Syra (Syros), Greece, Nov. 17, 1927. Two Armenian orphan sisters, Suzanne and the younger Sevart, pose by a paneled door at the orphanage. A note on the back records that a sister went to Egypt, that the sisters' family was later reunited, and that Suzanne was an orphan known for her singing.
Album caption: “Taken at Syra, Nov.17th,1927 by a photographer. The larger girl is Suzanne, and the smaller one is her sister, Sevart.”
Context
Fred and Carrie Midgley of Worcester, Massachusetts, served with Near East Relief on the island of Syra (Syros), Greece, from 1926 to 1928, Fred as agricultural director at the orphanage. The institution sheltered some 1,400 Armenian and Greek children orphaned by the genocides and the 1922 destruction of Smyrna (İzmir). The Midgley papers were given to the Near East Foundation by their granddaughter, Nancy Winter Taylor, and are held at the Rockefeller Archive Center.
Orphan Daily Life and Portraits — These are pictures of the orphans themselves: at play, at chores, in portraits, and at the 1928 distribution of American dolls. Where the Midgleys recorded a child's name, it appears in the caption. Many of the other children are not identified.
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