Helen Stuart Campbell
Encyclopedia
Helen Stuart Campbell was a social reformer and pioneer in the field of home economics
. Campbell wrote several important studies about women trapped in poverty, and the role that effective home economics could play in lifting women and families out of poverty.
Helen Campbell was born in Lockport, New York
and studied in Warren, Rhode Island and Bloomington, New Jersey. Her father was a Stuart and her mother was a Campbell.
She worked as a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin from 1893 to 1896, and then as a professor of domestic science at Kansas State Agricultural College from 1896 to 1897.
All available through the Harvard University Open Collections Program, a fully searchable online database.
Home Economics
Home economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...
. Campbell wrote several important studies about women trapped in poverty, and the role that effective home economics could play in lifting women and families out of poverty.
Helen Campbell was born in Lockport, New York
Lockport (city), New York
Lockport is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 21,165 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a set of Erie canal locks within the city. Lockport is the county seat of Niagara County and is surrounded by the town of Lockport...
and studied in Warren, Rhode Island and Bloomington, New Jersey. Her father was a Stuart and her mother was a Campbell.
She worked as a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin from 1893 to 1896, and then as a professor of domestic science at Kansas State Agricultural College from 1896 to 1897.
Publications
In the 1860s and 70s, she wrote stories and children's books under the name "Mrs. Helen Weeks." In later life and divorced from husband Dr. Grenville Weeks, Helen Campbell—her new pen name—wrote novels and nonfiction works dealing with home economics and relationships between the individual, the home, the workplace, physical well-being, and childhood. She was active in many organizations that advocated female empowerment and associated with many intellectuals and original thinkers, including Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Much of her writing was engaging and vigorous. Her pieces that exposed Gilded Age social inequities and public heath failures often featured strongly visual and emotional images which remain poignant for readers today.All available through the Harvard University Open Collections Program, a fully searchable online database.
- The Problem of the poor: a record of quite work in unquiet places. New York: Fords, Howard & Hulbert, 1882.
- Prisoners of poverty: women wage-workers, their trades and their lives. Boston: Roberts Bros., 1889. (online edition)
- Women wage-earners: their past, their present, and their future. Boston: Roberts Bros., 1893.
External links
- Harvard University Library Open Collections Program. Women Working, 1870–1930, Helen Stuart Campbell (1839-1918). A full-text searchable online database with complete access to publications written by Helen Stuart Campbell.