June Rose Garrott papers, 1960-2015

June Rose Garrott served as a missionary in Hong Kong in the 1960s. She and her husband joined the Hong Kong/Macao Baptist Mission from 1961-1969. Garrott went on to teach in the English Department at WKU, spent five years teaching English to college students in China, and was the international student adviser at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. In 1986, while teaching in Beijing's Second Foreign Language Institute, Garrott instructed the daughter of Shu Yi, the only son of the Lao She. The following year, the granddaughter of Lao She was assigned to Garrott as a personal translator. Subsequently, Garrott was invited to the Shu home. In 1992, with a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin, Garrott was appointed Professor in the Department of English at Seinan Jo Gakuin Junior College in Kitakyushu, Japan. As a missionary and educator in Hong Kong and China, she amassed substantial materials related to Chinese life and society. Garrott established a close friendship with Nien Cheng, a well-known chronicler of the hardships of the Cultural Revolution and a research interest in Lao She, penname of Shu Qingchun, who wrote in the early 20th century and is considered one of the most important modern Chinese literary figures. This collection features audiotapes of Lao She lecturing in the 1920s. Professor Garrott ia also a friend and supporter of the composer Lei Liang.