Helen Kinne

Born in Norwich, Connecticut, Helen Kinne was an American home economist and educator who became a professor of domestic science at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is remembered for helping establish home economics as an academic field at a time when household work was increasingly being studied and taught in formal educational settings.

Kinne wrote and co-wrote several textbooks, often with Anna M. Cooley, including books on shelter, clothing, food, household management, and family life. These works were designed for teaching and helped bring clear, organized instruction to subjects that affected daily living.

She died in 1917, but her influence continued through the growth of home economics education and the classroom use of her books. Her career reflects an important moment in American education, when practical household knowledge was being reframed as a field of study with social and educational value.