Mary Ella Spooner was born in Oakham, Massachusetts on October 14, 1851 to Andrew Spooner, Jr. and Mary Brown. As a child she attended Oakham public schools. She graduated from Mount Holyoke Seminary in July of 1872 and from the University of California at Berkeley in 1893. She married Julius Waverly Brown in 1894. She taught Latin and German at Mount Holyoke from 1872 until 1884, and at Oahu College, in Honolulu, Hawaii from 1884 until 1891. She had three foster children from Kentucky. She wrote a book of poems as well as an autobiography and many educational pamphlets. She died on January 21, 1946 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Mary Ella Brown papers consist of correspondence, writings, biographical material and photographs. The correspondence, dated 1889-1942, includes one letter from Mary Woolley as well as letters to friends and to the Secretary of the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association; The writings consist of the manuscript of an autobiography written circa 1935-1940 and entitled "Fourscore Plus;" poems and songs written between circa 1874-1933; and essays and stories written circa 1908-1944. The biographical material is mostly made up of news clippings and includes an obituary. The photographs, circa 1872-1946, are of Brown and her family and also include two photographs of Chinatown in Honolulu.

Material from this collection is available in an online digital format.

This collection is organized into four series:

• Correspondence (1889-1942)
• Writings (1874-1944)
• Biographical Material (1882-1946)
• Photographs (1872-1946)