A church bell brought out by Greek refugees, lashed on deck, c. 1920–1921.

Location

Location Unconfirmed, Turkey

Year

c. 1920–1921

Item Detail

Greek refugees from Kars and other parts of the Caucasus gathered at Batum in 1920 to wait for ships to Greece. About 22,000 had sailed by December, and Near East Relief ran soup kitchens and helped load the ships for those still waiting.

Context

Harold C. Jaquith (c. 1889–1943), a minister, joined the New York office of an American relief committee in 1917. The committee later became Near East Relief, and in 1919 he led its Sunday School Commission to the Near East. In 1921 he became managing director of Near East Relief's Constantinople (Istanbul) area, which later took in Greece. Late that year he spent two months in the Caucasus and at Tabriz in Persia. In the Caucasus, Near East Relief sheltered children orphaned in the Armenian Genocide. He helped organize ships to evacuate refugees from Smyrna (Izmir) after the city burned in 1922, and in 1923 he supervised the first exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey. He became Associate General Secretary in 1927 and served the Near East Foundation until 1933.

This photograph is part of a group of prints in the Near East Foundation records at the Rockefeller Archive Center, filed as "Photographs - Gift from the Estate of H.C. Jaquith." Many carry "HCJ 1920's" on the back in a later hand. The photographers are unrecorded. The prints show Caucasus orphanages and famine relief, the evacuation of orphans and refugees by rail and sea, Near East Relief in Athens and its visitors, village scenes in Greece, and the orphanage at Antoura in Lebanon.

View in the Digital Archive

  • Holding Institution

    Rockefeller Archive Center

  • External Link
    https://dimes.rockarch.org/objects/bDmCoJyBCxu6eB2mhS3LmL

  • Attribution

    Rockefeller Archive Center. Near East Foundation records. H. C. Jaquith, Series 13.

  • Rights

    This material is protected by copyright. Permission has been granted for its non-commercial research and educational display by NERHS. Uses beyond this permission may require permission from the rights holder. Users are responsible for determining rights status and compliance with applicable law. If you believe you hold rights in this material or have information about rights holders not currently reflected, please contact [email protected].

  • Notes

    Photo verso, pencil: "Ancient bell of / Greek church in / Transcaucasia, / brought out by the / Greek refugees and / taken with them to / Greece". Pencil: "UI: 810282".

    Sources for the Item Detail:

    • NER Weekly, 6 November 1920, p. 2 ("soup kitchens were enlarged, medical aid was given, and the Near East workers have done everything in their power to expedite the loading of the refugee ships for Greece" ... "still the refugees are entering Batoum from Kars"). NERHS: https://neareastrelief.org/asset/90011/

    • The New Near East, December 1920, p. 8 ("After some 22,000 had been shipped from Batum, the enterprise was dropped by the late Greek Government"). NERHS: https://neareastrelief.org/asset/87381/

    About this group: H. C. Jaquith, Series 13, Near East Foundation records, Rockefeller Archive Center. RAC folder "Photographs - Gift from the Estate of H.C. Jaquith", 1920s: https://dimes.rockarch.org/objects/bDmCoJyBCxu6eB2mhS3LmL

    • Rockefeller Archive Center, "H. C. Jaquith, Series 13", biographical note ("Harold C. Jacquith (ca. 1889-1943) was Managing Director of Near East Relief in Constantinople in April 1921 and became the Associate General Secretary of Near East Relief in 1927"): https://dimes.rockarch.org/collections/mT6qkd9TiEskNKW2SbH9cr

    • Near East Foundation, A Lasting Impact (2015), p. 37 ("assistant pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in New York City in 1912. Five years later he was named assistant secretary to Near East Relief. He toured the Near East in 1919 as leader of the Sunday School Commission") and p. 21 ("With the YMCA and the American Navy, Jaquith organized ships to evacuate the refugees").

    • News Bulletin, April 1919, p. 5 ("The Rev. H. C. Jaquith of New York, Assistant Executive Secretary of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East, heads this seventh contingent").

    • Barton, p. 144 note ("was asked by the Executive Committee to proceed to Constantinople and the Caucasus for administration purposes. In March, 1921, he was appointed a member of the Administrative Committee and managing director of the Constantinople-Turkish area, which was extended later to include Greece"). James L. Barton, Story of Near East Relief (1930), HathiTrust: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b744679

    • Barton, p. 167 ("the first exchange of populations actually was made in October, 1923, under the supervision of the managing director of the Greek Area").

    • The New Near East, January 1924, p. 16 ("H. C. Jaquith, of Darien, Conn., is directing this work as the technical advisor of the official neutral commission appointed by the League of Nations"). NERHS: https://neareastrelief.org/asset/85303/

    • NER Weekly, 24 December 1921, p. 4 ("Mr. H. C. Jaquith, Managing Director of the N.E.R., returned from a two months trip through the Caucasus and Tabriz, Persia"). NERHS: https://neareastrelief.org/asset/90053/

    • Rockefeller Archive Center, H. C. Jaquith, Series 13, Letters/Correspondence, Folder 17, Jaquith to Dr. I. L. Kandel, Teachers College, Columbia University, 18 January 1933 ("I am still the National Secretary of the Near East Foundation ... three weeks ago I was elected President of Illinois College"): https://dimes.rockarch.org/objects/7Aftwf8QDXpr89YuVE7LWK

A church bell brought out by Greek refugees, lashed on deck, c. 1920–1921.