Emily Browne Powell (1847-1938): Poet & Champion of California Women Writers

Emily Browne Powell & Crypt

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Emily Browne Powell was one of early California’s most active literary figures—a poet, essayist, journalist, and tireless advocate for women in the arts. Born Emily Browne in Massachusetts, she moved west with her husband, Henry Powell, eventually settling in Alameda, California. From this base she became a key voice in the state’s late-nineteenth-century literary culture, working at the intersection of journalism, poetry, and women’s rights.

Powell first gained recognition for her poems and reflective essays that appeared in West Coast periodicals, but she also achieved distinction as an author of historical sketches. Among her best-known works was “A Modern Knight: Reminiscences of General M. G. Vallejo,” published in 1890. The essay offered a rare, sympathetic portrait of the Californio general Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, exploring his role in the state’s transformation from Mexican province to American statehood. Writing at a time when Anglo-American narratives often dismissed or caricatured Mexican-Californian figures, Powell’s portrayal of Vallejo was both personal and restorative, blending historical research with moral reflection. Her tone—admiring but unsentimental—demonstrated her sensitivity to the complexities of California’s layered identity.

"Songs Along the Way" by Emily Browne Powell

Powell also published several collections of verse, including “Driftwood,” “Sea Drift and Shore Songs,” and “Poems.” Her poems tended toward lyric meditations on nature, spirituality, and domestic life, often tinged with a sense of loss and perseverance. While she never achieved the national fame of contemporaries like Ina Coolbrith, Powell’s poetry circulated widely in California newspapers and magazines, earning her a reputation as one of the region’s most consistent literary contributors.

Yet her literary career was not without controversy. In 1891, Powell was at the center of a small but telling scandal that exposed the vulnerability of women writers in the era’s publishing world. According to a widely reported account, she had submitted an article titled “Hints to Art Students” to the Ladies’ Home Journal. The editors rejected it but returned the manuscript with detailed comments showing they had read it closely. Soon afterward, an article strikingly similar—titled “Useful Hints for Drawing”—appeared in the Home Journal, mirroring Powell’s phrasing and ideas. The San Francisco Morning Call and other papers accused Eastern editors of literary theft, noting that “it looks as if Mrs. Powell’s article had been deliberately copied while in the possession of the editor who rejected it.” Though no formal redress came, the episode underscored a broader injustice faced by women writers whose unpaid submissions were vulnerable to plagiarism and appropriation. Powell’s case became a cautionary tale in West Coast literary circles, highlighting both her professionalism and her principled sense of fairness.

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Her indignation over such treatment dovetailed with her leadership in the women’s press movement. Powell served as president of the Pacific Coast Women’s Press Association (PCWPA), an organization founded in San Francisco in 1890 to support women journalists, authors, and editors. The PCWPA sought to “unite women engaged in literary pursuits” and to promote their professional and financial independence in a male-dominated field. It organized lectures, mutual aid networks, and press syndication efforts to elevate women’s voices in Western journalism. Under Powell’s guidance, the association cultivated a collegial atmosphere that encouraged collaboration over competition—a philosophy she articulated in speeches emphasizing the moral dimension of authorship. The PCWPA’s membership included notable California writers such as Charlotte Perkins Stetson (later Gilman), Nellie Blessing Eyster, and Sarah B. Cooper, and it played a key role in legitimizing women’s professional authorship on the Pacific Coast.

Powell’s advocacy for women in journalism reflected her own lived experience. She understood the economic precarity of freelance writers and often spoke about the need for copyright protections and ethical publishing practices. Her essays championed the idea that women’s literary work was not merely ornamental but civic—that good writing could shape public morals, educate readers, and dignify the emerging California identity.

Throughout her long career, Emily Browne Powell remained devoted to the cause of integrity in authorship and the advancement of women in letters. Though the literary marketplace of her day offered little reward, her influence resonated through the networks she built and the young writers she mentored. She died in 1918, leaving behind a body of verse and prose that captured the intellectual restlessness and reformist energy of her adopted state.

Today, Powell’s story stands as both inspiration and warning—a testament to creative perseverance in the face of plagiarism, gender bias, and editorial gatekeeping. Through her poetry, her historical writing on figures like Vallejo, and her leadership of the Pacific Coast Women’s Press Association, she helped carve out a place for women’s voices in the literary life of the American West.

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Sources:
Wikipedia: “Emily Browne Powell”; San Francisco Morning Call, June 11 1891 p. 3; San Francisco Chronicle archives; Pacific Coast Women’s Press Association records (Bancroft Library); Wisconsin Historical Society; Find a Grave