Helena Dudley
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Helena Dudley (August 31, 1858 – September 29, 1932) was an American social worker, labor organizer, and pacifist. As director of Denison House in Boston from 1893 to 1912, she was an influential leader in the early
settlement movement The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity an ...
, and aided thousands of poor and working-class immigrants at a time when government relief programs were lacking. Appalled by the working conditions in local sweatshops, which she learned of through her settlement house neighbors, she became increasingly active in the
labor movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...
. She helped organize the
Women's Trade Union League The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a United States, U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL pla ...
in 1903, and supported the Bread and Roses strike in 1912. After World War I she worked to promote the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
, and for many years she was a leading member of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...
.


Biography


Early life

Dudley was born in
Florence, Nebraska Florence was a historic municipality in Nebraska. Founded in 1854, the Nebraska Territory Legislature first incorporated it as a town in 1855 and then incorporated it as a city in 1857. In 1917, it was annexed by the City of Omaha and ceased ...
, the only child of Judson H. and Caroline Bates Dudley. Her father was one of the original settlers of
Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, and made a fortune in silver mining and real estate. During Helena's childhood her father's financial situation fluctuated dramatically and the family moved from place to place around the Western United States. At the age of 26 she entered the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
, where she studied for a year before transferring to
Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...
. As a biology major, she helped pay her way through school by working as a laboratory assistant, graduating in 1889 with the first Bryn Mawr class.Davis (1971), pp. 526. After graduating, she taught biology at the
Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...
and the Packer Institute, both in Brooklyn.Bryn Mawr obituary, p. 23. In May 1890 she joined the College Settlements Association (CSA), a group of college-educated women who operated settlement houses in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. In 1892 she gave up her teaching career to become the first "head worker" at the CSA settlement house in Philadelphia. When Emily Greene Balch resigned as head of Denison House in 1893, Dudley moved to Boston to replace her.


Denison House

Dudley served as head worker, or director in residence, at Denison House from 1893 to 1912. Arriving during the
Panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States. It began in February 1893 and officially ended eight months later. The Panic of 1896 followed. It was the most serious economic depression in history until the Great Depression of ...
, she immediately set to work organizing the house as a relief agency that could distribute such basic necessities as milk and coal. In December she started a sewing room, which employed 324 women over the winter. The Wells Memorial Institute provided the workrooms rent-free, and Dudley raised funds for materials and other expenses. For a flat wage of 75 cents a day, the women manufactured undergarments, hospital gowns, bed linen, and the like for institutions such as the Red Cross and Boston City Hospital. In her written account of the project, Dudley was careful to note that the women were not competing with local businesses; for example, hospital gowns were usually made by nurses in their spare time at work. Under her direction, Denison House became an important neighborhood center, offering classes in nursing, English literature, crafts, cooking, and carpentry, as well as sports and a summer camp for children, and clubs for adults. It had a library, a gymnasium, and a clinic. Later, Dudley cooperated with Robert Archey Woods and other residents of South End House—Boston's first settlement house, located just a few blocks away—to hold art exhibitions, conduct housing investigations, and campaign for public bathhouses and gymnasiums. Along with Woods and other movement leaders such as
Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...
and Mary Simkhovitch, she helped organize the National Federation of Settlements in 1908.


Labor activism

Most settlement workers were upper-middle- to upper-class women who, as Dudley acknowledged, had at least as much to learn from the community as they had to give to it. In a speech at Wesleyan Hall in 1895, Dudley said that the college women had learned, through their work at the settlement house, "of the conditions which press upon the wage earners. We have found women making shirts for 37 and a half cents a dozen...and it is because of this knowledge that we have become interested in trade unions." Increasingly, Dudley came to believe that settlements, useful as they were to the community, could not provide what working people needed most: a living wage. She was no doubt influenced by
Mary Kenney O'Sullivan Mary Kenney O'Sullivan (January 8, 1864 – January 18, 1943), was an organizer in the early U.S. labor movement. She learned early the importance of unions from poor treatment received at her first job in dressmaking. Making a career in bookbind ...
and her husband, both labor activists, who lived at Denison House in the 1890s. Another colleague, Vida Scudder, helped organize the Federal Labor Union (FLU), a group of "professional people" affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutual ...
. Dudley joined the union and served as its delegate to the Boston Central Labor Union for several years. Through the FLU, she and other Denison House residents organized Boston's garment workers in 1894. It was one of several unions that held regular meetings at Denison House during Dudley's tenure.Davis (1971), p. 527. In 1903, all three women—Dudley, O'Sullivan, and Scudder—helped organize the
Women's Trade Union League The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a United States, U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL pla ...
. O'Sullivan became secretary of the organization, and Dudley served for a time as vice president of its Boston branch. A few years later, all three women suffered professional consequences for supporting the 1912 Lawrence textile strike. Scudder gave a speech to the strikers that was widely publicized, and nearly lost her teaching position at Wellesley. Dudley and O'Sullivan were mentioned in the ''
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' when they paid the bail of $500 each for Joseph Ettor and
Arturo Giovannitti Arturo M. Giovannitti (; January 7, 1884 – December 31, 1959) was an Italian-American union leader, socialist political activist, and poet. He is best remembered as one of the principal organizers of the 1912 Lawrence textile strike and as a de ...
, strike leaders who had been arrested on trumped-up charges. O'Sullivan subsequently lost her job at the WTUL, and Dudley and Scudder were forced to resign from Denison House.


Later years

Helena Dudley became Cornelia Lyman Warren's friend. Warren bought the location for the first Denison House. When Dudley retired in 1912, Warren built her a house at her family estate, Cedar Hill. Dudley lived at Cedar Hill until Warren died in 1921. After retirement Dudley focused her volunteer efforts on the cause of world peace. She joined the board of the Massachusetts branch of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...
and remained involved with that organization for the rest of her life. After World War I she worked to promote the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
, making several trips to Europe. In the 1920s she joined the
Socialist party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
. A devout Episcopalian, Dudley was also a member of the Companionship of the Holy Cross, and volunteered at Adelynrood, the society's retreat center in
Byfield, Massachusetts Byfield is a village (also referred to as a "parish") in the town of Newbury, Massachusetts, Newbury, in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It borders West Newbury, Massachusetts, West Newbury, Georgetown, ...
. During the last decade of her life, she lived with her close friend Scudder in
Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley () is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of M ...
. In 1932, she and Scudder attended the seventh congress of the Women's International League in
Grenoble, France Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the capital of the Dauphiné historical province and lies where the river Drac flows in ...
. Shortly afterwards, while visiting friends in
Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic and Ca ...
, Dudley was taken ill and died at the age of 74.Bryn Mawr obituary, p. 24. Dudley is remembered in connection with Denison House on the
Boston Women's Heritage Trail The Boston Women's Heritage Trail is a series of walking tours in Boston, Massachusetts, leading past sites important to Boston women's history. The tours wind through several neighborhoods, including the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, commemorating w ...
.


Writings

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See also

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Settlement movement The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity an ...
*
Christian socialism Christian socialism is a Religious philosophy, religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe cap ...


References


Citations


Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links


Photo: "Early leaders of the settlement house movement in the United States," Digital Public Library of America

Helena Dudley at Harvard Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dudley, Helen Stuart 1858 births 1932 deaths Activists from Boston Activists from Omaha, Nebraska American social workers American trade unionists American women trade unionists Women's Trade Union League people