Born in 1860, Elizabeth Towne founded the highly influential New Thought magazine The Nautilus by herself in 1898, as a single mother casting about for income. With second husband William E. Towne, Elizabeth established a business distributing New Thought literature in their town of Holyoke, Massachusetts. With more than fifty thousand readers at its peak, and featuring contributors such as Ella Wheeler Wilcox, William Walker Atkinson, and Orison Swett Marden, The Nautilus was one of the most successful and influential New Thought publications of its time. Towne was the author of thirteen books, including Experience in Self-Healing. In 1924, she was elected head of the New Thought Alliance. The Nautilus ended its more than half-century print run in 1953.