Helen Swift Neilson
{{Short description|American writer and art collector (1869–1945)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Helen Swift Neilson
| birth_date = 1869
| birth_place = Barnstable, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_date = 18 June 1945 (aged 76)
| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| family = Ira Nelson Morris (brother-in-law)
Nelson Morris (father-in-law)
| spouse = Edward Morris (spouse)
Francis Neilson
| children = Edward Morris, Jr.
Nelson Morris
Ruth Morris Bakwin
Muriel Morris Gardiner Buttinger
| father = Gustavus Franklin Swift
}}
Helen Swift Neilson (1869 – 18 June 1945) was an American writer and art collector.
Biography
Neilson was the daughter of Annie Maria (née Higgins) and Gustavus Franklin Swift, founder of the meatpacking company Swift & Co. Her first husband was Edward Morris, son of Nelson Morris, the founder of Morris & Company, a competitor to her father. They had four children: Edward Morris, Jr., Nelson Swift Morris, Ruth Morris Bakwin, and Muriel Morris Gardiner Buttinger.{{Cite web|first=Nelson |last=Roth |authorlink= |title=Nelson Morris and "The Yards" |publisher=Chicago Jewish Historical Society|date=Spring 2008 |url=http://chicagojewishhistory.org/pdf/2008/CJH_2_2008-web.pdf |access-date=}}{{Cite news|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= Nelson Morris Dies In N.Y. as He Leaves Ship |newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date= October 7, 1955|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19081085/chicago_tribune/ |access-date=}} In 1913, her husband died, and in 1917, she married British politician and writer Francis Neilson, with whom she founded the weekly paper The Freeman in 1920.[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3484154 In Memoriam: Helen Swift Neilson], The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 4, No. 4 (July 1945), pp. 511–513, on Jstor.
She is perhaps best known for her book about her parents, titled My Father and My Mother.[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2325376 My Father and My Mother], The Lakeside Press, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., Chicago, 1937.
Neilson died in Chicago, Illinois. She bequeathed several notable paintings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art:
File:Rembrandt, Portret van een jonge vrouw met waaier, 1633, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.jpg|Portrait of a Young Woman with a Fan, by Rembrandt
File:The Lovesick Maiden MET DP147594.jpg|The Lovesick Maiden, by Jan Steen
File:Janet Law MET DP162154.jpg|Portrait of Janet Law, by Henry Raeburn
File:Mrs. Thomas Pechell (Charlotte Clavering, died 1841) MET DP162153.jpg|Portrait of Mrs. Thomas Pechell (Charlotte Clavering, died 1841), by John Hoppner
File:Major Thomas Pechell (1753–1826) MET DP162152.jpg|Portrait of Thomas Pechell (1753–1826), by John Hoppner
References
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Category:American art collectors
Category:American women writers
Category:Morris family (meatpacking)
Category:People associated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art