional artist. Her work embraced many media, including sign painting and billboards, sculpture, calligraphy and fine portraiture. From 1947 until her death in 1998, she lived in Florida.
Helen Tooker had a lifelong interest in family history. Around 1955, she began working on a series of 23 richly illustrated charts incorporating the genealogical information she had collected over the years. These charts purportedly trace the ancestry of Helen’s parents, Emily White Perkins and Harry Landon Tooker, back into early English, Irish and Scottish history.
Archival history
Upon the artist's death, the charts passed to her daughter, Helen Martin Parramore, who donated them to the University of Strathclyde in 2008.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Accession 891
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Illustrated charts purportedly tracing the ancestry of Helen Tooker's parents, Emily White Perkins and Harry Landon Tooker, back into early English, Irish and Scottish history. 16 of the charts are drawn in black ink and 7 in black ink and watercolour.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
None expected.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- Scots
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
The charts are fragile and several are torn and damaged around the edges.
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Paper copies are held in the Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Strathclyde, for display purposes.
Related units of description
Publication note
Helen Martin Parramore, 'Genealogy of Helen Tooker' (2009)