While Benicia today is well-known as an artist’s community, it has also been home to several famous writers. It was where Jack London famously resided for a period and where Stephen Vincent Benet spent his youth. Benicia was also the birthplace of a 20th century syndicated columnist named Elsinore Justinia Robinson— better known to the world as Elsie.

Elsie Robinson’s column “Listen, World” was run in several Hearst-owned newspapers to approximately 20 million readers from the 1920s until her death in 1956. However, she is not nearly as well-known today, but those wishing to learn more about “Aunt Elsie” will have the opportunity during a special Capitol Speaker Series presentation at the Capitol State Historic Park in Robinson’s hometown.

Donnell Rubay, a local author and historian, said the goal of the event was to expose Robinson to a modern audience.

“Elsie was this really important person, and she was part of Benicia’s history and no one knows who she is now,” she said. “I wanted to remedy that.”

Robinson was born in Benicia in 1883 and was a member one of the first graduating classes at Benicia High School, according to a 1956 Herald article. Robinson chronicled her youth in Benicia in her 1934 autobiography “I Wanted Out.” Amidst Robinsons’s views on single parenthood, the advancement of women’s roles and the influence of technology on modern society, she manages to capture the city as it appeared in the late 19th century. For 16 pages, she describes the city and mentions such one-time locales as Singler’s Barber Shop, Stumm’s Jewelry Store, the boardwalks and saloons that lined First Street, the 4th of July Parade and even the City Cemetery she would later be buried in.

Robinson’s depiction of Benicia is not a flattering one, as the book’s title would indicate. In one passage, she describes “Crumbling Mexican adobe, red-tiled, blue-shadowed— splintering pine of ready-made fabricated walls that had ‘come around the Horn,’ now standing stark on baked earth, their white paint peeling under the blistering sun.”

Robinson eventually did move out of Benicia for Battleboro, Vt. where she married a man who is not named in the book at the age of 20. The marriage would last 10 years and produce a son, George Crowell, who was afflicted with bronchial difficulties from birth.

After her divorce, Robinson moved back to California with her son where she worked for three years as a hard-rock miner. She had previously begun writing as a means of escape in a loveless marriage and finally made a living out of it writing children’s stories for the Oakland Tribune. The stories evolved into an eight-page children’s section on Sundays, where she wrote under the name Aunt Elsie. Eventually, Robinson moved on to another newspaper, The San Francisco Call, and both her children’s feature as well as a column for adults titled “Listen World” were picked up for syndication.

“Listen, World” was a human interest column that leaned heavily on advice and Robinson’s insights on the world, employing the same blunt, descriptive manner she employed for her autobiography.

“She was one of the first people talking self-help,” Rubay said. “She was one of the first people giving advice, and she was so open and honest and told it like it was and what she was thinking. People responded to that.”

Robinson also did some reporting of her own, namely with her coverage of the Bonus March, in which thousands of World War I veterans marched in Washington, D.C. to demand a cash bonus for their service.

However, Robinson was in an accident in 1940 which left her bedridden for the rest of her life. She continued to write “Listen, World” until her death. According to her 1956 Herald obituary, she was working on another book that was never published.

Rubay said Robinson was notable for how she persevered through her circumstances.

“She achieved her success with absolutely no help from family— they were dirt poor— or the men she married,” she said. “She had a lot she had to do just to survive, as far as being a single mom and having no income, raising a kid and struggling to survive and then she did it. She carried that attitude around in her columns, like ‘If I can do this, you can do this.’”

Rubay speculates that one of the reasons why Robinson is not as remembered today is because her columns and book were tied to a period.

“The biggest thing that hurts people who have been famous during their lifetime is that they didn’t write anything that still stands, that people can go back to and see and connect the present to the past,” she said. “Even her book, which is a cool book and really pertinent to people in Benicia or any of the places she lived, isn’t the kind of book that’s going to be read 50 years after she died.”

The focus of the Capitol event is to give attendees an inside perspective on who Robinson was. The event will have a “living history” theme with Robinson being portrayed by Armijo High School drama teacher and 2006 Benicia High graduate Sheena Beeson. Likewise, local poet and Herald columnist Peter Bray will portray her third husband Benton Fremont, the grandson of former California Sen. John C. Fremont.

“It’s kind of a time trip back to 1933 when we’re in the building that was the City Hall,” Rubay said. “You’ll get a feel for that time and a feel for the popularity of Elsie, who was integral to that time.”

Rubay said there would also be information on the Fremont family.

Ultimately, Rubay hopes people walk away knowing more about a native Benician who made the nation listen.

“My dream is that they would take away a positive memory of Elsie so that she can continue to be part of our history in Benicia and be less likely to be forgotten again,” she said.

Another goal, Rubay said, was to introduce audiences to a “powerful personality.”

“The reason her columns were so popular was because when you’re near someone powerful and together, you can grow from their example,” she said.

The event will be held from 1 to 3 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 17 at the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park, located at 115 West G St. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students and children under 18. For more information, call 745-3385.