Elmer Ellsworth Brown (1861–1934) was an American educator.

[1] He was principal of public schools in Belvidere, Illinois, in 1881-84, assistant state secretary of the YMCA of Illinois (1884–87), and principal of the high school at Jackson, Michigan, in 1890–91.

After directing the reorganization of the United States Bureau of Education as U.S. Commissioner of Education (1906–11), he became chancellor of New York University, where he founded NYU Press in 1916 "to publish contributions to higher learning by eminent scholars."

He was made fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and vice president of the education section in 1907.

Brown retired from NYU in 1933 and died in 1934 in New York.