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Ella Higginson Papers, 1870-1940

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Higginson, Ella, -- 1862-1940.
Title
Ella Higginson Papers
Dates
1870-1940 (inclusive)
1880-1940 (bulk)
Quantity
12 linear feet
Collection Number
XOE_CPNWS0007higginson
Summary
The collection contains correspondence, writings, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, photographs and artifacts documenting the life and work of prominent American author Ella Rhoads Higginson. Correspondence includes letters from prominent literary figures. Writings include drafts and copies of Higginson's published and unpublished novels, screenplays, short stories, and poems. Newspaper clippings and scrapbooks also include copies of articles, short stories, and poems written by Higginson, as well as reviews and articles regarding Higginson and her work.
Repository
Western Washington University, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
Goltz-Murray Archives Building
808 25th St.
Bellingham, WA
98225
Telephone: (360) 650-7534
cpnws@wwu.edu
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for preparing this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the Washington State Legislature to the Washington Women's History Consortium. Funding for encoding the finding aid was awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

Prominent American author Ella Rhoads Higginson (1862?-1940) was born Ella Rhoads in Council Grove, Kansas. As a child, she traveled with her family by horse-drawn carriage over the Oregon Trail to settle in the State of Oregon. Raised in Portland and Oregon City, Higginson attended public school and was also privately tutored. During her adolescence, Higginson began writing short stories and submitting them to newspapers and journals to be considered for publication. Her efforts were successful and over twenty of her stories were published during this time, appearing under various pseudonyms in publications in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast.

Like other celebrated American writers of the late nineteenth century such as Mark Twain and William Dean Howells, Higginson spent formative early years in journalism. At age sixteen, she began work on the Oregon City Enterprise, a local newspaper, where she learned to set type, write editorials, and correct proofs. She would hold various editorial positions on newspapers and literary journals throughout her career.

In 1885, she married Russell Carden Higginson (1852-1909), a descendant of Puritan minister Francis Higginson and cousin of author Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Three years later, the couple moved to the Washington Territory. In this remote corner of the Northwest, Higginson began to devote herself to writing poetry as well as prose. She soon rose to international fame. A prolific writer, she became the author of over eight hundred works, including the novel Mariella, of Out-West; story collections The Flower that Grew in the Sand, A Forest Orchid, and From the Land of the Snow Pearls; poetry collections The Voice of April-Land and When the Birds Go North Again; and nonfiction Alaska, the Great Country. Her best-known work, the poem "Four-Leaf Clover," first published in the West Shore magazine in 1890, was a sensation, widely reprinted throughout the nation. Critics compared her writing to works by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, Émile Zola, and other distinguished authors. Her poems were set to music by well-known composers, recorded, and performed internationally by dramatic singers such as Enrico Caruso.

Locally, Higginson was actively involved in community and civic affairs. She was an honorary member of various societies including the Progressive Literary and Fraternal Club, the Bellingham Soroptimists and the Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs. She was deeply concerned with issues affecting women, including female education and the institution of marriage. In an 1889 article in West Shore, she argued that the "real evil was not that divorce was too easy, but that marriage was too easy, and that there should be a law preventing marriage before the age of thirty, especially if the woman was homeless."*

Higginson was also significantly involved with the Normal School (later Western Washington University), helping determine the design of Main Building (now Old Main) and donating books to the school's library. She also devoted considerable time and energy to the formation and support of the Bellingham Bay Public Library, of which she became a long-time board member.

In 1912, Higginson served as the campaign manager for her friend Frances C. Axtell, who successfully ran for election to the Washington State House of Representatives after most women received the right to vote in Washington State. Higginson wrote the play, Just Like the Men, loosely based on this experience. Higginson's last public honor was her election in 1931 by the Washington Federation of Women's Clubs as the first Poet Laureate of Washington State.

Ella Higginson died at her home in Bellingham, Washington on December 27, 1940. She is buried beneath a self-designed granite monument in Bayview Cemetery in Bellingham.

*Cited in Koert, Dorothy. The Lyric Singer: A Biography of Ella Higginson. Bellingham, Washington: Center for Pacific Northwest Studies & Fourth Corner Registry, 1985, page 52.

Note: Additional biographical information on Ella Higginson provided in 2025 by Dr. Laura Fernandes Laffrado, Professor in the Department of English at Western Washington University and author of Selected Writings of Ella Higginson: Inventing Pacific Northwest Literature.

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Content Description

The Higginson papers contain correspondence, manuscripts, clippings, scrapbooks, photographs and artifacts documenting the life and work of Northwest writer and poet Ella Higginson. Records in the collection span the period approximately 1870 to 1940, with the bulk of material dated from 1880 onwards. Correspondence includes letters from prominent literary figures such as George Brett, head of the Macmillan Company, and editor S.S. McClure; contemporary authors Madison Cawein, Sarah Orne Jewett, Lloyd Mifflin, Joaquin Miller, and James Whitcomb Riley; and other public figures including photographer and ethnologist Edward Sheriff Curtis. Higginson's writings include drafts of her published and unpublished novels, screenplays, short stories and poetry, including manuscripts of Mariella of Out-West, and Alaska the Great Country. Researchers should note that many of these drafts are partial or incomplete. The collection also contains a small number of short stories and poems written by Higginson's sister, Carrie Blake Morgan.

Newspaper clippings dated approximately 1880-1920 include copies of short stories, poems and articles written by Higginson, and also reviews and articles about her life and work. Scrapbooks compiled by Higginson (1897–1909) also contain similar clippings, and copies of her poems. The collection also contains photographic prints and negatives of Ella Higginson, family and friends. Artifacts include printing blocks with images of Ella, her signature stamp, and copies of the words and music for her "Four Leaf Clover" poem.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Archives & Special Collections, Western Washington University.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Ella Higginson Papers are organized in accordance with the following series and sub-series arrangement:

  • Series I. Correspondence, approximately 1890-1940
  • Series II. Higginson's Writings, undated
    • Sub-series 1. Novels
    • Sub-series 2. Screenplays
    • Sub-series 3. Short Stories
    • Sub-series 4. Poetry
  • Series III. Writings by Carrie Blake Morgan, undated
  • Series IV. Newspaper Clippings approximately, 1879-1920
  • Series V. Scrapbooks approximately, 1897-1909
  • Series VI. Photographs approximately, 1870-1920s
  • Series VII. Ephemera, 1904; undated
  • Series VIII. Artifacts, undated

Custodial History

The Bellingham Public Library donated materials in the Higginson Papers to the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies in May 1998. The Bellingham Public Library previously received the materials in 1944 as a bequest from the Higginson estate.

Processing Note

John Flancher completed initial processing of the Ella Higginson Papers for the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies in 1998. In 2003, Ruth Steele re-engineered the collection.

Related Materials

Folder 4/4 (Ella Higginson Probate File & Chronological Summary) in the CPNWS Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection is related to The Ella Higginson Papers at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies.

Bibliography

Koert, Dorothy. The Lyric Singer: A Biography of Ella Higginson. Bellingham, Washington: Center for Pacific Northwest Studies & Fourth Corner Registry, 1985.

Bibliography

Laffrado, Laura. Selected writings of Ella Higginson : inventing Pacific Northwest literature. Bellingham, Washington: Whatcom County Historical Society, 2015.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Poets laureate--Washington (State)
  • Women authors, American--Washington (State)

Personal Names

  • Higginson, Ella,--1862-1940--Archives.

Form or Genre Terms

  • Personal correspondence.
  • Records (Documents)

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Higginson, Ella, -- 1862-1940. -- Mariella of out west.
    • Higginson, Ella, -- 1962-1940. -- Alaska, the great country.
    • Morgan, Carrie Blake.

Finding aid prepared by Ruth Steele
2003

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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