Draft:Helmi Kurrik
Helmi Kurrik | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 9, 1883 Tartu |
| Died | July 13, 1960 (aged 77) Palo Alto, Califonia, United States of America |
| Citizenship | Estonia, United States of America |
| Education | University of Tartu |
| Occupation | ethnographer |
| Years active | 1928-1944 |
| Era | First World War, Estonian War of Independence |
| Employer | Estonian National Museum |
| Known for | Estonian folk art, cultural preservation |
| Notable work | Estonian Folk Costumes (1938) |
| Parents |
|
| Awards | Order of Three Stars Order of Gediminas |
Helmi Kurrik (/hɛlmi kuːrɪk/ HEL-mee-KOOR-ik); 9 September 1883 – 13 July 1960) was an Estonian ethnographer and expert on Estonian folk costumes. After earning her private tutor's certificate in 1900, she worked as a tutor in Russia, Finland, and France for a decade before returning home. Upon returning to Estonia, she worked from 1911 to 1914 as a French and German teacher at the Valga Commercial School. During the First World War and the Estonian War of Independence she worked in Tartu as a nurse, and from the early 1920s as a clerical worker at the Tartu Observatory. Midway through her career, she retrained as an ethnographer and began promoting the Estonian national folk costume and Estonian food culture, working alongside the Estonian National Museum.
Early life and education
[edit]She was born in Tartu as the second of six children to schoolmaster and national movement figure Juhan Kurrik and his wife Wilhelmine Margareta Elisabet.[1]
Some of the information regarding her qualifications is disputed. There is a chance she may have graduated from M. von Müller's Girls' Secondary School in 1900,[2]: 32 or she may have sat examinations before the Saint Petersburg School District Committee which enabled her to graduate with enough qualifications to become a language tutor.[3]: 32-33
She studied from 1925 to 1935 at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tartu, graduating cum laude and received her masters of philosophy in 1938.[4][5]: 56 [6] She defended another master's degree in the field of ethnography in 1939 with the thesis "Blood in Food Economy."[7]
Career
[edit]Early career (1900-1920)
[edit]After gaining her credentials, she worked as a home-based tutor. She taught in Finland, France, and Russia, and then, after over a decade abroad, she returned home. Upon returning to Estonia, she taught German and French at the Valga Commercial School.[8]: 33 During World War I and the Estonian War of Independence, she became employed as a nurse at Tartu Red Cross Hospital. She quit her job at the hospital in 1920.[8]: 33
Tartu Observatory (1920-1928)
[edit]Her brother Voldemar was working at Tartu Observatory as a meteorologist and helped her secure work there as a human computer.[8]: 33 The observatory was acquired by the University of Tartu in May of 1924. Kurrik continued her work at the observatory following the university acquisition, but was reclassified as a university clerical employee. In 1927, she was promoted to a senior role as a clerical employee.[8]: 33 During this period, in 1925, she began studying Estonian and languages and ethnography at the University of Tartu.[5]: 56 She studied under professor Arno Rafael Cederberg, whose methodological approaches influenced her research.[citation needed]
Estonian National Museum (1928-1944)
[edit]She decided to leave her clerical role at the university's Tartu Observatory in 1928.[8]: 33 to take up a role at the Estonian National Museum.[5]: 56 As part of her work with the museum, she curated exhibitions on Estonian folk art in Helsinki and Brussels in 1929, Berlin and Vilnius in 1930, Riga in 1933, and Paris in 1935.[6][9]: 57 She worked to get a number of items of national ethnographic value to the museum, including a large private collection held by Aleksander Põrga [10]: 39
Kurrik's primary research area was Estonian folk textiles, a field in which she was one of the main experts at the time.[5]: 56 [6] She served as the head of the department of ethnography at the museum from 1931 onward.[5]: 56 In 1938, she connected the Folk Costume Advisory Bureau to the Estonian National Museum, which provided consultation on traditional attire.[6][11]: abstract She was involved in a series of public media engagements, in the format of magazine articles, radio presentations, and lectures to promote Estonian folk clothing.[9]: 57
Departure and work with displaced persons camp hospitals (1944)
[edit]In September 1944, she fled to Freiburg, Germany, along with her sister Elly (1889–1981). In the following years, both worked in displaced persons camp hospitals in Bad Rehburg, Hannover, and Oldenburg. In 1951, the sisters moved to the United States. She initially lived in Fresno, before relocating to Palo Alto near San Francisco.[citation needed]
Since she had begun her research into ethnography mid-career, she chose not to continue her research work after seeking refugee status in the United States. However, she was an active member of the refugee community of Estonians. She still continued to share her knowledge about folk culture among the diaspora community in California.[12]: 56-57 [6]
Selected publications
[edit]
Kurrik hoped to revitalise knowledge around folk costumes, so that Estonians would be able to make their own folk clothing,[9]: 57 Her most well-known writing on the topic is her 1938 publication "Estonian Folk Costumes."[13]: 126 The book was commissioned by the state and had an initial print run of 6,500 copies.[6] The book is considered to be one of the essential guides when examining folk costumes within Estonia and [11]: abstract The book has been seen as her magnum opus.[9]: 57 The book received the Book Fund's First Prize in the field of scientific literature in 1939.[citation needed] Kurrik studied a number of museum pieces to document how folk outfits were constructed.[9]: 57 The publication contains practical advice as well as descriptions that are more "colloquial" in nature.
Kurrik's research on folk dress prioritised general regional costume types over that of parishes. This permitted some flexibility in things like skirt colours or embroidery.[14]: 166 However, her approach did lead to more strict standards for sets. In focusing on regional dress forms and sets, Kurrik's book gave dress designers more creative freedom so long as it stayed within the traditional structure.[15]: 166 Kurrik's book has been used as a guide by national dance groups as they have designed costumes.[16]
During the Soviet occupation, direct references to Kurrik's work were prohibited because following the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1944, authorities banned literature linked to the Republic of Estonia during the pre-war period, so indirect references were. made by other authors.[16][a] Researchers and state institutions used Kurrik's material and it remained a definitive technical guide for Estonian textiles.[16]
Her background as an ethnographer has been cited as justification for her ability to untangle some of the nuance with folk costumes. She made generalisations that were useful for the average person looking for concise advise when making their own folk dress.[17]: 169–170
Kurrik's other research area was food culture. In 1929, she published an article on kama.[18] This was later followed by a study on sausages in 1932.[6][19]
Awards
[edit]For her services to cultural cooperation, she was awarded the Latvian Order of Three Stars in 1936 and the Lithuanian order of the Gediminas in the same year.[4]
Death and legacy
[edit]Kurrik died in San José, California in 1960.[20]: para. 1-2
References
[edit]Notes
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ↑ Metslaid 2016, pp. XLIV, 96–120.
- ↑ Nõmmela 2009, p. 32.
- ↑ Nõmmela 2009, p. 32-33.
- 1 2 Postimees 1943, p. 3.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Nõmmela 2009, p. 56.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Eesti Rahva Muuseum 2019.
- ↑ Vaserik 1993, p. 146.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Nõmmela 2009, p. 33.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Nõmmela 2009, p. 57.
- ↑ Nõmmela 2009, p. 39.
- 1 2 Loite 2016, abstract.
- ↑ Nõmmela 2009, p. 56-57.
- ↑ Viires 1991, p. 126.
- ↑ Loite 2016, p. 166.
- ↑ Loite 2016, pp. 166–167.
- 1 2 3 4 Loite 2016.
- ↑ Loite 2016, pp. 169–170.
- ↑ Kurrik 1929, pp. V, 170–184.
- ↑ Kurrik 1932, pp. VIII, 112–154.
- ↑ Eesti Rahva Muuseum 2019, para. 1-2.
Sources
[edit]Newspapers and magazines
[edit]- Postimees (9 January 1943). "60-aastane. Helmi Kurrik". Postimees. p. 3.
Books and book chapters
[edit]- Vaserik, A., ed. (1993). Esivanemate varandus. [Rahvateaduslik teatmik] [Property of Ancestors. [Folk science reference book]]. p. 146.
- Kurrik, Helmi (1929). Kama. Eesti Rahva Muuseumi Aastaraamat. pp. V, 170–184.
- Kurrik, Helmi (1932). Vorstid [Sausages]. Eesti Rahva Muuseumi Aastaraamat. pp. VIII, 112–154.
- Metslaid, Marleen (2016). "Poolelijäänud teadustöö. Helmi Kurriku elu keerdkäigud 20. sajandil" [Unfinished research. The twists and turns of Helmi Kurrik's life in the 20th century]. Tartu Ülikooli ajaloo küsimusi [Issues in the History of the University of Tartu]: XLIV, 96–120.
Journal articles
[edit]- Loite, Kersti (4 November 2016). "Intervjuu: Rahvarõivaste komplekteerimise poliitiline kunst / Interview: The Political Art of the Assembly of Folk Costume Sets". Studia Vernacula. 0. 7: 161–179. doi:10.12697/sv.2016.7.161-179. ISSN 2504-6748. Retrieved 3 October 2026 – via ojs.utlib.ee.
- Viires, Ants (1991). "The development of Estonian ethnography during the 20th century". Journal of Baltic Studies. 22 (2). doi:10.1080/01629779100000021. ISSN 0162-9778. Retrieved 3 October 2026 – via CrossRef.
- Nõmmela, Marleen (2009). "Tuntud tundmatu Helmi Kurrik: Artikli avamiseks täies mahus vajuta paremas veerus asuvale nupule". Eesti Rahva Muuseumi aastaraamat (52): 30–59. ISSN 2585-450X. Retrieved 3 October 2026 – via ojs.erm.ee.
Other sources
[edit]- Eesti Rahva Muuseum (12 April 2019). "Kes oli Helmi Kurrik?" [Who was Helmi Kurrik?]. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2026.