She was born in Winthrop, Maine, the descendant of Jonathan Fayerbanke (variously spelled) who emigrated from England in 1633 and later settled in Dedham, Massachussets. Her parents, Columbus and Lydia (Tinkham) Fairbanks, were farming people in very moderate circumstances.
Her formal education was limited to that provided by the local schools, but her mother's strong character, unusual native intelligence and social interests had perhaps as great an influence in the daughter's education as any formal schooling.
When Emily was sixteen years old she taught an unruly school in Augusta, Maine, with great success, a success especially notable because her predecessors had not been able to finish out their terms.
In 1857 she and her husband went to Europe for a prolonged tour and on their return took up what was to be their permanent residence in Boston. A fair was held in Boston in 1859 to assist the Homeopathic Medical Dispensary, and it was there that Mrs. Talbot's first public work took place. From that moment she cooperated with her husband. She had a large part in obtaining funds for the support of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital and was appointed by the governor of Massachusetts a member of the first board of trustees of the state insane hospital at Westboro.
As secretary of the education department of the American Social Science Association she personally consulted with Charles Darwin, and together with Dr. William T. Harris gave real impetus to child study in the United States. The education of her two daughters was a matter of absorbing interest to her, and in 1877, largely through her leadership and organizing power, the public Latin school for girls was established in Boston in order to give the facilities for college preparation to girls such as were open to boys. When her daughters were students in the college of liberal arts of Boston University, she became deeply interested in the efforts made by young women to obtain a college education in spite of lack of money. The practical result of this interest was the aid she gave in organizing the Massachusetts Society for the University Education of Women, of which she was a director for several years.
She died at her summer home in Holderness, N. H. , on the anniversary of her wedding day and of the birthday of her husband.
Her most important contribution in education was, however, her plan for the cooperation of the college women of the country in opening educational opportunities for women, in enabling women graduates to make the best use of their training through mutual deliberation and counsel, and in stimulating young women to attend colleges and universities and to undertake graduate work. It was from her suggestion made in October 1881 that the Association of Collegiate Alumnae was organized, an association which was one of the three charter members of the International Federation of University Women formed in 1919, and which in 1921, together with the Southern Association of College Women, became the American Association of University Women.
In 1887 honorary associate membership in the American Institute of Homeopathy was conferred upon her.
In 1854 she met Israel Tisdale Talbot. They were married on October 29, 1856. They had six children, four of whom reached adult life.
