Lou Ella Archer Papers

Lou Ella Archer was born to George Alfred and Harriet (Cunningham) Archer in St. Paul, Minnesota on July 18, 1891. The family began dividing its time between Phoenix and Minnesota in 1900, spending summers in Minnesota and winters in Arizona. While in Phoenix, they lived in Palm Villa, which George Archer's brother John had constructed on 20 acres of land at the northeastern corner of Central and Thomas. The home was razed due to commercial development in 1946.

After completing her elementary education in central Arizona and finishing school on the East coast, Lou Ella Archer continued to divide her time between Dellwood, Minnesota and Phoenix. During the 1930s, she wrote two books, Sonnets of the Southwest and Canyon Shadows. She was heavily involved in humanitarian endeavors, generously supporting such causes as the Arizona Humane Society, the Friendly House, the American Society for the Control of Cancer, and the Phoenix Center for the Blind. During World War II, she also served as the gasoline ration board chairman, volunteered with the Red Cross, and opened Palm Villa to student pilots training in central Arizona. Archer traveled extensively, living in Holland between 1914 and 1916 and visiting such countries as Mexico, Italy, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Haiti, and Chile.

Archer married Anton Begeer in St. Paul on December 30, 1913. The couple later divorced, and Archer married Harold Allen Elliott (1889-1939) in Los Angeles, California on March 18, 1932. Lou Ella Archer died in Phoenix on February 11, 1968.