Grace E. McConnaughey Papers
Scope and Contents
The papers of Grace E. McConnaughey document her missionary work in Shanxi Province, China, from 1910 to 1928. Her letters written to her mother and "Home Folks" provide detailed accounts of missionary life in China, as well as life in China during the early part of the twentieth century. The letters and photographs illustrate the customs, daily activities, hardships, and accomplishments of the Chinese people. Grace McConnaughey's writings include two published articles "Big Sister Jen: The Loving Hearted' (1921), and "The Removal of an Ancient Landmark" (incomplete, undated). Her unpublished works include the (fictional) story of an enslaved Chinese girl named Sunshine. Also included is an autobiographical sketch of McConnaughey. Series 1 contains the manuscript titled "Amazing Grace" (electrostatic copy of a double-spaced typescript; 567 pp.) prepared from the letters by Grace E. McConnaughey Murray, a niece of the missionary. Despite omissions and alterations Mrs. Murray followed the originals closely; providing a compilation of the accounts and details explained in the letters, and an alternative to using the original letters which are brittle.
Dates
- Creation: ca.1910-1981, undated
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1912-1928
- Other: Date acquired: 1983 August 16
Creator
- McConnaughey, Grace E. (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Unrestricted.
Biographical Sketch
Grace Elizabeth McConnaughey, daughter of John Thompson (1842-1900) and Lucetta Ursula Mills McConnaughey (1851-1944), was born in Washington, Iowa in 1882. She had four brothers: Ralph Otis (1878-1964), Harlow Alexander (1881-1919), William (1888-1888), and John M. (1890-1900). After attending Benzonia Academy from 1900 to 1905, she received an Oberlin College AB in 1909. She then went to Shanxi Province, China, in 1910 as a Congregational missionary. She remained there 18 years, many of them as principal of a girls school in Fenchow. From 1929 to 1932 she lived in Boston and worked as Candidate Secretary for the American Board for Foreign Missions finding college trained women to serve in stations about the world. This position ended when the depression reduced the number of missionaries who could be supported. From 1933-1941 she was house director of various Oberlin College dormitories. After being forced to quit this position due to illness, she lived in Claremont, California; and for seven years, as she wrote, "lived in a suitcase and earned my keep by any means, not immoral!" In 1947 Miss McConnaughey moved into Pilgrim Place in Claremont, an retirement home for Protestant missionaries and ministers, where from 1967 she was a resident of the nursing home. There she lived with other Oberlin graduates, who also had been missionaries. She died on 30 June 1978 at the age of 96.
SOURCES CONSULTED
Student file of Grace E. McConnaughey (RG 28).
The Guide to the Women’s History Sources in the Oberlin College Archives (1990).
Extent
0.40 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Method of Acquisition
The copy of "Amazing Grace" was sent by Grace M. Murray to Isabell Hemingway (Pleasant Hill, Tennessee) who brought it to Oberlin during commencement, 1983, and gave it to Professor Ellsworth Carlson. He gave it to the Archives in August of 1983. The original letters, writings and photographs were received from Mrs. Murray in August 1983. The collection was assigned accession number 1983/27.
Accruals and Additions
Accession No: 1983/27
- Title
- Grace E. McConnaughey Papers Finding Guide
- Author
- Prue Richards
- Date
- 02/17/1999
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 1999 February 17: Processed by Prue Richards
- 1999 March: Revised by Kenneth M. Grossi
Repository Details
Part of the Oberlin College Archives Repository
420 Mudd Center
148 West College Street
Oberlin OH 44074-1532 US
440-775-8014
440-775-8016 (Fax)
archive@oberlin.edu