author
Helen Ekin Starrett
1840–1920
A forceful advocate for women’s education, she built schools, edited magazines, and turned her public work into books that spoke directly to girls and young women. Her writing blends practical advice with the reform energy of the late nineteenth century.
1 Audiobook
Letters to a Daughter and A Little Sermon to School Girls
by Helen Ekin Starrett
About the author
Born in Pennsylvania in 1840, Helen Ekin Starrett became known as an American educator, author, suffragist, and magazine founder. She spent much of her career in Chicago, where she founded the Kenwood Institute and later Mrs. Starrett's Classical School for Girls, shaping a style of education that aimed to give young women both intellectual training and confidence for public life.
Alongside her school work, she wrote books including The Future of Educated Women, Letters to a Daughter, and After College, What? These titles show the concerns that ran through her career: what education should mean for women, how girls could be prepared for adulthood, and how learning might open a larger world.
Starrett was also active in women’s organizations and journalism, serving in leadership roles and helping create spaces for women’s voices in print. She died in 1920, leaving behind a body of work that feels rooted in its era but still speaks clearly about ambition, purpose, and opportunity.