The Collection
The Lecomte du Noüy jewelry collection includes cuff bracelets, necklaces, pins, rings, concha belts and a ketoh (wrist guard). They are a mix of Diné (Navajo), A:shiwi (Zuni), and Kewa (Santo Domingo) in origin and are of exceptional quality. This exhibit highlights the works, offering an assessment of the cultures and manufacture dates originally assigned, and provides relevant background on both Pierre Lecomte du Noüy and his wife Mary.
Pierre Lecomte du Noüy, undated portrait, photographer unknown. University of Arizona Special Collections MS174 Box 51. Mary Lecomte du Noüy at the University of Arizona, 1961, upon the donation of her husband Pierre Lecomte du Noüy’s papers. The gift included a bust of du Noüy by sculptor Mavina Hoffman, which she presumably commissioned. Unknown photographer. MS174, Box 51.
The Donation
In 1968, the Arizona State Museum received a gift of Southwest Native American jewelry from Mary Lecomte du Noüy. According to information she provided, her husband Pierre Lecomte du Noüy had collected the items in the early 1920s.[i]
Pierre Lecomte du Noüy (1883-1947), was a French biophysicist and philosopher. His academic and selected personal papers are archived in Special Collections at the University of Arizona Library (Papers of Pierre Lecomte du Noüy | University of Arizona Libraries), also a gift from his wife in 1961. Special Collections has a room devoted to Lecomte du Noüy, which includes a brass bust of the scientist, dated 1948, by New-York-born sculptor Malvina Hoffman (1885-1966). The room also contains an exhibit case holding books, notes, and other highlights of the archive.
In 1985, Special Collections transferred additional ethnographic items to ASM: Hopi basketry and Diné (Navajo) rugs, and a silver concha belt. They had initially been part of the Special Collections Lecomte du Noüy archives.
Mary Lecomte du Noüy first contacted University of Arizona Dean Francis A. Roy about making the donation in January of 1968. Addressing him as Francis, with the letter sent to his home address, and referring in her letter to a seminar at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana previously held in memory of her husband, she apparently knew Dean Roy well enough to be on a first-name basis.
I do not know whether you remember that I had vaguely suggested to the people in your museum that I might give them some of the old Indian jewelry which I have and though I had only meant to bequeath them after my death, I am now, however, giving away as much as possible beforehand. As I have to keep all these jewels in the safe all the time, having been broken into this summer and also having things taken since then, I was wondering whether your museum would be interested in having them. I believe I have quite an exceptional collection of old Indian jewels which is very rare now, including three lovely necklaces and a good many bracelets, etc.
ASM director Dr. Raymond Thompson visited Mrs. Lecomte Du Noüy in New York City in April of 1968, and picked up the donation. Since then, different pieces have been included in a variety of exhibits, including Paths of Life: American Indians of the Southwest and Northern Mexico, a permanent ethnology exhibit that was open from 1995 to 2019, and most recently in a 2024 exhibit, Ancient to Modern: Continuity and Innovation in Southwest Native Jewelry (see the online version).
[i] Earlier, in 1961, Mary Lecomte du Noüy had donated nine katsina dolls, also collected by her husband.
Who Was Lecomte du Noüy | The Jewelry | Acknowledgements