Learning From Archival Biographical Research: Flora Carncross -Missionary and Principal During the Chinese Revolution [1908-1925]

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 3:45 pm - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Biographical Stories, Cultural Preservation, and Creative Research Practices in Education

Abstract

What can we learn from this highly articulate woman from rural Wisconsin? Culling through letters, photos, reports, articles, and historical documents, the story of Flora Carncross emerges as a significant lesson in perseverance, creativity, and vision. Flora Carncross went from teaching in one room schools in Wisconsin lumber towns to serving as a missionary and school principal in China during the Chinese Revolution. Through three postings in China, she was a principal of an elementary girls’ school, a girls’ high school, and on the faculty of a girls’ college. Using biographical research methods, we examine Flora’s experience leading her school during the Chinese revolution for implications for leaders in turbulent and pivotal times.

Authors

• Karen E. Watkins, University of Georgia

• Tanya DaMommio, Texas State University

• Victoria J. Marsick, Teachers College, Columbia University