Helen Rand Thayer (, Rand; October 3, 1863 – April 14, 1935) was an American suffragist and social reformer. A pioneer in the

settlement movement The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and s ...

era, she was a co-founder and president of the

College Settlements Association The College Settlements Association (CSA) was an American organization founded during the settlement movement era which provided support and control of college settlements for women. Organized February 1890, it was incorporated on January 5, 1894. ...

(CSA). She was also an alumnæ trustee of

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

Biography

Helen Chadwick Rand was born in

Morrisania, Bronx Morrisania ( ) is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern Bronx, New York City, New York. Its boundaries are the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the north, Crotona-Prospect Avenue to the east, East 161st Street to the south, and Webster Avenue ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, October 3, 1863. She was the daughter of Albert Tyler and Sophia Anna (Chadwick) Rand. She was educated in private schools in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York;

Adelphi Academy Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher edu ...

, Brooklyn; Burnham School,

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an acade ...

. She graduated from Smith College with an A.B. degree, 1884. She did graduate studies in history at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

, 1886-7. She married Rev. Lucius Harrison Thayer, D.D., of

Westfield, Massachusetts Westfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. Westfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metrop ...

, June 29, 1892. They had three children: Dorothy Goldthwait (b. 1893), Lucius Ellsworth (b. 1896), and Sherman Rand (b. 1904). At the same time that

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...

and

Ellen Gates Starr Ellen Gates Starr (March 19, 1859 – February 10, 1940) was an American social reformer and activist. With Jane Addams, she founded Chicago's Hull House, an adult education center, in 1889; the settlement house expanded to 13 buildings in ...

were starting

Hull House Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House (named after the original house's first owner Cha ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, a group of Smith College alumnæ, chief among whom were Thayer,

Vida Dutton Scudder Julia Vida Dutton Scudder (1861–1954) was an American educator, writer, and welfare activist in the social gospel movement. Early life She was born in Madurai, India, on December 15, 1861, the only child of David Coit Scudder (of the Scudder f ...

, Clara French, and Jean Fine Spahr, was pressing for the establishment of a settlement house in the Eastern U.S. In 1889, Thayer was a co-founders of the CSA,

Rivington Street Rivington Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which runs across the Lower East Side neighborhood, between the Bowery and Pitt Street, with a break between Chrystie and Forsyth for Sara D. Roosevelt Park. Vehicular traffi ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

; she served as president of the CSA beginning in 1907. Thayer was also a member of Executive Board of the Federation of Settlements. Active in the woman's suffrage movement, Thayer was a member of the Advisory Board of the New Hampshire Equal Suffrage Association, the College Equal Suffrage League, and the Portsmouth Equal Suffrage League. Thayer was the vice-president of the Smith College Alumnæ Association, and an alumnæ trustee of Smith College (1901–07). During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, she was chair of the Smith College Relief Unit. She was a member of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, National Congress of Mothers, the Child Labor Society, Society of Charities and Correction, and Association for Labor Legislation. She served as director of the

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

Children's Aid Society. She was a member of the New Hampshire State Commission for Belgian Relief. Thayer was involved with various civic, educational, and philanthropic societies, and was active in local women's clubs. In religion, a Congregationalist, she was active in church and parish work, serving as president of the New Hampshire Congregational Conference. For a time, Thayer made her home in

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...

. She died at her home in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

, April 14, 1935. Burial was at Westfield, Massachusetts.

Biography

References

Further reading