author
Mary Schauffler Platt
1868–1954
Born to missionary parents in Istanbul and later active in Persia, she wrote with firsthand knowledge about mission life, children, and the upheavals of the early 20th century. Her books blend lived experience, religious commitment, and a strong interest in education and social welfare.
1 Audiobook
The Child in the Midst A Comparative Study of Child Welfare in Christian and Non-Christian Lands
by Mary Schauffler Platt
About the author
Mary Schauffler Platt (also listed in some records as Mary A. Schauffler Labaree Platt) was an American Presbyterian missionary and author, born in 1868 and deceased in 1954. Sources available here describe her as the daughter of missionaries and connect her closely with missionary work in Persia, where she also wrote about church life, education, and daily experience in the field.
Her published work includes The Child in the Midst, The Home With the Open Door, A Straight Way Toward Tomorrow, and The War Journal of a Missionary in Persia, which she edited. Across these books, she appears as a writer interested in children, faith, and the practical work of missions, with a style shaped by observation rather than distance.
Some source material also identifies her life story with unusual intensity and hardship, including the death of her first husband in Persia before her later remarriage. Even in brief catalog and archive records, she comes across as a writer whose books were rooted in service, travel, and close contact with communities far from the American readers she addressed.