caption death_date death_place birth_place parents birth_date image article_title name occupation
helen charles tarbell , c. 1910 frick and her father , portrait by edmund 1984 pittsburgh , pennsylvania , u.s. pittsburgh , pennsylvania , u.s. henry clay frick adelaide howard childs frick 1888 edmund - google art project.jpg charles tarbell - henry clay and helen frick helen clay frick
 helen clay frick philanthropist
helen clay frick

helen clay frick -lrb- 1888 -- 1984 -rrb- was an american philanthropist and art collector .
she was born in pittsburgh , pennsylvania , the third child of the coke and steel magnate henry clay frick -lrb- 1849 -- 1919 -rrb- and adelaide howard childs -lrb- 1859 -- 1931 -rrb- .
two of her siblings did not reach adulthood , and her father played favorites with his two surviving children , childs frick -lrb- 1883 -- 1965 -rrb- and helen .
after the reading of their father 's will , which favored helen , the brother and sister were estranged for the rest of their lives .
nonetheless , helen developed as a strong , independent and feisty young woman .
she was equally interested in art history and philanthropy , making a catalogue of her father 's art collection as a young woman , a collection which became the frick collection in new york .
her interest in the history of art resulted in her establishing the frick art reference library , which was originally housed in the bowling alley of the frick family mansion in new york city at 1 east 70th street .
in 1924 , a separate two and one-half story building was constructed at 6 east 71st street to house the library , which was replaced in 1935 by the present thirteen story building at 10 east 71st street .
the library houses photographs and archival records that document the history of western art , many works of which were lost during world wars i and ii .
she also established an art library at the university of pittsburgh and , later in her life , built the frick art museum on the grounds of clayton to house her private art collection .
