Helen Rand Thayer

Helen Chadwick Thayer ( Rand; October 3, 1863 – April 14, 1935) was an American suffragist and social reformer. A pioneer in the settlement movement era, she was a co-founder and president of the College Settlements Association (CSA). She was an alumnæ trustee of Smith College.

Biography Helen Chadwick Rand was born in Morrisania, Westchester County, New York (now the Bronx) on October 3, 1863. She was the daughter of Albert Tyler and Sophia Anna ( Chadwick) Rand.

She was educated in private schools in Brooklyn, New York; Adelphi Academy, Brooklyn; Burnham School, Northampton, Massachusetts. She graduated from Smith College with an A.B. degree, 1884. She did graduate studies in history at Newnham College, Cambridge, 1886-7. In 1889, Thayer was a co-founders of the CSA, Rivington Street, New York City; she served as president of the CSA beginning in 1907. During World War I, she was chair of the Smith College Relief Unit.

She was a member of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, National Congress of Mothers, the Child Labor Society, Society of Charities and Correction, and Association for Labor Legislation.

For a time, Thayer made her home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.