In the span of her short life, Doerflinger had an impressive career as an author, editor, traveler, and relief worker. She journeyed to Ireland and England as an editor, to China as a field representative for the Church Committee for China Relief, to Japan as a speaker for Chinese relief and to India as staff for the Office of Strategic Services. She shared the stories of her travels and advocated for Chinese relief in a lecture tour throughout the United States and in her book “Dawn Watch in China,” published in 1941 by Houghton Mifflin. Doerflinger was also extensively involved in the process of revising Woody Guthrie’s “Bound for Glory,” although she is not credited in the books.