[3][2] In 1913, after Illinois Governor Richard Yates Jr. had a speaking engagement at a Chautauqua in Eureka, Freeman took a train with him to San Francisco, stopping for the night at a hotel in Willits.

The trip caused a local scandal,[3] with allegations that Yates had kissed Freeman and was partially undressed in her hotel room.

Freeman divorced her husband in 1915 and during a widely publicized jury trial in July 1915, Yates was cleared of charges of misconduct.

[6] Freeman's Northern California series, features 200 photographs depicting Native Americans from the Klamath River area.

[3][2] Photographs from the series were widely published in publications such as Camera Craft, Overland Monthly, Collier's, The Argonaut, and Sunset.

[5] Freeman returned to San Francisco in 1919, selling gifts and souvenirs out of a three-story building downtown that served as an art store and photography gallery.

The third floor held her studio with prints of her photography, the second artwork of Northern California including Native American baskets, and the first art supplies.

Peter E. Palmquist wrote the 1976 monograph With Nature's Children: Emma B. Freeman (1880-1928); Camera and Brush about her life and photography.