I was looking for an online index of all the articles published in the 188 (or so) Hummel Insights, Hummel Post and Postillon magazines but was unable to find a complete listing. Therefore, I decided to put together a single index with my own collection beginning with the first through the current issue of these high quality magazines published by the manufacturer since the Spring of 1977. The magazines from April 2018 through January 2019, are also available from HummelGifts.com in Acrobat format and a link has been provided in the list as well so that you can read these on your electronic device. The index is almost complete thanks to the donation from fellow club members but is still missing a few issues. Check back soon as information is added periodically. Updated 23 December 2022.
The HUMMELE Express News was a subscription newsletter of about fifteen seasonal publications in total packed full of stories on the life of Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel from a first hand experience from one of her child models, Sieglinde Schoen Smith. If you were lucky enough to have copies of this wonderful look into the behind-the-scenes of this wonderful artist, you may appreciate the index created for it as well. Click on the image to the right to gain access to this index.
Mrs. Smith, born February 2, 1941 in Tübingen, Landkreis Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the daughter of the late Johannes and Schola (Heijen) Schoen and passed away at the age of 79 on Sunday, May 24, 2020 at her residence in Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. She is buried at Bold Springs Cemetery, West, McLennan County, Texas. On April 23, 1979 she was married to William H. “Bill” Smith of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in Hurst, Texas. She and Bill were married for forty-one years.
Her many stories in the “HUMMELE” newsletter stemmed from an early age due to being a child model of Sister Hummel for many of her sketches that were later transformed into several figurines, one of which you may have yourself. She enjoyed traveling around the United States giving talks to various Hummel clubs. Her stories bring you right in to the heart of the environment created by the gifted artist she knew so well. The newsletter is merely one of her many publications which included Mother Earth’s Quilt Sampler, Quilting Bee and God Did It with his magic! She and her husband were also instrumental in the creation of the Hummel Museum in New Braunfels, TX in 1993 which provided visitors with a view of many of the Sister’s original sketches, and a great many of the figurines brought to life from those very sketches.
There were a number of museums with these collections among which was one in New Braunfels, Texas which housed the world’s largest collection of original pictures by the artist. The Texas museum began its collection with the Jacques Nauer family of Switzerland who owned 280 originals. These pieces had been stored in Switzerland by the private collector during World War II. The Nauer family are the successors of the family Josef and Maximiliane Möller who were editors in Munich. Sieglinde Schoen Smith convinced the family in 1992 that a museum would be a better place to house these originals instead of being held in crates and thus, they were placed on loan to the Hummel Museum in New Braunfels in October of 1993. The museum had, at one point, 350 original sketches and drawings before it had to close in 2001.
References
Hummel INSIGHTS (1977). Personal subscription collection 1977-current.
Sieglinde Schoen Smith (27 May 2020). Find A Grave. Retrieved on 30 April 2023 from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/210522078/sieglinde-smith
Smith, Sieglinde (May 24, 2020). Aderhold Funeral Home, Inc. Sieglinde Smith Obituary – Visitation & Funeral Information. Retrieved on 24 September 2020 from https://www.aderholdfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Sieglinde-Smith?obId=14820749
Straach, Kathryn (February 1, 1993). Hummel Museum Opens in Texas. Orlando Sentinel Retrieved 24 September 2020 from https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1993-02-21-9302160328-story.html
The HUMMELE Newsletter Express (1998-2002) from a loaned collection.
Updated 30 April 2023