Jessie McLaren

Jessie McLaren (1883-1968) was an Australian teacher, translator, gardener, missionary, and book collector. She spent thirty years in Korea and developed a library of rare Korean books, which her daughter, Rachel Human, donated to the National Library of Australia where it forms the McLaren-Human Collection.

Education and early life

McLaren was a graduate in English and history and had a Master of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Melbourne. McLaren started her career as a traveling secretary for the SCM (Student Christian Movement) in New Zealand and Australia. She then founded the Mrs. Paton Memorial Hospital and later became a volunteer to assist the Korean people and taught in Ewha's Women's College. She died in 1968.