Happy 175th Birthday, Ellen Browning Scripps

In addition to the 175th anniversaries of Knox College and Galesburg, the Knox community is celebrating a third 175th milestone. Ellen Browning Scripps, member of the Class of 1859 and one of the College's most distinguished and generous benefactors, was born 175 years ago on October 18, 1836, just four months prior to Knox College's founding on February 15, 1837. The Old Main bell will toll for one minute today in honor of Scripps' birthday.

Ellen Browning Scripps came to Knox from Rushville, Illinois, and attended the Female Seminary, receiving a ladies "certificate of graduation" upon the completion of her coursework in 1859 because no diplomas were given to women at that time. While at Knox, she witnessed the Lincoln-Douglas Debate and later called it "the most important event of her time here." After graduation, she returned to Rushville, where she taught school, earning a salary of $9 a month.

Unlike most women of her era, Scripps' life was devoted to knowledge for its own sake. She was particularly interested in education, free speech, women's suffrage, temperance, and world peace. She and her brothers were in the newspaper business; they formed what would eventually become the national Scripps Newspaper chain. She invested her own money in the papers and also wrote a syndicated column for them. She was a self-made woman who amassed a fortune on her own, and, when combined with her brother's estate, she became one of the earliest women philanthropists, founding Scripps College, Scripps Biological Laboratory, and Scripps Institute of Oceanography. She also was the first woman to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

Scripps has been called philanthropic for the transformative gifts she gave, but she disliked that word. She preferred to refer to her significant gifts as "investments in humanity." Throughout the course of her life, she made several investments in Knox. The first was $1,000 in 1902. The second was $10,000 in 1908. The third was $100,000 to endow the Office of the President in 1915. At the time, these gifts were the most generous of any living benefactor to the College.

More recently, grants from the Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation to Knox College have supported the upgrade of the College's spectrophotometer, a state-of-the-art scientific instrument used by faculty and students; the establishment of the Ellen Browning Scripps GIS Laboratory and the renovation of a biology/biochem laboratory, both in the Umbeck Science-Mathematics Center; and provided operating support for the start up of the journalism program, the Center for Career & Pre-Professional Development, and the Center for Community Service.

To express appreciation for Scripps' many contributions to Knox College, the College has named its most prestigious giving society in her honor. The Ellen Browning Scripps Society recognizes donors who have given $1,000,000 or more to Knox during their lifetimes.