Dow, Elsie Storrs.

Person

Staff Only

Biographical Statement

Elsie Storrs Dow was born in Sycamore, Illinois in 1859 to Roswell and Theresa E. Dow. Mr. Dow was a trustee of Wheaton College from 1878 to 1901 and was a well-known educator.

Dow came to study at Wheaton College in 1877 in the Classical program, usually taken by men, and graduated in 1881. After completing her studies at Wheaton she taught at Reed’s Ferry Academy in Manchester, New Hampshire. After four years of teaching she returned to Sycamore and taught for a year. During this time Dow received a Master of Arts degree from Wheaton. Afterward her year of teaching she moved again and became principal of Wasioja Academy in Minnesota until 1889.

In was in 1889 that she returned to her Alma Mater and assumed the Samuel Plumb Professorship of English Literature. She also served as Dean of Women from 1893 to 1901 and also taught courses in classics, history, and mathematics in additional to her English courses. She also served as Registrar for a time. Dow occupied the chair of the English Department for forty-six years and taught three generations of students as her teaching career spanned over five decades. Elsie Dow was known by her colleagues as an authority on Shakespeare and Browning.

At some time she took some graduate courses at Harvard University. She received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Lawrence College in 1922.

Dow died at 85 years of age on October 29, 1944 and was buried at Elmwood cemetery in Sycamore.

Citation:

Author: Wheaton College Archives & Special Collections staff

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:

Collection 187 Papers of Eleanor R. Elliott

Collection

Identifier: CN 187

Scope and Contents Family correspondence, prayer letters, brochures, newspaper clippings, prayer cards and letters from other missionaries, photographs, slides, negatives, journals and diaries, and eight interviews concerning Elliott's childhood in China, mission work with China Inland Mission (now Overseas Missionary Fellowship) in China and the Philippines, her experiences as an evangelist and teacher, her life in China during the Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945, and the civil war that followed. Her retirement...

Dates: Created: 1910-1988

Found in: Evangelism & Missions Archives / Collection 187 Papers of Eleanor R. Elliott

Collection 279 Oral History Interview with Elizabeth Evans

Collection

Identifier: CN 279

Scope and Contents Oral history interviews with Elizabeth Morrell Evans (1899-1976) in which she discusses her childhood; education at Wheaton College; work with J. Elwin Wright; her Christian education activities; the development of the New England Fellowship, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the World Evangelical Fellowship; and her work as a missionary in Taiwan. The time period covered by the interviews is 1899-1976.Elizabeth Evans was interviewed by Robert Shuster on October 8,...

Dates: Created: 1984-1985

Found in: Evangelism & Missions Archives / Collection 279 Oral History Interview with Elizabeth Evans

Collection 284 Oral History Interview with Gladys Wright

Collection

Identifier: CN 284

Scope and Contents Oral history interviews with Gladys Lyle Wright (1902-1994), in which she discusses her work as a teacher in Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo). Topics discussed include: Wright's family background, education at Wheaton College and Moody Bible Institute, her work as a missionary in the Belgian Congo for the Africa Inland Mission, memories of the Congolese people and culture, and her experiences at Wheaton when she was on the staff of the College after retriring from the mission...

Dates: Created: 1984

Found in: Evangelism & Missions Archives / Collection 284 Oral History Interview with Gladys Wright

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Subject: Indigenous church administration X

Archives of Wheaton College

Dow, Elsie Storrs.

Biographical Statement

Citation:

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:

Collection 187 Papers of Eleanor R. Elliott

Collection 279 Oral History Interview with Elizabeth Evans

Collection 284 Oral History Interview with Gladys Wright

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