Helen Dawes Brown

Born in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1857, Helen Dawes Brown studied at Vassar College, graduating in 1878 and later earning a master's degree there in 1890. She also studied at Oxford, taught English at Vassar for four years, and then spent many years teaching at the Brearley School in New York while leading private classes in English literature.

Brown was deeply involved in women's higher education beyond the classroom. Contemporary accounts describe her as one of the first trustees of Barnard College and as a founder of both the Women's University Club of New York and the organization that later became the American Association of University Women.

She wrote novels and nonfiction for younger readers, including Two College Girls, Little Miss Phoebe Gay, Her Sixteenth Year, Little Jean, and Talks to Freshman Girls. Her books often centered on school, friendship, and the inner lives of girls growing into adulthood, combining an educator's insight with a gentle, readable style. She died in 1941 at age 84.