Guide
Nella Braddy Henney
After being assigned to work with Helen Keller as she updated The Story of My Life in 1923, Braddy Henney became a close friend of Keller, Anne Sullivan, and Polly Thomson
Biography
Nella Braddy Henney was born in Leslie, Georgia on November 28, 1894. The family lived in Sumter County, Georgia. Nella married Keith Henney on August 28, 1926. She attended Wesleyan College (Macon, Georgia) and then Converse College in Spartanburg (Georgia), where she earned a bachelors degree from in 1915 and was awarded an honorary degree in 1934. She attended Columbia University for graduate school.
From 1919 until 1938, Nella worked at Doubleday as an editor of books, encyclopedias, and anthologies. In 1923, she was assigned to work with Helen Keller when F.N. Doubleday encouraged Keller to update The Story of My Life (Blue, 703). Nella quickly learned the manual alphabet so that she could speak directly to Keller. She became a close friend and wrote the first published biography of Anne Sullivan (Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy), that was published September 13, 1933. She continued to work with Keller while writing the biography.
The Henneys owned a house on Foss Mountain in Eaton, New Hampshire that became an important refuge to Keller, Sullivan, and Thomson. In the photograph above, Nella is sitting on a rock under a flowering tree on Foss Mountain in 1940. The Henneys spent their summers there and lived in Garden City, New York the rest of the year. Keller and Thomson visited in 1938, 1946, and 1956.
Nella frequently visited Arcan Ridge, Keller’s home in Connecticut, and Keller and Thomson traveled into New York City so the group could have lunch or dinner at the Harvard Club or another restaurant.
In the late 1950s, Nella introduced Keller and Thomson to William Gibson, who was developing The Miracle Worker as a screenplay based on Nella’s biography of Sullivan (Blue, 705). She took great pride in the success of The Miracle Worker.
Nella served as Keller’s power of attorney and as her agent in literary matters before their relationship ended in 1963. She intended and hoped to write a biography about Thomson as she did for Sullivan, but the book never got written (Herrmann).
Nella died in Snowville NH on December 30, 1973 at the age of 79.
Writings by Nella Braddy Henney:
- The Book of Business Etiquette (1922)
- Masterpieces of Adventure (1922) – Henney was the editor of this four volume series.
- Anne Sullivan Macy (1933)
- Civil War Soldiers of Eaton, New Hampshire (1962)
- The Early Days of Eaton (1967)
- “With Helen” (article) — This article was requested by the American Foundation for the Blind in 1971, but they decided not to use it. Keith Henney published it in 1974, following Nella’s death.
- The Eaton Records (1972)
Sources:
Blue, J. (2008) Summers on Foss: Journals of Nella Braddy Henney.
Herrmann, D. (1999) Helen Keller: A Life. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Lash, J.P. (1981) Helen and Teacher: The Story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy. American Foundation for the Blind, New York, NY.
McGinnity, B.L., Seymour-Ford, J. and Andries, K.J. (2004) Helen Keller. Perkins History Museum, Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown, MA.
Recommended citation:
Coit, Susanna. Nella Braddy Henney. Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown MA. August 6, 2019.
Resources
- Nella Braddy Henney Collection finding aid
- The Third Musketeer – Perkins Archives Blog post about Polly Thomson and the role Nella played in their lives
- Keeping Up With the Racoons – Perkins Archives Blog post using Nella’s journal entries and letters to Helen about a raccoon family that lived around her house on Foss Mountain
Digitized collections
- Transcribed correspondence on Flickr
- Nella Braddy Henney Collection, Helen Keller Photographs on Flickr
- Photographs taken by Keith Henney. Includes the following albums: Helen Keller’s dogs; Reading and writing; Home life and with friends; and an album containing the all photographs in chronological order.
- Nella Braddy Henney Collection on the Internet Archive
- Letters and Documents from the Middle East on Flickr
- In 1952 Helen Keller and Polly Thomson embarked on a three-month trip to the Middle East, visiting Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Israel. Karl Meyer served as guide for a portion of the trip. The collection includes digitized correspondence that was sent to Nella Braddy Henney during that trip.
- Helen Keller and Polly Thomson on Flickr
- Polly Thomson came to work for the Sullivan-Keller household in 1914 as a secretary. She became a constant companion to both Anne Sullivan Macy and Helen Keller. Upon Sullivan’s death in 1936, she became Keller’s primary companion. Originally from Scotland, Polly Thomson remained with Keller until her own death in 1957. Included in these photographs is Nella Braddy Henney, who met Helen Keller in the 1930s, when she joined the Keller-Sullivan-Thomson circle as Sullivan’s biographer. Many of the photographs in this collection were taken by Keith Henney.
