Barclay Acheson Diary, 1927 Part 2 (Jun–Sep 1927)

Context

The final volume follows Acheson on the most geographically expansive journey of the four diaries: Beirut to Damascus, across the Syrian Desert to Baghdad, north to Mosul, overland through Persia to Tabriz, across the Soviet border to Leninakan and Erivan, through Tiflis to Batoum, by ship to Constantinople, and on to Athens — over 2,000 miles across six modern nations.

Key episodes include the investigation of 25,000 Assyrian refugees in Iraq, with meetings with Lady Surma and a formal report recommending a revolving loan fund for agricultural resettlement; the closing of the Tabriz orphanage, accompanied by a vivid account of the Shia Feast of Muharram; budget and labor union negotiations in Soviet Armenia; and a reunion with Vickrey in Constantinople, where the General Secretary — now on leave — still believed in Golden Rule Sunday and felt he had been "tried and condemned in his absence." Typed entries end in Athens in late August 1927 with Acheson expressing frustration at organizational drift; handwritten entries cover early September.

This volume is particularly rich in its documentation of NER operations in Persia and Iraq, areas less well represented in the broader archival record.