Ellen Browning Scripps

Ellen Browning Scripps
Ellen Browning Scripps, 1891
Born(1836-10-18)October 18, 1836
DiedAugust 3, 1932(1932-08-03) (aged 95)
Alma materKnox College
Known forPhilanthropy, Journalism
Parent(s)James Mogg Scripps
Ellen Mary Saunders
RelativesJames E. Scripps, (1835–1906; brother)
E. W. Scripps, (1854–1926; half-brother)

Ellen Browning Scripps (October 18, 1836 – August 3, 1932) was an American journalist and philanthropist who was the founding donor of several major institutions in Southern California. She and her half-brother E.W. Scripps created the E.W. Scripps Company, America's largest chain of newspapers, linking Midwestern industrial cities with booming towns in the West. By the 1920s, Ellen Browning Scripps was worth an estimated $30 million (or $3 billion in 2024 dollars), most of which she gave away.

She appeared on the cover of Time magazine after founding Scripps College in Claremont, California.[1] She also donated millions of dollars to organizations worldwide that promised to advance democratic principles and women's education.[2]

She helped to found the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), and Scripps Health, all located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, CA. The Scripps family supports the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

  1. ^ "In California: Miss Ellen Scripps...another Oxford Rises". Time Magazine. February 22, 1926.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference McClainEBS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).