Final Day Event! The Artwork of Helen Rutter Cruess

Please join us for a last look at the exhibit Fashion from the 50s: The Artwork of Helen Rutter Cruess, and an opportunity to thank the donors of this great collection, Paul Montigny and Lynn K. Miller.

About the Exhibit

Helen Rutter Cruess was born Oct. 15, 1897. She was the daughter of Bertha Connell Cruess and architect and watercolorist Francis Howse Cruess (who designed the Lancaster Theological Seminary). Helen Cruess graduated from the New York School of Applied Design for Women and studied at the Art Students League of New York. In the 1940s she worked in New York City with the Staples-Smith store window display department. The Cruess family often visited relatives in Lancaster County, and when her father’s health began to fail Helen moved to Lancaster. She worked as an illustrator for the Hager Department Store from 1952 to 1959. This exhibit features the artwork she created for the Hager Department Store.