Collections
Men by a haystack bought with 60 suits of American old clothes. Armenia, c. 1921.
Location
Location Unconfirmed, Armenia
Year
c. 1921
Item Detail
Americans sent thousands of tons of used clothing to Near East Relief in Armenia. Where paper money had little value, relief workers bartered much of it with villagers for hay, livestock and food for the orphanages. The New Near East printed another photograph of this haystack and sign in March 1922, captioned "Sixty haywain loads bartered for sixty suits of old clothes."
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.
-
Holding Institution
Rockefeller Archive Center
-
External Link
-
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
Sign in the photograph: "BOUGHT WITH / 60 SUITS / AMERICAN / OLD CLOTHES". Photo verso, later hand: "Shows what able to / buy with donation / of American old / clothes". Later annotation on verso: "HCJ 1920's". Later filing slip at the head of this run of prints: "\"Bought with 3 suits American / Old Clothes\" / haystacks / Am. workers & refugees / Youth corp lineup / Boxing / Old car".
Sources for the Item Detail:
• The New Near East, March 1922, p. 10–11 ("Used clothes have gone from America to Armenia by thousands of tons" ... "By means of this barter we have been able to obtain a certain amount of livestock, butter, eggs, and hay" ... photograph caption: "Stacking hay exchanged for old clothes. The paper ruble has so little value that barter is almost the only method of exchange"). NERHS: https://neareastrelief.org/asset/90083/
• Barton, p. 393 ("Later much of it was exchanged with needy peasants for food supplies for the orphans"). James L. Barton, Story of Near East Relief (1930), HathiTrust: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b744679
• The New Near East, March 1922, p. 10–11 ("Sixty haywain loads bartered for sixty suits of old clothes" ... "Livestock and hay from country places, where looms are still idle because of lack of raw cotton and wool"). NERHS: https://neareastrelief.org/asset/90083/
About this group: H. C. Jaquith, Series 13, Near East Foundation records, Rockefeller Archive Center. RAC folder "Photographs - Gift from the Estate of H.C. Jaquith", 1920s: https://dimes.rockarch.org/objects/bDmCoJyBCxu6eB2mhS3LmL
• Rockefeller Archive Center, "H. C. Jaquith, Series 13", biographical note ("Harold C. Jacquith (ca. 1889-1943) was Managing Director of Near East Relief in Constantinople in April 1921 and became the Associate General Secretary of Near East Relief in 1927"): https://dimes.rockarch.org/collections/mT6qkd9TiEskNKW2SbH9cr
• Near East Foundation, A Lasting Impact (2015), p. 37 ("assistant pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in New York City in 1912. Five years later he was named assistant secretary to Near East Relief. He toured the Near East in 1919 as leader of the Sunday School Commission") and p. 21 ("With the YMCA and the American Navy, Jaquith organized ships to evacuate the refugees").
• News Bulletin, April 1919, p. 5 ("The Rev. H. C. Jaquith of New York, Assistant Executive Secretary of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East, heads this seventh contingent").
• Barton, p. 144 note ("was asked by the Executive Committee to proceed to Constantinople and the Caucasus for administration purposes. In March, 1921, he was appointed a member of the Administrative Committee and managing director of the Constantinople-Turkish area, which was extended later to include Greece"). James L. Barton, Story of Near East Relief (1930), HathiTrust: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$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