Helen and William Cluett were synonymous with philanthropy and social life in Palm Beach. With William serving as president of the Everglades Club, and Helen’s astute attention towards volunteering with the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, Norton Museum of Art, the Kravis Center, and the Garden Club of Palm Beach, the Cluett’s name was impossible to miss. 

Helen Stedman Cluett was born in Shanghai, May 4th, 1920, to a diplomat father and mother. At three, the Stedman’s moved from Shanghai to New York City. At thirty-nine, she moved to Palm Beach. The Cluett Collection of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County presents a vibrant portrait of an ambitious and confident woman, from her childhood forward.

Among the collection are scrapbooks created throughout her life. Scrapbooks adorned with iconography of movie stars of 1933, a “current events” scrapbook of 1936 chronicling the ascension of George V to George VIII, and her own modeling scrapbook with telegraphs and news clippings.

With the scrappy penmanship of a thirteen-year-old girl, a scrapbook page is labeled “Models That I Know” with faces of her peers glued there. Three years later, she became a Ford model, and her portraits were printed in Look magazine. Through her modeling scrapbook, we see Helen gallivanting through the Upper East Side as a debutante; she befriended artists like Orville Bulman, and love letters poured into her 61st St. mailbox, which were pasted into her scrapbook.

Submitted by: Kalani LeBlanc, Historical Society of Palm Beach County