Helen Miller Shepard

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"Helen Gould" redirects here. For her niece, the socialite and philanthropist, see Helen Vivien Gould.

Helen Miller Shepard (1868 – December 1938) was an American philanthropist born in Manhattan in New York City.

Contents 1 Birth 2 Marriage 3 American Bible Society 4 Philanthropy 5 References

[edit] Birth

Born as Helen Miller Gould she was the first born daughter of Jay Gould and Helen Day Miller (1838-1889).

[edit] Marriage

She attended NYU School of Law and in 1913 she married Finlay Johnson Shepard (1867-1942). They adopted three children and had one foster child. The foster child was a three-year-old abandoned child that was found on the steps of Manhattan's St Patrick's Cathedral in 1914. They later adopted two daughters of her brother Frank Gould.

[edit] American Bible Society

In 1918 she and Emma Baker Kennedy (c1833-1930) became the first female vice presidents of the American Bible Society.

[edit] Philanthropy

At the commencement of the Spanish-American War, she donated US$100,000 to the United States government in support of the war. She gave an adiitional US$50,000 toward military hospital supplies and worked in a hospital for wounded soldiers. She donated the library building at New York University and began the Hall of Fame. She gave US$10,000 for the engineering school. She gave additional contributions to Rutgers College. Both the YMCA and the YWCA benefitted from her contributions, as well as other organizations.

[edit] References

• Time; January 02, 1939; "Useful Daughter"