author
Nellie Naomi Russell
1862–1911
A missionary writer who spent years in China, she left behind a vivid collection of folktales and firsthand sketches of daily life. Her work opens a window onto the stories she heard and the world she moved through in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
1 Audiobook
Gleanings from Chinese folklore
by Nellie Naomi Russell
About the author
Born on March 31, 1862, in Ontonagon, Michigan, Nellie Naomi Russell was an American missionary and author. Sources connected with her surviving work show that she later served in China, and she is remembered today mainly for Gleanings from Chinese Folklore, a collection published after her death.
That book brings together traditional tales alongside pieces about life in China, giving modern readers both folklore and a personal glimpse of the setting in which she worked. The volume was compiled with memorial sketches by friends and associates, which suggests how strongly she was valued by the people who knew her.
Russell died on August 22, 1911, in Qinhuangdao, China, at the age of 49. Although details of her life are not widely documented online, her writing still offers an engaging record of cross-cultural storytelling and lived experience.