Harriet Ryan Albee (1829-1873) was an American social reformer and philanthropist,[1] who devoted herself and a large part of her earnings to the care of chronically ill and invalid women.

Recognized as one of the best-known charities in the country in its day, it was the first nonsectarian care home for incurables in the U.S.,[3] and one of the first to accept consumptives.

[7] Albee was about twelve years old when she heard a sad conversation between her mother and a young girl whose sister had been given up at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

She told Mrs. Ryan that she earned US$2 a week, and was willing to give US$1.50 to have her sister taken care of; but she was always changing, and people found it so much trouble.

The want of homes where they could be cared for was severely felt by these patients, their relatives being usually too much occupied in providing for their mere subsistence, and the necessary expenses consequent on illness, to be able to give them the attention essential to their comfort.

One day, when purchasing some articles in a grocer's shop, she heard a woman lamenting the condition of a sick neighbor, who had no one to care for her.

Albee immediately inquired her address, found that her state of health had been correctly described, brought her to her own humble lodging, and nursed her through her illness like a daughter.

[10] While combing and curling the hair of rich women at their own houses, Albee had ample opportunity of interesting her employers in the objects of her benevolence.

Finding herself unable to support them, she applied for help to some of her customers, who undertook to assist in providing nurses, Albee herself paying US$10 per week towards the cost.

Albee then conceived the idea of placing her protegées in one large room, where she could watch over them at night, leaving a substitute in charge during the day.

"[7] Obtaining sufficient encouragement in her benevolent idea from the rich women of Boston,[2] Albee applied to Rev.

Permission was readily granted, and when the society learned for what purpose the room was to be used, they offered it to her rent-free, a benefaction she gladly accepted.

[12] Here, at Jaffrey Cottage, they entertained Alexander Graham Bell, Anna Bowman Dodd, Mary Baker Eddy, Ralph Waldo Emerson, James T. Fields, John Fiske, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Celia Thaxter, and John Greenleaf Whittier.

[2] The Harriet Ryan Albee Professorship of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital was first held by Dr. Elliott D. Kieff;[13] Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes succeeded him.