Helen Herron Taft Manning (August 1, 1891 – February 21, 1987) was an American historian who was dean and acting president of Bryn Mawr College.

[citation needed] After her mother recovered, she resumed her studies at Bryn Mawr, graduating in 1915 with a bachelor's degree in history.

[1] On July 15, 1920, she married Yale history professor Frederick Johnson Manning (1894–1966), who then moved to Swarthmore College.

The Mannings had two daughters, who later also pursued careers in teaching:[citation needed] In 1917, aged only 26, Taft became dean of Bryn Mawr, and served as the college's acting president in 1919.

Taft's research interests centered on the history of North America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.