By Moira Stockton, Research Assistant
Dr. Laura Laffrado in front of Edens Hall at Western Washington Univeristy, beneath Ella Higginson’s words: “Here is the home of color and of light.” Picture by Mike Siegel for the Seattle Times.
The Seattle Times has debuted their story on Ella Higginson, detailing the work of Dr. Laura Laffrado, director of the Ella Higginson Recovery Project. In a three-part online debut, journalist Ron Judd brings Ella Higginson’s forgotten fame to public attention by following Laffrado’s Higginson-themed English class at Western Washington University into the Washington State Archives. The article features pictures of students working with artifacts and documents from the Ella Higginson Papers. Aside from educating the public on Ella Higginson, Judd and Laffrado hope to right a wrong by publishing a proper obituary for the gifted poet, something the Times neglected to do when she died in 1940. Higginson wrote a weekly column in the Times for four years titled “Clover Leaves.”
“The backstory: the tale of an English professor and a long-forgotten Poet Laureate”
“A Western Washington University professor works to ‘recover’ the legacy of Ella Rhoads Higginson”
“Belated obituary: Ella Rhoads Higginson, 1862(?)-1940, pioneer author of Pacific Northwest literature”
The story comes out in print this Sunday (June 24th) in the Seattle Times Pacific Northwest Magazine.