Harriet P. Henry Papers

Harriet Putnam Henry was born in 1923 in Ashland, Kentucky. She graduated from Smith College in 1945 and earned a J.D. degree in 1954 from George Washington University School of Law. While in Washington, she worked as an economic analyst in the Office of the Quartermaster General from 1945 to 1946 and as a research analyst in the National Security Agency from 1946 to 1957. She came to Maine in 1958 and became active in many civic and charitable organizations. She worked to establish the Portland Housing Authority and served as its chair. She was also active in the Portland League of Women Voters, serving as its president from 1963 to 1965 and as chair of its tax committee during the campaign to establish a state income tax in Maine in the mid-1960's.

In 1968 she became research director of a project launched under the Office of Sea Grant Programs and the University of Maine Law School to make a study of all Maine law affecting the state's marine resources including fishery regulations, restriction on and use of estuaries, restrictions on industry, shore property zoning, and regulation and restriction of recreational activities. This project resulted in a four-volume study entitled Maine Law Affecting Marine Resources, published in 1969-1970. From 1970 to 1973, she served as a consultant to various public agencies on projects involving marine and environmental law and coastal zone management. These included the University of Maine Shoreland Zoning Project, the Penobscot River Study, and a project to establish a Maine coastal islands registry.

In 1973 Henry became Maine's first woman judge, appointed by Governor Kenneth Curtis as Judge-at-Large in the Maine District Court. She became known as an advocate for women judges and served on the boards of the National Center for State Courts and the Women Judges' Fund for Justice. She also served as the chair of the National Association of Women Judges Professional Leave Committee which sought to assure adequate provisions for maternity and paternity leave in order to increase judicial job satisfaction. She also became known for her work in the areas of child abuse and child welfare, serving as co-chair of the Children in the Courts Committee and chair of the Judicial Department Child Support Guidelines Advisory Committee and of the Advisory Committee on Child Support Rules. She retired from the District Court in 1990.

Judge Henry was a member of the Maine Governor's Commission on Status of Women and in 1972-1973 served as chair of the Joint Action Commission on University Goals and Direction at the University of Maine at Portland-Gorham. In 1990-1994, she served as chair of the Commission to Study the Future of Maine's Courts. Additional civic activities include serving on the boards of the Maine Historical Society, the Maine Humanities Council, and Sweetser Children's Services, and as a trustee of Westbrook College. A recipient of many honors and awards, Harriet Henry received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Bowdoin College and from the University of Maine as well as the Maine Commission on Women's Woman of the Year Award. In 1992 she received the Maryann Hartman Award from the University of Maine at Orono, given to women whose work provides inspiration to all women. In 2003 the Maine Humanities Council's Center for the Book was named for Harriet P. Henry, a reflection of her long-time support for the Council and its activities.

Harriet Henry is married to Merton Henry, an attorney involved in many civic and philanthropic activities, and they are the parents of three children.