Dora E. Schoonmaker left Morris 150 years ago at 23-years-old on a mission trip to Japan, and now that mission has grown into a sprawling university in Tokyo.
The Grundy County Historical Society welcomed author and Reverend Keiko Tanamura, Dr. Elizabeth Eder from the Smithsonian Institute and Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Makoto Kawami, a professor at Aoyama Gakuin University and Ken Kabira, the Vice President of the Japan American Association in Chicago into its museum Saturday morning to officially cut the ribbon and debut an exhibit dedicated to Schoonmaker, a Grundy County resident who founded Aoyama Gakuin University.
What started as a girls’ school is now a 230,000 student school system that teaches kids as young as kindergarten and adults going through graduate school, and everything in between.
Kirk Houchin, the former President of the society’s board, said he was volunteering in the museum in October 2023 when a man named Makoto Kawami visited. Kawami shared the story of a teacher who visited Tokyo from Morris in the 1870s.
Houchin said Kawami was then joined by Yasuhiko and Kyoko Ito from the Aoyama Gakuin Alumni Association in Chicago, who have spent many hours helping develop the exhibit with the museum.
“The research and organization of the exhibit are based on a book written for the 130th anniversary of Aoyama Gakuin University by Reverend Keiko Tanamura, titled ‘Dora E. Schoonmaker, A Life Truly Lived by God’s Grace’ and a doctorial disseration by Dr. Elizabeth Eder titled ‘Constructing Opportunity: American Women Educators in Early Meiji, Japan’,” Houchin said.
Debbie Steffes, the museum’s curator, aided both Tanamura and Eder while they did their research, and provided documents and information for accuracy and authenticity within their works.
Eder said Schoonmaker left Morris 150 years ago at 23-years-old to embark on the journey of a lifetime.
“As you go through the first part of the exhibition, you’ll understand why she was fueled by evangelical piety and a determination to better the lives of other women and girls, and she volunteered with the northwestern branch of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church,” Eder said. “While she was still teaching in Morris public schools from 1870 to 1874, access and opportunity were both factors that led Schoonmaker and others to Japan.”
Schoonmaker first boarded a train from Chicago to California before taking a steamship to Yokohama. The journey on the ship took 25 days.
Eder said Schoonmaker marked her first steps into Tokyo with this proclamation: " I have marked my first step in Japan with tremendous hope and little worries.”
Eder said Schoonmaker’s arrival in Japan coincided with a period of rapid change and profound transformation in all aspects of Japanese society due to the overthrow of the Shogunate and the restoration of the Meiji emperor to power.
“It was a time of questioning prior customs and practices, experimenting with new was of thinking and doing,” Eder said. “The Meiji government’s espousing and promotion of policies called Bunmei-kaika, or civilization and enlightenment, primarily through westernization and industrialization made htis work possible, as well as the removal of an edict against Christianity that had been in place.”
The Women’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was offered $1,000 if a missionary could be sent to work with Japanese women, and Eder said Schoonmaker was in the right place at the right time.
Tanamura traveled to Morris from Tokyo to celebrate the exhibit, and the 150th year of Schoonmaker’s school.
“Dora Schoonmaker was a remarkable person,” Tanamura said. “Despite her short time of service of five years in Tokyo as a missionary, she kept her mission spirit up throughout her life. She planted a seed of establishing a foundation stone of women’s education in Japan. She overcame hindrances from the government and the cold nature of Japanese society in general at the time.”
Tanamura said Schoonmaker relentlessly supported the school from home once she returned, and she said Schoonmaker left a message to everyone with her life.
“Live your dreams gracefully, be courageous to go across the ocean, be a bridge to night peoples, pave the way, plant a seed of peace and good will in a land with a different nationality and culture, and establish lasting friendships that will never be damaged by anything or anybody,” Tanamura said. “Love others as children of light. This is her message to us.”
Yasuhiko Ito led attendees on a brief tour of the exhibit, and the Chancellor Yoshiharu Yamamoto left a message for the ribbon cutting. He appeared via video, but also provided a translation of his message.
Yamamoto said he would like to express his gratitude and joy on behalf of Aoyama Gakuin for the creation of the exhibit.
“Despite being a girls’ school, there were only seven stoodents,” Yamamoto said. “There were no school buildings, textbooks or notebooks. What she had was a strong determination to create a school for girls and a faith in spreading Christianity.”
Yamamoto said a small light lit by Schoonmaker has shone brightly as a great light, into a large tree that hosts birds, reminiscent of God’s blessing when Jesus fed thousands with five loaves and two fish.
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