author
Helen Ekin Starrett
1840–1920
A pioneering educator and suffragist, she built schools for girls in Chicago and wrote practical, encouraging books about women's education and independence. Her work joined classroom leadership, reform, and authorship in one energetic life.
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 an American educator, author, suffragist, and magazine founder. She spent many years working in education in Chicago, where she founded the Kenwood Institute in 1884 and later Mrs. Starrett's Classical School for Girls, serving as principal.
Her writing often focused on the opportunities and responsibilities facing educated women. Among her books are After College, What?, Letters to a Daughter, and The Future of Educated Women, works that reflect her interest in helping women think seriously about education, work, and public life.
Starrett died in 1920, but her legacy reaches across several fields at once: teaching, school leadership, publishing, and the long fight for women's rights. She remains an appealing figure for readers interested in women who turned ideas into institutions.