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Marash counts its dead. Acorne, 27 Mar 1920.
Location
Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey
Year
1920
Item Detail
Dr. Lambert's letter of 11 March, written after a two-week trip to Aintab and Marash, is the issue's account of what was left of the city. At least forty percent of its houses were uninhabitable. He had heard that 1,500 to 2,000 people were burned in one church, thought the figure too high, and had no doubt of several hundred. About 8,000 Armenians remained besides 2,000 in the orphanages and hospitals, served by one American doctor and one American nurse. Frances S. Buckley's diary runs from 21 January to 11 February, written from inside a boys' orphanage that sheltered 3,500 people.
Context
The Acorne was the weekly bulletin of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East, produced in Constantinople for private circulation among the Committee's own staff. By January 1920, it printed a thousand copies a week for station directors in the field and for supporters in America.
Issues ran to four pages of short field dispatches and unit reports: orphan care, medical work, refugee feeding, education and workshop programs, with operational notes on supplies, rations, transport and exchange. Personnel notices recorded arrivals, transfers and departures. The bulletin took the title Near East Relief with Vol. II, No. 42 on 23 October 1920.
No complete run is known to survive. NERHS holds seventeen issues of Volume II, drawn from the Harry Pratt Judson records at the University of Chicago, the Martin Weaver Documents at the Mennonite Historical Library, and the Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary.
These five issues run from 31 January to 27 March 1920 and cover the Adana district, the massacre at Marash and its aftermath, and American relief in north-west Persia. They reached the University of Chicago through President Harry Pratt Judson, who headed the Committee's Persian commission.
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Holding Institution
University of Chicago (Office of the President)
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Attribution
University of Chicago, Office of the President. Harper, Judson, and Burton Administrations. Records (1869–1925)
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Rights
No known copyright restrictions. Based on available information, NERHS is not aware of copyright restrictions on this material. Items are presented for non-commercial research and educational use. 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].
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Notes
Masthead: 'The Acorne. Vol. II–N° 13. Edited by Near East Relief. 13, rue des Petits-Champs. Constantinople, 27 March 1920.'
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Document Contents
'Aleppo District', from Dr. Lambert's letter of 11 March after a two-week trip to Aintab and Marash: ruined quarters in every part of Marash, at least forty percent of residences uninhabitable, a report of 1,500 to 2,000 people burned in one church which he thought too high though he had no doubt of several hundred, about 8,000 Armenians left in the city besides 2,000 in the orphanages and hospitals, one American nurse and one American doctor; 'Notes from Diary of Miss Frances S. Buckley, R.N.' covering 21 January to 11 February from the Beitschallum Boys' Orphanage where 3,500 Armenians sheltered, ending with Dr. Wilson and Mr. Lyman carrying a white flag to the Turks; 'Cesarea February Activities', tabulating 5,199 people helped; industrial work on a new spinning mill in a Turkish government building and a leased Greek weaving mill; orphanage work on the Turkish orphanage's move, the Greek orphanage at Zingidery and the proposed move to the monastery at Evkere; medical work on a clinic opened at Cesarea on 10 February; 'Syria-Aleppo District' February statistics; orphan statistics by religion totaling 2,376; 'Word from the Caucasus' on relief in the Borchalo neutral zone under Major Livingston; 'Additional Personnel Arrives' recording thirty-two new workers on 21 March; 'News Notes'.