Elizabeth Towne
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Towne was an influential writer, editor, and publisher in the New Thought
and self-help
movements.
(INTA), and served on its board in various capacities. She served as the president of INTA in 1924.
Towne was the founder and publisher of Nautilus
Magazine, a journal of the New Thought Movement that ran from 1898 through 1953, when she brought it to a close due to her advancing age (she was 88 years old at the time). She also operated the Elizabeth Towne Company, which published an extensive list of New Thought, metaphysical
, self-help, and self-improvement books by herself and writers such as William Walker Atkinson
, Kate Atkinson Boehme
, Paul Ellsworth, Orison Swett Marden
, Edwin Markham
, Clara Chamberlain McLean, Helen Rhodes-Wallace, William Towne, and Wallace Wattles
.
and William Walker Atkinson
.
New Thought
New Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...
and self-help
Self-help
Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...
movements.
Career
Both Elizabeth Towne and her second husband William E. Towne were for many years associated with the International New Thought AllianceInternational New Thought Alliance
The International New Thought Alliance is an umbrella organization for New Thought adherents "dedicated to serving the New Thought Movement’s various branches, organizations and individuals".- History :...
(INTA), and served on its board in various capacities. She served as the president of INTA in 1924.
Towne was the founder and publisher of Nautilus
The Nautilus (Magazine)
The Nautilus was a magazine of the New Thought Movement, founded in 1898 by Elizabeth Towne. In May 1900, Towne moved the magazine to Holyoke, Massachusetts, which became its permanent home until its discontinuation in August 1953, when Towne retired from publishing at the age of 88...
Magazine, a journal of the New Thought Movement that ran from 1898 through 1953, when she brought it to a close due to her advancing age (she was 88 years old at the time). She also operated the Elizabeth Towne Company, which published an extensive list of New Thought, metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
, self-help, and self-improvement books by herself and writers such as William Walker Atkinson
William Walker Atkinson
William Walker Atkinson was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is also known to have been the author of the pseudonymous works attributed to Theron Q...
, Kate Atkinson Boehme
Kate Atkinson Boehme
Kate Atkinson Boehme was a New Thought writer whose articles were published in Elizabeth Towne's magazine Nautilus. In 1918 she was associated with the Radiant Center of Philosophy in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Her book New Thought Healing Made Plain was published by Elizabeth Towne in 1918...
, Paul Ellsworth, Orison Swett Marden
Orison Swett Marden
Orison Swett Marden was an American writer associated with the New Thought Movement. He also held a degree in medicine, and was a successful hotel owner.Marden was born in Thornton Gore, New Hampshire to Lewis and Martha Marden...
, Edwin Markham
Edwin Markham
Charles Edwin Anson Markham was an American poet. From 1923 to 1931 he was Poet Laureate of Oregon.-Life:Edwin Markham was born in Oregon City, Oregon and was the youngest of 10 children; his parents divorced shortly after his birth...
, Clara Chamberlain McLean, Helen Rhodes-Wallace, William Towne, and Wallace Wattles
Wallace Wattles
Wallace Delois Wattles was an American author. A New Thought writer, he remains personally somewhat obscure, but his writing has been widely quoted and remains in print in the New Thought and self-help movements....
.
Influence
The title page of Towne's book The Life Power and How to Use it is shown in the opening sequence of the 2006 movie The Secret, and the film presents many of the ideas that she promoted, along with those of Wallace WattlesWallace Wattles
Wallace Delois Wattles was an American author. A New Thought writer, he remains personally somewhat obscure, but his writing has been widely quoted and remains in print in the New Thought and self-help movements....
and William Walker Atkinson
William Walker Atkinson
William Walker Atkinson was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is also known to have been the author of the pseudonymous works attributed to Theron Q...
.