Helen Leland Witmer was born in Lansford, Pennsylvania. She earned her B.A. from Dickinson College in 1919, and her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1923. She did post doctoral work at the London School of Economics and went on to receive a certificate of social work from Bryn Mawr College in 1924.

After working as a high school teacher in Pennsylvania, a statistician in the Massachusetts Division of Corrections, and as Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, she became Director of Research at the Smith College School for Social Work where she remained from 1929 to 1949. Her responsibilities at Smith included formulating final exam questions, helping to set standards for social work theses, editing Smith College Studies in Social Work, and conducting research and writing for various state and national social service and mental health agencies. From 1949 to 1951, she was Director of Fact-finding for the White House Conference on Children and Youth. In 1951 Witmer became Director of Research for the United States Children's Bureau (a Health, Education and Welfare agency), a position she held from 1951 until 1967. During her tenure there, she worked on setting research standards for evaluating federally funded children's programs. She also wrote and published extensively on such topics as juvenile delinquency, pediatric psychiatry, family welfare, daycare, parent education, adoption, and child guidance. In 1967 she became editor of the Children's Bureau Research Reports, a publication of Children's Bureau research findings.

The papers are arranged in three series: Biographical Material, Writings, and Professional Activities. The Biographical Material series contains curriculum vitae, photographs and memorabilia. The bulk of the Writings series is comprised of notes and a book-length typescript for Juvenile Delinquents in Court: A Study in Four Countries, an examination of the management of juvenile delinquency in selected cities in Israel, Poland, Puerto Rico and Yugoslavia. Although the book was ready to go to press, it appears that Witmer never found a publisher. This series also contains typescripts of essays, lecture and conference papers, and journal articles.

The Professional Activities series contains correspondence, typescripts, and notes from Witmer's tenure at the Smith College School for Social Work. There are also extensive notes pertaining to her work at the United States Children's Bureau.

This collection is organized into three series:

• I. Biographical Material
• II. Writings
• III. Professional Activities