The Madeline Humm de Mollet Collection

The plastic artist Francisco Toledo from Oaxaca, Mexico, acquired this important collection in April of 2005, which he subsequently donated to the Textile Museum of Oaxaca upon its inauguration.

In 1960, the couple moved to the City of Mexico where they raised their four children. In 1977, they moved to Puebla. Madeline traveled incessantly throughout Mexico and Guatemala, getting to know the people and collecting textiles in diverse communities.

She became an autodidact in photography and ethnography. Besides textiles, she documented vernacular architecture, local markets, and the festivities of Mexico. Madeline passed away in Puebla in 2005 with her collection reaching over a thousand textiles and 11 thousand photographs.

The collection included an indigenous colonial textile, the “tlàmachtēntli,” a fragment of a huipil (tunic for women) that has facilitated the recreation of use of feathers in textiles, including some pieces from the beginning of the 20th century.

The majority of the collection is in a good state of conservation, even though many of the pieces were used in their place of origin. The documentation of the collection is excellent, as Madeline was a methodical person who rigorously recorded a great volume of information.