Marion Conrow Papers

Marion Lane Conrow (1894-1986) was a missionary in Korea for forty years. She received a B.A. from Fairmount College (now Wichita University) in 1918, an M.A. from Boston University in 1929, and completed coursework for an advanced degree at the University of Chicago University in 1937. In 1956, Conrow received an honorary doctor of letters degree from Ewha Woman's University in Seoul. Prior to working as a missionary, she taught high school in Mulvane, Kansas (1918-1920) and Beloit, Kansas (1921-1922).

In 1922, she arrived in Seoul and began teaching at Ewha Woman's University. She remained in Korea until 1940, when war conditions forced her evacuation to the United States. While in the United States, she served as Dean of Women and professor of English at McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois, from 1941 to 1943. In 1943. Conrow returned to Kansas where she was director of the Girl Reserve program of the Wichita City Y.W.C.A. for one year. From 1944 to 1947 she was an associate secretary of missionary personnel for the Methodist Board of Missions in New York City. It was not until 1948 that Conrow was able to return to Korea.

Conrow continued to teach English at Ewha University unitl 1950, when she was evacuated to Japan due to the Communist threat. She remained in Japan until 1952 and taught at Tokyo Woman's Christian College. When she returned to Korea, the University had been moved behind United Nations lines to Pusan, and would remain there until 1953. While at Ewha Conrow was instrumental in establishing the English House on campus.

In 1960 a scholarship fund was established in her name at Ewha. The University of Wichita honored her with its annual Almuni Award in 1963. Conrow was a member of the National Mortar Board Honor Society; Pi Kappa Delta, an honorary forensic society; Alpha Psi Omega, an honorary dramatic society; and the Delta Gamma Sorority. She retired from missionary work in 1962