Helene Gans Papers, 1917-1984

Helene P. Gans was an early leader in civic, consumer, and labor movements during the first half of the twentieth century. Born in 1893 and a native of Chicago, she attended the Unversity of Chicago in 1914 and then moved to New York two years later, after attending secretarial school. There, she met and later married Leonard S. Gans, with whom she had two daughters, Barbara Gallant and Nancy Spriggs. Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Gans was involved with various organizations that were invested in the Depression's impact on unemployment and living costs. Working with the National Women's Trade Union League, she wrote a study called "Cut-Rate Wages" in 1932, which encouraged the New York State Legistlature to enact its first minimum-wage law. She wrote about unemployment for the League of Women Voters, and from 1938 to 1941, she served as executive secretary for the Consumers League of New York. From 1942 to 43, Gans was the eastern regional director of the women's division of the Treasury's war bond drive, and later served as the director of the women's division in the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Helene Gans died in New York City on May 7, 1980.