Marguerite Elton Harrison (1879–1967) was one of two daughters of wealthy Maryland shipping magnate Bernard N. Baker and his wife Elizabeth Elton (Livezey) Baker. In 1905, Harrison spearheaded an effort to open a school for indigent convalescent children. In 1915, Harrison's husband died of a brain tumor, leaving her and her 13-year-old son deeply in debt from his outstanding loans. Despite having completed only one semester of college and with no appropriate training, she used her brother-in-law's influence to secure a position as an assistant society editor for The Baltimore Sun and advanced quickly within the newspaper.
In 1918 Harrison wished to report on the conditions in Germany. As women were not recognized as war correspondents, she instead became a spy after being introduced to General Marlborough Churchill, head of the Military Intelligence Branch of the War Department. Harrison spied for the United States in the Soviet Union and Japan. She wrote about her experiences in her books.
As women were excluded from membership in most professional organizations such as the Explorers Club, Harrison participated in the founding of Society of Woman Geographers in 1925. Harrison also founded the Children's Hospital School in Baltimore. Harrison died on July 16, 1967, in Baltimore at the age of 88.
