Emma Estill-Harbour was born in November of 1884 in Missouri and received degrees at Colorado College, Columbia University, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She graduated with her master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1925 and received her Ph.D. in history in 1933. Dr. Harbour moved to Edmond in 1912 and served as a professor and chairman of the social studies department at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond until her retirement in 1952.

Appointed to committees by Presidents Woodrow Wilson and J. Edgar Hoover and three times made an honorary colonel by Oklahoma governors as a tribute to her work, Mrs. Harbour was a founder of Delta Kappa Gamma and became the state president of the American Association of University Women. In 1924 she was given the title of honorary secretary of the National Democratic Convention. Her articles were published in the Chronicles of Oklahoma, Southwestern Political Science Magazine, Shakespearian Magazine, and Oklahoma Teacher.