Elizabeth Williams Champney (February 6, 1850 – October 13, 1922)[1] was an American author of novels and juvenile literature, as well as travel writing, most of which featured foreign locations.

She published eighty or more articles in Harper's and Century, including a series on Portugal, and papers entitled "A Neglected Corner of Europe", and "In the Footsteps of Futuney and Regnault".

[5] After the Civil War, she attended the Seminary for Young Ladies in Lexington, Massachusetts, where the artist James Wells Champney was her drawing instructor.

[5] However, the marriage apparently never took place, and in May 1873, she instead married James Wells Champney – her former drawing instructor – who happened to be traveling through Manhattan, Kansas, as part of a trip through the Louisiana Purchase to illustrate an article entitled The Great South by Edward King for Scribner’s Monthly.

For this endeavour, the pair embarked on travel to North Africa, Spain and Portugal, visiting localities, such as Tangier and Tétouan in Morocco, that not been covered by any of the illustrated magazines of the period.

During this time, Champney wrote many additional books, such as Howling Wolf, and his Trick-Pony, designed more especially for boy than girl readers.

[7] Among her historical stories for youth is "Great-Grandmother Girls in New France", suggested by the Native American massacre in Deerfield, Massachusetts.

[15][16] The subject of the series is not a practitioner of witchcraft, but rather a mischievous young school-girl, and the first book is dedicated to Champney's daughter ("My Little Witch Marie").

From 1899, Champney concentrated on more adult books, writing romantic, semi-fictional descriptions and stories of foreign locations, beginning with The Romance of the Feudal Chäteaux.

From Portugal, she wrote a collection of magazine articles, and with her artist husband, she traveled into Africa, following “in the footsteps of Fortuny and Regnault,” which experiences were detailed in the Century.

They made their winter home in New York City, and their summers were spent in "Elmstead", the old-fashioned house built in Deerfield, Massachusetts, by Champney's grandfather.

[20] James died in an elevator accident in New York City in 1903, after which Elizabeth moved to the West Coast, where she lived near her son, Edouard, until her death.

[2] She showed special preference for pictures of studio and artistic life, and sketches dealing with incidents and characters of the past.