Monona Cheney papers
Series: Women's lives
Published: 1918
Language: eng
Format: [microform],
Subjects: Correspondence; Women missionaries; Missions; Social life and customs; Photographs; Methodist Episcopal Church
Other titles: Papers,
Description: The collection consists primarily of correspondence. There are 266 letters from Monona Cheney to her family in the United States, spanning the years from 1918 to 1930; there are also a few incoming letters in the collection from her family or friends. The correspondence is arranged chronologically. Also included in the collection are many photographs from her time in Peking, ranging from images of the poverty-stricken to the architectural magnificence of the city. There are also a few pictures of family from the period after her mission. Many photographs are unidentified; basic descriptions of the images are provided in the box and folder listing. Finally, there are also a few Christian publications dealing with missionary work.
Notes: Cite as: Monona Cheney papers, Ax 275, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Or.

Also available in print from the University of Oregon University Archives.

Monona L. Cheney was born in Madison, Wisconsin on December 28, 1890. She was educated at Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin, receiving a B.A. in 1914; she went on to receive an M.A. in education at Teachers' College, Columbia University in 1918. In 1918 she traveled to the newly-formed Republic of China to spread the word of her church, serving as a missionary teacher for the Methodist Episcopal sect of the Christian religion. She initially taught at the Keen School in Tientsin until 1920, when she started teaching at the Gamewell School. She taught history, English, and Bible studies, and engaged in rural evangelicalism in the Peking area. After a short break in the United States she returned to China and taught at Yenching University from 1926 until 1930. The letters she wroted during her mission were addressed to her family, and she also was fond of taking photographs of Chinese life.