Downer, Sara B.
Downer papers,
1918-1988.
Manuscript Collection: MS 0528
1
box
Agency History/Biographical note:
Sara Boddie Downer was born on February 22, 1896, in Durango,
Colorado. Her father, B. R. Downer, was a Baptist minister and
teacher in a theological seminary in Kansas City, Kansas. She
attended the Kansas City high school before enrolling at Mount
Holyoke College in 1914. At Mount Holyoke she majored in physics
with a minor in economics and sociology. After receiving her B.A. in
1918, she worked as a sample clerk at the Faxon and Gallagher Drug
Company in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1918-1919. From 1919-1920 she
worked at Mount Holyoke as Physics Department assistant. In 1920,
she sailed to China as a missionary for the Woman's American Baptist
Foreign Mission Society. In 1924, she became an assistant professor
of physics at a newly-opened women's college at the West China Union
University in Chengdu. Her duties included teaching astronomy,
physics, English and music. During her furlough, May to December of
1927, she was a student at the University of California and she
received her Master of Arts in physics in 1928. In 1930, she
published two physics laboratory manuals in Chinese. She was
promoted to Associate Professor at West China Union University in
1932. She spent her furloughs in 1934-1935 and 1945-1946 assisting
the Physics Department at Mount Holyoke. She taught at West China
Union until the Communist takeover forced her to return to the United
States in 1951. She taught at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia
until 1955, when she went to Hong Kong to head the Physics Department
at the Chung Chi College in Hong Kong. In 1962 she retired to the
United States. Downer died on December 4, 1987 in Oakland,
California at the age of ninety-one.
Scope and Content:
The Sara Boddie Downer Papers consist of correspondence, writings,
scrapbooks, biographical information, and photographs. Of particular
significance are letters that Downer wrote between 1918-1986. Many
of the documents are copies of letters that Downer wrote for the
Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society and sent to her
Mount Holyoke College classmate, Ruth Sonn ("Sonny") Fritts; and two
Mount Holyoke faculty members, Mildred Allen and Margaret Ball. The
collection also includes several personal letters that she sent to
Fritts and Ball. These letters chiefly describe Downer's life and
work in China from 1920-1951. They reflect her activities at West
China Union University in Chengdu, China, where she was a teacher and
housemother, and her travels in China; they frequently include
comments on political events, such as the Sino-Japanese Conflict,
World War II, and the rise of communism in the country. Later
letters describe her work in the Chung Chi College in Hong Kong,
1955-1962, and her activities in retirement. Downer's correspondence
also includes letters, 1919-1946, written by Mary E. Woolley,
President of Mount Holyoke College. The letters discuss events at
the College such as the construction of new buildings, Woolley's trip
to China and Japan in 1921, and world events. Downer's close
relationship with Mount Holyoke's president is reflected by two
scrapbooks of clippings, notes and tributes relating to Woolley that
she complied between ca. 1918 and 1955. Downer's papers also include
two laboratory manuals in Chinese that she wrote in 1930, and her
informational brochure about the West China Union University, ca.
1938. Rounding out the collection is biographical information, ca.
1921-1988, and photographs, ca. 1930-1955, which chiefly relate to
her life in China.
Cite as: Sara B. Downer Papers, Mount Holyoke College,
Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley,
Massachusetts
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted
Series List:
- Correspondence
, 1918-1986
, 6 folders
- Writings
, 1918-1949
, 1 folder
- Scrapbooks
, ca. 1918-ca.1955
, 2 folders
- Biographical Information
, ca. 1921-1988
, 1 folder
- Photographs
, ca. 1930s-1955
, 2 folders
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