Career
Candee was a strong feminist, 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.
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. Candee's 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 women's rights. She was also close with President Theodore Roosevelt and his wife; two of Candee's 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 House's West Wing (in 1909).
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 women's interest magazines like Harper's Bazaar, Woman's 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, Scribner's and Forum.
She wrote eight books –– four were on the decorative arts, two were travelogues, one instructional, one fiction. Candee's 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.
Read more about this topic: Helen Churchill Candee
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