Helen Bernice Karpinski
Helen Bernice Karpinski
interviewed by Jeanette E. Tuve
April 8, 1986
as part of the
Ethnic Women of Cleveland
Oral History Project Series
This oral history, collected in 1986, provides a fascinating glimpse into a remarkable life. Helen Karpinski was a wife and mother, as well as a pioneering politician and civic leader. Her accomplishments, including an historic 1939 run for the Cleveland City Council, would be remarkable even today, but for a woman born in 1899 they're nothing short of astonishing.
Helen Karpinski died in July of 2002 at the age of 102, and her three daughters, all lawyers, have continued the family tradition of public service.
For Further Reading
- Polish-Americans & Their Communities of Cleveland
- Polish Americans of Cleveland
- The Polish Cultural Garden - A chapter from Their Paths are Peace by Clara Lederer, an e-book in the CMP collection.
This is one of a series of interviews conducted by Jeanette E. Tuve in 1986 as part of the Ethnic Women of Cleveland Oral History Project at the Cleveland State University. Originally sponsored by the CSU Women's Comprehensive Program and the History Department, and funded by the George Gund Foundation, Cleveland Memory has now digitized these fascinating interview transcripts and recordings to allow you to read the transcripts online while listening to streaming audio recordings of the interviews.