Helen Lehman Buttenwieser (October 8, 1905 – December 31, 1989) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 and philanthropist.

A member of the Lehman family

Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...

 of New York, she graduated from Connecticut College

Connecticut College

Connecticut College is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut.The college was founded in 1911, as Connecticut College for Women, in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women...

 and New York University Law School. In 1929, she married Benjamin Buttenwieser, a prominent banker and philanthropist.

Her legal work focused on aiding women and children (especially adoption

Adoption

Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...

, foster care

Foster care

Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....

, and child welfare

Child welfare

Child protection is used to describe a set of usually government-run services designed to protect children and young people who are underage and to encourage family stability...

) and preserving civil liberties

Civil liberties

Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...

. From 1946 to 1948 she chaired a New York City investigation into reforming the adoption system. She founded her own law firm, becoming active in the New York Democratic State Committee, the New York City Bar Association, the Legal Aid Society

Legal Aid Society

The Legal Aid Society in New York City is the United States' oldest and largest provider of legal services to the indigent. It operates both traditional civil and criminal law cases.-History:...

, the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union

American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...

, and the Legal Defense Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...

.

The Helen Lehman Buttenwieser Scholarship and Fellowship at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

is named in her honor.

External links

• Helen Lehman Buttenwieser Papers.Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.