Helen Churchill Candee (October 5, 1858 – August 23, 1949) was an American author, journalist, interior decorator, feminist and geographer. Today she is best known as a survivor of the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912 and for her later work as a travel writer and explorer of southeast Asia.andee was a strong feminist,[3] as evidenced by her best-selling first book, How Women May Earn a Living (1900). Her second book, An Oklahoma Romance (1901), was a novel that promoted the possibilities of settlement in Oklahoma Territory.[4] An established literary figure, Candee moved to Washington, DC, where she became one of the first professional interior decorators. Her clients included then Secretary of War Henry Stimson and President Theodore Roosevelt. Candees book, Decorative Styles and Periods (1906), embodied her principles of design: careful historical research and absolute authenticity. While in Washington, Candee also pursued an active social life, serving on many civic boards, and involving herself in Democratic politics. Yet her friends were a varied lot, from liberal reformer William Jennings Bryan to ultra-conservative First Lady Helen Herron Taft. Her friendship with the Tafts was long-standing, despite their differing opinions on womens rights. She was also close with President Theodore Roosevelt and his wife; two of Candees most important decorating commissions came from the Roosevelts, the first (in 1907) being the selection of a pair of Louis XVI chairs for the First Lady, the other a general consultancy in partnership with architect Nathan C. Wyeth for a remodeling of the White Houses West Wing (in 1909).[5] Candee was a trustee for the Corcoran Gallery of Art, a member of both the Archeological Society and the American Federation of Arts, and was on the board of the Washington chapter of the National Woman Suffrage Association. In her early years as a journalist, Candee wrote fiction for traditional womens interest magazines like Harpers Bazaar, Womans Home Companion, The Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping. Her later articles, focusing on design, art and culture, appeared in American Homes, International Studio and the American Magazine of Art. Helen Candee also contributed to many of the leading literary and political journals of the day: Atlantic Monthly, The Century, Metropolitan, Scribners and Forum. She wrote eight books –– four were on the decorative arts, two were travelogues, one instructional, one fiction. Candees biggest seller was The Tapestry Book (1912) which went into many editions. Helen was traveling in Europe in the spring of 1912, completing research for The Tapestry Book, when she received a telegram from her daughter, Edith, informing her that her son, Harold (Harry), had been injured in an automobile accident.Candee hurriedly booked passage home on the new luxury ocean liner, Titanic. On the voyage, she socialized with other prominent travelers, such as President Tafts military aide, Major Archibald Butt, and the painter Francis Davis Millet. Since baggage and personal items were not allowed aboard the lifeboats, Candee gave two precious items, a cameo miniature of her mother and a small flask of brandy, to a male friend who had pockets. These were later retrieved from his floating remains. These sold at auction in 2006 for around $80,000 for the locket and $40,000 for the flask. Candee was able to board lifeboat 6 but fell and fractured her ankle in the process. Also aboard was first class passenger Margaret Brown, the unsinkable Molly Brown, both manned the oars of the lifeboat.[6]Helen Candee (front, on horseback) leads the 1913 “Votes for Women” parade. A trailblazer of social conventions, she was one of the first women in the eastern U.S. to ride astride. Photographer unknown. she is 15 x great grand child of thomas sherwood of findagrave/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9072676
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 07:04:49 +0000