Events Calendar

Bell Toll For Ellen Browning Scripps

October 18 12:00 PM - 12:05 PM

Old Main

This event is open to the public.

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At noon, the Old Main bell will toll for one minute in honor of a most remarkable Knox alumna. Ellen Browning Scripps, member of the Class of 1859 and one of the College’s most distinguished and generous benefactors, was born on October 18, 1836, just four months prior to Knox College’s founding on February 15, 1837. 

Ellen Browning Scripps came to Knox from Rushville, Illinois, and attended the Female Seminary, receiving a "certificate of graduation" 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.

Scripps and her brothers were in the newspaper business, forming what would eventually become the national Scripps Newspaper chain. She was a self-made woman who amassed a fortune on her own. That fortune, when combined with her brother's estate, made her 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 was particularly interested in education, free speech, women's suffrage, temperance, and world peace, and referred to her significant gifts in these areas 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 purchase of a 3D printer, scientific instrumentation and Knox Anywhere software development, the Ellen Browning Scripps GIS Laboratory and the renovation of a biology/biochem laboratory, 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.

When the Old Main bell tolls at noon, please pause to remember Ellen Browning Scripps' remarkable life and her transformational gifts to Knox.