Helen Stuart Campbell (1839 – 1918) was a social reformer and pioneer in the field of home economics. Campbell wrote several important studies about women trapped in poverty, and the role that effective home economics could play in lifting women and families out of poverty. Helen Campbell was born in Lockport, New York and studied in Warren, Rhode Island and Bloomington, New Jersey. Her father was a Stuart and her mother was a Campbell. In the 1860s and 70s, she wrote stories and children's books under the name "Mrs. Helen Weeks." In later life and divorced from husband Dr. Grenville Weeks, Helen Campbell--her new pen name--wrote novels and nonfiction works dealing with home economics and relationships between the individual, the home, the workplace, physical well-being, and childhood. She was active in many organizations that advocated female empowerment and associated with many intellectuals and original thinkers, including Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Much of her writing was engaging and vigorous. Her pieces that exposed Gilded Age social inequities and public heath failures often featured strongly visual and emotional images which remain poignant for readers today. All available through the Harvard University Open Collections Program, a fully searchable online database.