Over the years of Luther’s history, the family connection to the College has been especially strong. Helen Elaine Talle attended Luther from 1938‐1941. Keith Crown, Helen Elaine Talle’s former husband, was a faculty member at Luther (1940‐1941) and gave the College an original silk‐screen print which he made for the Messiah in 1941. Helen Elaine Talle’s father, Henry O. Talle (LC 1917) also taught at Luther (economics) from 1921‐1938, served as college treasurer from 1932‐1938 and served as a U.S. Congressman from Iowa’s second district. Several other family members also graduated from Luther.

The Helen Elaine Talle Collection of pre-Columbian art from Mexico, was given to Luther College in her memory by her daughters, Dr. Patricia Crown, Katherine Crown Webster, and Haine Talle Crown in 1988. The 21 pieces in the Helen Elaine Talle Collection were collected in the early 1950’s by Keith Crown (Helen's former husband) during visits to Mexico. He purchased the ceramics in Acombro, Mexico, a small village about 60 miles north of Morelia. The area contains several important sites of the Chupicuaro, a sub-group of the Tarascans who lived on the western edge of the Aztec nation. The pieces in the collection include bowls in various shapes made between 300 BCE and 200 CE and include zoomorphic shapes as well as figures which depict people and animals. 

The Helen Elaine Talle Collection is one of two groupings of pre-Columbian ceramics in the Fine Arts Collection. The other group of primarily Mayan works from Guatemala, was received by the College in 1986 from the Marguerite Wildenhain estate.

More Information on Helen Elaine Talle Collection
Construction of the Solis Dam in 1949 flooded much of the land in the Acombro, Mexico area and forced existing villages to relocate to a new site down‐river which they named Chupicuaro Nuevo. Many sites were hastily excavated by local families prior to the flooding. The term Chupicuaro refers to the culture and peoples geographically defined by the land immediately associated with the village of the same name located in the heart of present day Mexico, northwest of Mexico City, along the Lerma River. Activity flourished in the area during the late Pre‐Classic and Terminal Classic periods, roughly 300 BCE – 200 CE, during which time these pieces were made.

Ceramics from Chupicuaro are widely admired for their consistent craftsmanship. Pieces commonly display thick walls, which lent a functional durability to the wares. The clay body, or paste, is uniformly brown in color and quite coarse, and firings were done at moderate temperatures. Pottery pieces are broadly divided into black wares and red (or painted) wares, and are characterized by the standardization of vessel shapes, designs, and motifs. Clay figurines were also hand‐modeled, and were
typically decorated on the front only. Attention generally centered on the head in both modeling and decorating, a common feature on figurines made throughout Meso‐America at that time.