Helen A. Blanchard, Sewing Machine Innovator

Summary

Summary of "Helen A. Blanchard, Sewing Machine Innovator" - Stuff You Missed in History Class

Release Date: December 30, 2024
Hosts: Holly Fry and Tracy V. Wilson
Producer: iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction to Helen A. Blanchard

In this episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class, Holly Fry and Tracy V. Wilson delve into the life and contributions of Helen A. Blanchard, a pivotal yet often overlooked figure in the evolution of sewing machine technology. Blanchard's innovations significantly advanced industrial sewing, influencing both factory operations and home sewing practices.

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Early Life and Family Background [03:24]

Helen Augusta Blanchard was born on October 25, 1840, into the affluent Blanchard family of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Her father, Nathaniel Blanchard, was a successful ship merchant whose fortunes declined due to a series of business setbacks, including financial panics and property losses.

“We don't have a lot about her childhood, but we know she was the youngest of Nathaniel and Phoebe Blanchard's five children.”
— Helen A. Blanchard [03:24]

Following her father's death in 1871, Helen faced financial instability, prompting her to relocate to Boston and later to Philadelphia and New York. These moves marked the beginning of her journey from factory worker to renowned inventor.

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Venturing into Invention [03:42 - 05:18]

With limited resources, Helen began working in a factory setting, where her dissatisfaction with existing sewing machines ignited her inventive spirit. Her hands-on experience with sewing machinery became the foundation for her innovative designs.

“As a stitcher, I saw the limitations of the existing machines firsthand, which inspired me to create something better.”
— Helen A. Blanchard [05:18]

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Pioneering Sewing Machine Innovations [07:14 - 28:25]

First Patent: Overstitch Mechanism [18:44 - 20:07]

In June 1873, Helen secured her first patent (No. 141987) for improvements in sewing machines, specifically the overstitch mechanism. This innovation allowed for adjustable stitch depth and the creation of over or buttonhole stitches, later recognized as zigzag stitches.

“My improvements consist mainly of a series of mechanical devices connected with a sewing machine... to form an over or buttonhole stitch.”
— Patent Document [18:44]

This advancement was crucial for producing higher-quality garments, particularly enhancing the durability and finish of buttonholes.

Elastic Seam Technique [22:03 - 24:08]

In 1875, Helen patented an elastic seam technique, enabling the creation of stretchy seams using a combination of rubber and ordinary sewing thread. This method is still taught today for creating faux smocking in garments.

“I have also used a needle having a square eye with perfect success.”
— Helen A. Blanchard [24:08]

Welted and Covered Seams [25:00 - 26:11]

Another significant patent involved improvements in welted and covered seams, enhancing the durability and appearance of seams in various materials like leather and heavy fabrics.

“The advantages of the welt or piping and of the covered seam are manifest in the protection which they afford against the wearing and chafing of the exposed parts of the seam thread.”
— Helen A. Blanchard [25:00]

Additional Innovations

Helen's prolific inventiveness led her to secure a total of 28 patents over 41 years, including a hollow needle, a spool case to prevent thread unwinding, refinements to sewing machines, and a machine for inserting hat bands.

“These 28 inventions steered the course of industrial sewing in the latter half of the 19th century.”
— Tracy V. Wilson [30:11]

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Business Ventures and Legal Challenges [16:41 - 43:58]

Helen co-founded the Blanchard Oversea Machine Company with her sister Louise in Philadelphia, expanding her business operations to New York and Maine. Despite her successes, Helen faced legal challenges, including lawsuits over unpaid promissory notes and disputes over royalty payments from her sewing machine company.

“Helen was being sued for non-payment of storage charges, but this occurred during a period of significant personal loss.”
— Tracy V. Wilson [35:48]

The death of her siblings in 1914 caused immense personal grief, further complicating her business affairs and leading to financial strains.

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Philanthropy and Community Involvement [37:09 - 39:35]

As Helen matured in her career, she became a prominent philanthropist, particularly focusing on aiding women affected by industrialization. Her efforts were recognized in the 1893 publication A Woman of the Century, highlighting her generosity and support for struggling women.

“She has distinguished herself as a benefactor of her sex.”
— A Woman of the Century [37:09]

Helen also invested in various business ventures, including the Blanchard Lumber Company, and successfully repurchased her family's former properties in Portland, Maine.

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Legacy and Recognition [43:58 - 44:15]

Helen A. Blanchard passed away on January 12, 1922, in Providence, Rhode Island, leaving behind a legacy of innovation and philanthropy. Her contributions to sewing technology were posthumously honored with her induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.

“Helen Blanchard steered the course of industrial sewing in the latter half of the 19th century.”
— Tracy V. Wilson [30:11]

Despite the lack of detailed personal records, Helen's impact on sewing machine technology remains unquestioned, making her a noteworthy figure in both industrial and women's history.

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Listener Engagement and Closing Remarks [44:33 - 48:43]

In the latter part of the episode, Holly and Tracy engage with listener mail, sharing experiences related to sewing and small manufacturing businesses. They encourage supporting local and specialized factories, drawing parallels to Helen Blanchard's own ventures.

“Support businesses like that if you can because those sound amazing and I want them to stay around so we can all visit.”
— Helen A. Blanchard [46:03]

The hosts conclude by emphasizing the enduring relevance of Helen's innovations and the importance of recognizing the contributions of female inventors in history.

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Conclusion

Helen A. Blanchard's story is a testament to resilience, ingenuity, and the vital role of women in industrial innovation. Her advancements in sewing technology not only improved garment manufacturing but also empowered future generations of women in both business and craft. This episode sheds light on her remarkable achievements and the enduring legacy she left behind.

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Notable Quotes:

• “As a stitcher, I saw the limitations of the existing machines firsthand, which inspired me to create something better.”
  — Helen A. Blanchard [05:18]

• “These 28 inventions steered the course of industrial sewing in the latter half of the 19th century.”
  — Tracy V. Wilson [30:11]

• “She has distinguished herself as a benefactor of her sex.”
  — A Woman of the Century [37:09]

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References:

Throughout the episode, Holly and Tracy reference various patents, historical documents, and newspaper articles to piece together the life of Helen A. Blanchard. Their meticulous research highlights both the achievements and the personal struggles of Blanchard, providing a comprehensive view of her impact on history.

Transcript

[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Holly Fry]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

We talked about Jan Matzaliger not that long ago. And my apologies because we have another inventor.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, I think that's fine.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

And specifically one that works in apparel. This is also just a time of year where I am, I don't know why, hyper focused on sewing.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This seems totally reasonable to me.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

I think part of it is that there's a little bit of time off so I have a little more time to sew. But also it's like, as we all know, I love a plan and a calendar and I can like plan out my projects for the next year and I'm in that mindset. So that's what's going on. And of course that means that I'm reading a lot of sewing information and I'm always casting about for interesting stuff about stitching and then I run across fun things and then I'm like, ooh, I should talk about that on a show. If you are a stitcher or if you just like a person that likes to follow sewing accounts on social media, those exist, they're very soothing. But you will often, you know, there are a lot of accounts that are wonderful that will show all kinds of tutorials for various techniques or tools that will improve your sewing. And the thing is, a lot of those techniques trace back to one woman who was kind of using her ingenuity at the time to survive. But she's the person who developed a lot of them, although for the industrial space, not really the home sewist. So we're going to talk about her today because she is Helen A. Blanchard, but there are a lot of aspects to her story that are really lacking. There are just big chunks of her life where we don't have a lot of details and in some cases we don't even have solid information, even though she was very important, very wealthy and written about a lot in the paper. But we don't have a lot of personal details. So part of this process for me is just trying to piece together who she was based on what information we do actually have.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

We've Talked on the show about sewing machines before. Back in 2013, which was eons ago, we had a whole episode on how multiple inventors in the 19th century were working on the idea and also fighting over it, both legally and sometimes physically fighting. This even ran as a Saturday Classic in 2017, which is also so long ago. There were a lot of baby steps to get to the point where a functional sewing machine was even feasible. In 1755, the first sewing machine needle was patented. This was a British patent issued to German inventor Charles Wiesenthal. A British inventor named Thomas Saint also started drawing out diagrams of how a sewing machine could work in the 1790s. But it wasn't until the 19th century that efforts really started to ramp up.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

And there were a lot of failures in the early 1800s. Some designs, such as that of Joseph Mattersberger of Austria, which was in 1814, looked really good on paper, but they weren't actually translatable to functioning machinery. His ideas were right. It just like, didn't all come together properly. The first sewing machine in the US or what's sometimes called that, was created by John Knowles and John Adams Adam's Dodge in the late 18 teens. And while it worked, it apparently didn't work well. It tended to have a failure after sewing just a little while, and the inventors did not further develop it for various reasons. Finally, in 1830, French tailor and inventor Berthelme Timonier was able to design and produce a functioning, dependable chain stitch sewing machine. And that also led to riots. When Taylor's protested it, Timonier's factory was burnt to the ground.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Timonier's ordeal caused some hesitation among other inventors who were working on mechanizing stitching. It's pretty understandable when Walter Hunt of Martinsburg, New York, came up with a machine, he was not in a big hurry to patent it or to try to put it into production, in part because he recognized that there would be a disruption in the industry when and if somebody was truly successful at implementing this kind of machine in a factory setting. His early machine was fascinating because unlike others that sought to replicate the way the human hand would stitch a needle and thread, he came up with a method that used two threads to create a lock stitch. And that was something that would be central to claims on later patents that were issued to other inventors.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Starting in the 1840s, patent claims for sewing machines in the US and Europe were fast and furious. There were people filing patents for every single piece of the puzzle, Although no one was really putting together A whole, whole machine. The culmination of all of those patents was the huge patent battle between Elias Howe and Isaac Singer and the first combination patent, which came about when a number of different inventors finally agreed to group their patents under one umbrel umbrella for mutual benefit. But, and this is just the fastest overview, all of those efforts and designs and machines were designed to do just one thing, a straight stitch or a chain stitch that went in a straight line, and to talk about how additional features emerged. Because a normal sewing machine, today at least a home sewing machine, does a lot of other things. Factory machines might do specialty things, but they do a lot of other things. And to talk about all of that, we actually first have to talk briefly about the shipping industry in Maine.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

At the time, Nathaniel Blanchard, alleged to be of Huguenot descent, was a ship merchant living and working in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, in the area that would later be known as Portland. There's actually a whole other story there of towns separating and reforming, but that's really outside the scope of this episode. Blanchard had a wife, Phoebe Buxton Blanchard, and they had five children, Louise Augustus Pessis, Ellen David Henry, and then the youngest, Helen Augusta, born in 1840. Some biographies also mention another son, Albus R, although it's not clear where he may have fit into the chronology of all the kids. Blanchard did very well for himself. The family occupied one of the largest and most well known homes in town. That was a mansion that sat on the corner of High and Pleasant streets. Though he made a very nice fortune for himself as the 1840s played out, his businesses started to have a series of troubles and those slowly drained his finances.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

The Bangor Daily Whig and Courier ran a brief on July 9, 1853 that read, quote, the Portland Advertiser states that a new ship ready to be planked, was burnt on Thursday at Cape Elizabeth in the shipyard of Mr. Thomas Knight. The fire was probably set in the workshop and probably no insurance. That guess was correct, there was no insurance and that ship in question had been requisitioned by Nathaniel Blanchard. This was a huge investment for him, intended to bolster his business and regain some of his lost footing in the area and his lost wealth. And when the fire happened, he still needed another ship for his company, and so he had to pay out of pocket for construction to begin again. The second attempt was successful in that the resulting ship, the Phoenix, was completed, launched and put into service. But he still felt that he needed to grow his fleet. So he commissioned another ship starting in 1856, and that was completed the following year.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

But 1857 was a rough year in the U.S. financially, the railroad industry had experienced explosive growth up to that point. Banks had given railroad companies a lot of money in the form of loans to help keep up with the demand. But a lot of those companies were basically startups that were trying to cash in on the growth of a new type of business, and a lot of them were started with little understanding of how to actually operate. That meant that a lot of them folded and defaulted on their loans. At the same time, the Ohio Life Insurance Company, which had been woefully mismanaged and was involved in a lot of fraudulent transactions benefiting the company executives, they announced they would no longer be paying out any claims. Those two things and a number of other factors led to a financial panic where there were a number of runs on banks. This is not an environment where a shipping industry magnate really thrives, and Blanchard was in deeper trouble than ever. And then one of his investment properties burned to the ground in 1863. At that point he was in desperate need of money and he took out a massive loan of $14,000. And then things continued to go downhill from there. Phoebe died in 1870. When Nathaniel died a year later in 1871, there was really nothing left.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

And we are finally going to get into Helen's story. But first we will pause for a sponsor break.

[Holly Fry]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Holly Fry]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Holly Fry]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Holly Fry]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

When Nathaniel Blanchard died, his youngest child, Helen Augustus, was unmarried and still living at home. We don't, as we said at the top of the show, know a lot about her childhood. It is one of the many parts of her life that just isn't very well documented. But we do know that without parental support, she had to figure out a way to get by. Although she is the youngest, she was, to be clear, an adult woman at this point. She was born on October 25, 1840. So she was 30 when her father died in early 1871, and as part of defaulting on his loans, he had lost all of his property, which he had put up for collateral. So she did not have a home anymore. So she moved away from Maine to Boston, where she ran a boarding house.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Apparently this did not go particularly well, so she moved on to factory work. This was a huge change of fortunes considering that she had been part of one of the wealthiest families in Maine. She was put on a line working on a sewing machine. Keep in mind, sewing machines had really been around only for a couple of decades, so they were dependable, but their functionality was a huge step forward for manufacture, but still pretty basic and Helen apparently did not like it.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Roughly 15 years later, on August 24, 1886, the Portland Daily Press detailed what happened the day Helen's frustration in her factory job gave her an idea quote. One day, in a fit of desperation, she kicked over the sewing machine, declaring she would not drudge along in that way any longer. She had observed that if in gentleman's fine underwear the stitch was improved, the value of the goods would be much enhanced. So Helen sought to address the limitations of existing sewing machines, and she set to work figuring out specifically what sort of mechanism might make a cleaner finish to a cut edge over time.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

She worked out the logistics of her idea and eventually she had an invention. But she didn't actually have the money to submit a patent application. She ended up borrowing from a friend and submitted her documents for improvement in sewing machines in June of 1873. She was granted patent number 141987 on August 19th. The patent explains quote, the present invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in sewing machines having for their principal object the forming of an overstitch that may be adapted to either fine or coarse work. My improvements consist mainly of a series of mechanical devices connected with a sewing machine and arranged and operated, as will be hereinafter more fully explained, so as to give a progressive and lateral movement to a feed, to place the material so that the needle will descend through and then outside of the work so as to form an over or buttonhole stitch. These improvements also consist in a device arranged and operated, as will be duly described for varying the depth of the stitch so as to be used for fine or coarse work and of a device for disconnecting the operation of my improvements to allow the ordinary working of the machine for its customary sewing.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Okay, so patent language we already know, because every time it comes up on the show can be a little bit stilted. And if you don't sew, you might not understand what she's talking about. And even if you do sew, the way she's talking about it is in the language and parlance of the time, and it may not correlate to modern sewing terms that you do know. I have seen a number of instances where this first invention is described as a buttonholer. That is not correct in the terms we would think about a buttonholer today. Rather, it creates what she called a buttonhole stitch, but which you would more commonly know as a zigzag today. And the reason it's called a buttonhole stitch is because if you look at a buttonhole on a modern garment, most of them are finished with a tie tight zigzag edge in what's also called a satin stitch because the stitches are so close together. Modern buttonhole machines, or on home machines, attachments or functions manage all of the turning that you have to do to make a buttonhole. But for a long time, stitchers would just learn to turn the garment they were stitching manually to create a buttonhole. And so they needed the stitch that would enable them to do that. That's what this did. Also, the language about depth, just for clarity, does not mean that it would drop down the stitch below the fabric in some way. It means the width of the zigzag is adjustable, the depth from the needle to the side. This new machine was a big deal, and it was rapidly adopted by factories. And Helen really quickly found herself regaining some of the wealth that her family had lost.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I think if you don't sew, the benefit of going from, like, one running chain stitch in a straight line, maybe curving, if you worked on it as an option, going from that being the only thing you could do to being able to do a zigzag, like, that was really a big deal.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

It's. Yeah, it's huge. I mean, it can basically, like, catch in, like you would look at on a buttonhole. It catches in that edge where the buttonhole is cut open for the button to pass through so that that piece of fabric doesn't fray all apart and become useless.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Right?

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Yeah, we love a zigzag.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Lots of uses for them. Helen's next invention was really more of a technique. And it's described in a patent titled Improvement in elastic seams for garments, which was issued to her in the spring of 1875. QUOTE this stitch can be sewed on any of the ordinary lock stitch sewing machines by a slight manipulation of the tension to suit the material worked on and an alteration of the needle. As will be explained, the stitch itself is constructed with one elastic thread, preferably of rubber, in combination with any ordinary thread. This arrangement furnishes the requisite degree of elasticity to the completed stitch. The rubber thread is best applied from the shuttle, in which case a moderate tension is desirable. However, if the rubber thread is fed by the needle, the eye of the needle must be somewhat enlarged and made to bulge outward toward the center to assume an elliptical form. And the edges must be rounded to prevent the cutting of the rubber thread while under tension. I have also used a needle having a square eye with perfect success. This method of hand winding a bobbin with elastic thread to stitch gathered elasticized garments is still taught all the time as assuring techniques that can create faux smocking. What she was actually patenting, as noted in the summary of the document at the end, was as follows. Quote I claim and desire to secure by letters patent of the United States the elastic seam and having one thread of rubber and the other of ordinary sewing thread substantially as described. Basically, if a factory implemented this technique to elasticize garments, she was entitled to payment.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Yeah, it wasn't so much an item or a piece of machinery, but, like, I'm gonna tell you how to do it and then you're gonna give me money. Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

More ways to elasticize garments, also a big deal.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Yeah, I mean, as Tracy just said, that is a technique that is still taught to home sewists so that you can create, you know, gathered seams that have stretch to them for your garments. And at this point, she had two patents, but she was just getting started. Her next patent was improvement in elastic goring for shoes, which was also issued in 1875, and it incorporated a variation of that elastic seaming technique to create stretchy gores that could be inserted into shoes in a way that made them more comfortable and also able to stand up to normal wear much better.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The next was improvement in welted and covered seams. And this was a technique like the elastic seams. Noting quote My invention relates to seams of cloth, leather, or any other suitable material made by placing the two edges to be united one over the other and then alternately stitching within and without the edge afterward. Flattening out the seam so that the edges will abut and sewing leather, cloth and etc. With this seam, where it is subject to considerable chafing or rubbing, it is desirable often to furnish protection to the parts of the threads exposed on the wearing surface. This I do in two ways. By the insertion of a piping or welt, by sewing a strip over the seam. The advantages of the welt or piping and of the covered seam are manifest in the protection which they afford against the wearing and chafing of the exposed parts of the seam thread. They are particularly applicable to the seams of shoes, leather, mittens, bags and heavy woolen goods or canvas. Still, I do not limit them to such.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Yes, so those are the kinds of seams like you might see on the inside of your denim, like on the inside seam that you don't see any of the raw edges because they're all contained. They're very strong seams. And they also, as she mentioned, are protected a little bit from wear and tear. She also patented a hollow needle, a spool case that kept thread from being unwound, refinements to sewing machines, and a machine for inserting hat bands to protect the hat from sweat. In 1901, she submitted a patent for improvements in seams for sewed articles or fabrics, which states, quote, consists of an improved seam especially applicable for knitted fabrics. The edges to be united are placed together and penetrated by two loops of unequal length. The longer loop A, which is the further from the edge, is then turned up so that it and the loop B can be drawn together to the edge to be enchained with a loop C drawn over the edge from the upper side. On the completion of the sewing, the two portions of fabric are separated. Um, she just described a serger. If you don't know what that is, that's another thing. You see serge seams all the time in your purchase clothes today. That's when the raw edges on the interior usually of your garment are bound with what looks almost like a spiral of thread that contains the whole thing so they don't come apart. For this invention, Helen Blanchard will forever have my heart.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I feel like for a lot of people who want to sew, step one sewing machine, and often the next big purchase for people who are really doing a lot of garment sewing is going to be a serger.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Yeah, it's, it's one of those things that really, like separates the appearance of your finished garment from like looking like I made this myself to looking like a professionally made piece of clothing because the finish is so clean, it's a lot better. There are a lot of other ways you can do a clean finish that, like, tailors would use and stuff, but in terms of your home sewing.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Right. I said better. And I want to say I'm casting no aspersions on anybody that's sewing their seams and pressing them and doing all the finishing that way. That's like. That's also. Yeah.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

No, and there's also. Right. Like you can do like a bound seam where you actually. Then after you've stitched it, you enclose the raw edges with another strip of fabric. Like, there are lots of other ways, but in terms of like a fast, accessible. We could talk behind the scenes about threading these machines. It's a whole other party. This is a big deal in terms of the development of sewing.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. Over the course of 41 years, Helen patented 28 inventions. Almost all of them were for sewing machines and methods, and those were all intended for factory use. One big Exception was an 1894 invention of a surgical needle. That patent reads, quote, this invention has for its object to provide a surgical needle adapted to introduce the thread or wire into the human skin with the minimum degree of pain to the patient. The invention consists in a surgical needle comprising a lancet point and a blade having a notch, the rear side of which is formed to engage a thread when the needle is being inserted, while the forward side is formed to release the thread when the needle is being withdrawn. So while this is a surgical item, you can tell that the inspiration for its function comes from her work with needles in the sewing world. And of her 28 inventions, a whopping 22 of them were adopted into regular use in factory settings shortly after their introduction. It is really not an overstatement to say she steered the course of industrial sewing in the latter half of the 19th century.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

And coming up, we'll talk a little bit more about Helen's relationships with her siblings and her family and community. But first, we will take a break to hear from the sponsors that keep the show going.

[Holly Fry]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Holly Fry]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Holly Fry]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

Or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

In the beginning of the 1880s, Helen extended her regained financial stability to her oldest sister, Louise, who was also unmarried. By moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Louise already lived and going into business with her, they formed the Blanchard Oversea Machine Company. Louise was definitely not the only family member that Helen assisted. For example, in 1900, the Boston Evening Transcript reported that the Blanchard Lumber Company had been founded in Portland, Maine, quote, with a capital stock of $75,000. Helen was listed as the president of that company and an H.W. blanchard was the treasurer. I was not able to figure out who specifically H.W. blanchard was. I was tracing what I could of her family line but did not find an hw. But the likely thing is that it was either like a niece or a nephew or possibly a cousin or something like that. There are also mentions in various newspaper accounts written during Helen's lifetime that note that she helped out her family members, although specifics on that help can be a little bit tricky to pinpoint. It would probably be possible to scour newspaper mentions of her name to find other business announcements, but she was written about a lot, and a lot of it is just these really brief standard business notices of the day, like when property changed hands or when a company opened. So I will admit, sifting through that seemed pretty whelming to me, and I did not track all of them down.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In the 1890s, Blanchard expanded her base of operations to also include living in New York at least part of the time. Holly was not able to find primary sources for any of what's coming up, but it did come up in a few different places. As she reached her 50s, she also became a philanthropist. She funded several programs that were focused on helping women who were experiencing financial hardship. She recognized that her inventions were shifting the job market and potentially decreasing opportunities for women, so she paid special attention to causes that were related to the negative impacts of industrialization. As an example of the places and ways that information pops up, it appeared as follows. In the 1893 book a woman of the Century, which was an encyclopedia of noteworthy women compiled by Frances Elizabeth Willard. Quote, in all the rush and publicity that have surrounded her, she has preserved those qualities of gentleness, dignity and modesty which adorn her character and secure her a grateful welcome into the social life of the metropolis. Aiding with open hearted generosity the meritorious efforts of struggling women wherever she has found them. She has distinguished herself as a benefactor of her sex.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Yeah, so there are lots of allusions made to her helping out women's organizations, but no specific organizations ever seem to get named, so just keep that in mind. But while she was living in Pennsylvania and New York, Helen also found her way back to Maine. The 1886 newspaper report that we mentioned earlier actually did a story on this, writing that she, quote, has been enabled not only to enjoy the luxuries of life herself, but afford them to her family. Ms. Blanchard, however, was not satisfied that the old family property should remain in the hands of strangers. She has been visiting the vicinity of Portland lately and she has placed in the hands of her attorney, Mr. George M. Cedars, the authority to repurchase the old mansion and the stores which will be placed in the same condition they enjoyed when the family was at the best estate. Helen did successfully buy back the family home and her father's other various properties around town, as well as investing in a number of other properties. And so she also started just spending her summers in Maine and she was welcomed back.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In 1899 a note appeared in the Portland Sunday telegram reading, quote, Ms. Helen A. Blanchard writes, a well known woman of Portland is one whose name should find a place in possibly about you. That was a series in the paper about notable locals. She is one of the few women inventors. Her inventive genius and business capacity, her tireless industry and good judgment have enabled her to render services to the country of which her native city may well be proud. Though for some years she has made her home in Philadelphia, where her business interests have largely been placed, and in New York she turns her face Portlandward every summer. She is well remembered by those who survive of her classmates in the famous Young Women's Seminary kept for so many years by Dean Packard on Free Street.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Helen's multi city life makes her a little bit hard to track sometimes because it seems that she sometimes just opted to live with siblings or other relatives rather than purchasing or renting a new place sometimes. And there's not always a clear address or an appearance in city directories for her. What we know regarding her city of residence at any given time is largely just extrapolated from the information that she.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Gave on patent applications in 1900, Helen was involved in a legal tangle. And we'll tell you up front, we do not know exactly how it was resolved, but it was reported in the Portland Daily Press on December 22 that Helen was being sued. The plaintiff, Charles A. Jordan, was a furniture salesman who had two promissory notes for the sale of furniture totaling $132.65. One had been paid and the other had not. But there was also a note handwritten on each of them that said with, with interest. Blanchard claimed that the interest note had been added after she had signed these notes, but the one she paid nothing on, she claimed was past the statute of limitations.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Yeah, that's about all the information we have on that. And as I was reading the article, I was like, did she not pay this bill? And then she just waited it out.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And then she was like, done.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

It's too old. I'm not gonna deal with that. This was not her only legal case that month, although in the other case that I, she was the plaintiff. The very next day after that promissory note story ran, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a short item stating that Blanchard had, quote, filed a bill in equity in United States Circuit Court against John Bigelow of Minneapolis, Minnesota and James Greenwood of Boston, Massachusetts, individually and as trustees, asking that a certain trust agreement be canceled and that certain royalties payable from the Wilcox and Gibbs Sewing Machine Company be paid to her. So while we don't have a lot of information on that one, it does indicate pretty clearly that she was not hesitant when it came to defending her business interests legally.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Although she was really often described in very positive terms in the press of Portland, Holly did find an instance where she was fully put on blast in the paper by a storage company she had neglected to pay. This notice appeared in the Portland Sunday Telegram on January 31, 1915. Quote, no auction sale. The auction sale advertised to be held at the Crocker storage warehouse at 340 Cumberland Ave. On Monday, Feb. 1 at 9am of this household furniture and effects of one Helen A. Blanchard for non payment of storage charges has been indefinitely postponed. Parties interested in said furniture and effects have made a satisfactory settlement with the administrators of the Portland Storage Warehouse Company.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

But the thing is, we can't actually jump to conclusions about that one. The 19 teens played out really poorly for the surviving Blanchard family and specifically for Helen. In 1914, her sister Louise, with whom she was very close and had a business, died. And in the months that followed, her sister Persis also died and then all three of the Blanchard brothers died, one right after the other. She lost her entire group of siblings in the course of one year. So that non payment situation with the storage company happened while she was grieving, possibly working to settle her siblings estates. Indeed, her obituary that came out several years later would note, quote, loss of two sisters and three brothers in 1914 brought about prostration from which she never fully recovered. And then in 1916 Helen had a stroke which left her unable to work. And it seems that after that she likely lived with her niece Louise Merrill, who resided in Providence, Rhode Island.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Helen died in Providence on January 12, 1922 at the age of 81. But her death leaves yet another question mark which is what happened to Oliver Money? And nobody seems to know. As noted by Autumn Stanley in the 1995 book Mothers and Daughters of Invention, quote All indications are that Helen Blanchard was tremendously wealthy, yet no will was probated for her estate either in Providence or in Portland. Perhaps after her stroke of 1916 she was declared incompetent and her estate apportioned at that time among surviving nieces and nephews, including Louise Merrill of Providence. This is just one of the many mysteries awaiting further research.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Yeah, we do not know where any of those holdings went, but what we do know is that Helen was buried at the Evergreen cemetery in Portland, Maine with the rest of her family.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And in 2006 Helen Blanchard was inducted into the National Inventors hall of Fame.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

I feel personal gratitude for her, but that is Helen Blanchard, who I will wax rhapsodic about maybe. Or just sewing in general. Sorry if you don't care to hear.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Sewing talk, you're getting it this week.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

On Friday and since it's on theme, I have listener mail.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Great.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

That is also about sewing. Sort of. This is from our listener Alyssa who writes Hi ladies. I discovered your podcast during COVID lockdowns and I've been a listener ever since. You were talking on the behind the scenes about how hundreds of factories could fit in a small town and I wanted to share a favorite New York City experience for listeners who live in or visit the city. In the Garment district there are still several small factories hand making goods for the fashion and entertainment industries and the public can sometimes tour and also purchase from them. I have gotten to visit Both Ms. Schmalberg customfabricflowers.com and wing and weft glove factory, which is wegloveyou.com and I couldn't recommend them more. You can bring them special fabrics and they can make the flowers or gloves for you, or you can choose from what they have made. They can walk you through the process as it's been done for more than a hundred years. The factories are about as large as one story of a modest size house, so it's easy to imagine quite a few existing in just one building. I do not have any fur babies as I have terrible allergies, but I do have two kids, both of whom love going to New York. So I'm attaching a pic of my 12 year old daughter from our girls trip this past summer at the Museum of Broadway, which was so much fun to visit. Thank you for teaching and entertaining us and I hope some of your listeners are able to support these small and super cool businesses. Alyssa, this is a very cool story. I didn't know you could visit and tour those. You would think that would be a thing. I would know.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Now I have more stuff on my list to do when I'm in New York.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It kind of reminds me of an alternate version of when there are like gallery walk days and studio strolls and things like that where you can like tour all of the artists studios in an area.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

Love it. Love it. Yes, go do that. Support businesses like that if you can because those sound amazing and I want them to stay around so we can all visit. If you would like to write to us, you can do [e-mail] if you would like to subscribe to the podcast and you have not gotten around to that, I promise you it's the easiest thing in the world. You can do that on the iHeartRadio app or really anywhere you listen into your favorite shows.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Here's to the season. From hanging ornaments in matching pajamas to building gingerbread houses with extra icing and staying up late to wrap gifts gifts and watch movies, these traditions make the holidays truly special and through it all, the Chinette brand is there to share in the joy. With the Chinette Crystal Collection, holiday tables are perfectly coordinated, allowing for excellence with less cleanup so everyone can focus on what really matters. Here's to the traditions that bring everyone together year after year. Here's to us. All of us. Find a local [e-mail] we've all got.

[Holly Fry]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Holly Fry]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Holly Fry]

Statement pieces and vintage finds, where must have sneakers wait for you. And designer handbags are the real deal on ebay. Doors open to stacks of the rarest.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Trading cards and a garage stocked with all the car parts you need for any DIY job.

[Holly Fry]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Holly Fry]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Holly Fry]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Holly Fry]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. This holiday season, make sure you set aside time for self care now through December 31st. Shop in store and online for participating self care products and get four times points to use for discounts on future grocery and gas purchases. Stock up on self care favorites like Pantene Shampoo, Gillette Fusion and Proglide Razors.

[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Holly Fry]

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[Helen A. Blanchard]

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[Holly Fry]

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