Helen Sherman Griffith (1873–1961) was an American author born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa. She was the daughter of Hoyt Sherman, a bank president and U.S. Army paymaster during the Civil War, and Sara Sherman. Her childhood home, Hoyt Sherman Place, later became a historic house museum where her bedroom was restored. She met her husband, the son of a Philadelphia cotton broker, during an around-the-world cruise.\n\nGriffith began her writing career in the late nineteenth century, publishing three plays in 1899: The Minister's Wife, The Burglar Alarm, and A Borrowed Luncheon. She also contributed short humorous pieces and quips to Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. She achieved widespread recognition as a prolific writer of children's literature, most notably through her Letty Grey series, which was published by the Penn Publishing Company of Philadelphia.\n\nIn addition to her children's books, Griffith wrote for adult audiences; her novel The Lane became a bestseller in the 1920s. Her connection to her childhood home remained strong throughout her life. During a 1914 visit to the Des Moines Women's Club, which was housed in Hoyt Sherman Place, the club dedicated an auditorium in her honor, celebrating the space where she had spent her youth imagining the stories that would later define her literary career.
