POSTED UNDER Tarot
Imbolc Blessings
The tarot has been a part of Barbara Moore’s personal and professional lives for over a decade. In college, the tarot intrigued her with its marvelous blending of mythology, psychology, art, and history. Later, she served as the tarot specialist for Llewellyn Publications. Over the years, she has ...
Barbara,
Though I am very interested in and facinated by Pamela (Pixie) Coleman Smith, I wonder why there is no apparent interest in or detailed knowledge of Jessie Burns Parke, who illustrated the Paul Foster Case Tarot Deck. I have exhausted Ancestry.com, of which I am a member, and other leads to no avail. She is only briefly mentioned on the B.O.T.A. website and later editions of the Keys have dropped Jessie’s monogram altogether, which formerly appeared on Tarot Key 9, The Hermit!
I know Jessie was born in Paterson New Jersey on December 2nd 1889, lived with her parents in Arlington Heights, Mass. for some time and died somewhere in 1964. That’s it! Nothing else seems to be available about her life, other than where she studied and exhibited. Those sources provide no information.
Perhaps you have some information regarding her that would provide Tarot lovers and researchers knowledge of her contributions and provide, as well, Jessie with some deserved recognition.
Thank you for any help you may give.
Chuck McLaughlin
When I was a young child, we lived across the street from Ms. Park. She painted a portrait of my mother in 1930 in oil and a portrait of me on ivory in 1949. We used to go over to her house on Gray Street in Arlington, Ma about once a week for tea. When we moved from Arlington, we visited her less and less, but I always rememvered that her house was filled with art, and she was always painting some project. I never knew, however, that she illustrated tarot cards until I was much older and she had passed. She was a wonderful woman and was so kind to my young sister and me.