Plaque: Founders Hall Plaque to Laura Towne and Ellen Murray

Laura Towne

Plaque: Founders Hall Plaque to Laura Towne and Ellen Murray

c. 1899-1905

Plaque

The University of North Carolina Special Collections Library features a photo taken by Helen C. Jenks, which shows a plaque commemorating the lives of Laura Matilda Towne and Ellen Murray. Towne and Murray were White Northern missionaries and educators who worked with newly freed African Americans on St. Helena Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina. The plaque mentions the establishment of Penn School in 1862 and recognizes the two women, who, “for more than forty years devoted themselves with unfailing courage and sympathy to the uplifting of the people of this island.”

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The Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina (Contributor: Penn Center)

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