Scripps, Ellen Browning, 1836-1932

Ellen Browning Scripps was born in Parish, London on October 18, 1836. Ellen was exposed to books and publishing at an early age. Her grandfather was an accomplished publisher and her father, James Mogg Scripps was a successful bookbinder. In 1844, after the death of her mother, her father and her five siblings moved to the United States. The family settled in Rushville, Illinois. Ellen attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois where she graduated with honors in mathematics. She was the first female graduate of Knox College. After graduating from College, Ellen taught in public and private schools throughout Illinois. Ellen Browning Scripps also taught many of her siblings and took a particular interest in the education of E.W., her youngest half-sibling. In 1866, Ellen left Illinois to be a proofreader at her brother Jame's newspaper office in Detroit. However, she returned to Rushville after two years, to care for her ill father. She lived sparingly her entire working life and saved as much money as possible in order to help support family members. After her father's death, in 1873, she traveled back to Detroit to join her brother James who was founding the "Detroit News." In addition to proofreading for the paper, Ellen prepared her own column. The piece was entitled Miscellany for the Detroit "Evening News." The column was composed of short feature stories which she assembled each evening after a full day of proofreading. E.W. developed Ellen's idea of a daily feature column into the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) Service, Inc. Today the NEA, Inc., a Scripps-Howard company, provides a great number of publishers with commended political commentary and a collection of graphics and illustrations through their daily service. In 1881, Ellen traveled abroad with E.W. during her absence from the paper, Miscellany was replaced by letters she wrote from foreign countries. As a result of the publication of her travel correspondence, Ellen Browning Scripps is sometimes referred to as one of journalism's first foreign correspondents. In 1878, Ellen joined with E.W. in establishing the Cleveland Press. She also invested in many of his publishing enterprises including the Cincinnati Post and other newspapers of the rising Scripps League. Later in life, she moved to Southern California with E.W. and his family and built a home in La Jolla. Ellen Browning Scripps spent most of her wealth in order to create opportunities for many people. Over the years, she contributed to various colleges, museums, zoos, parks, libraries and other associations. Ellen was also known as an early supporter and leader of the woman suffrage movement. Ellen Browning Scripps died on August 3, 1932.

From the guide to the Ellen B. Scripps Diaries, 1883-1904, (Ohio University)

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