Wellesley gives $10,000 for the work. Acorne, 31 Jan 1920.
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Location

Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey

Year

1920

Item Detail

The American campaign for thirty-four million dollars was to open on 1 February, and this issue carries the field reports meant to justify it. Wellesley alumnae gave $10,000 to support five workers. The Beirut area held 2,141 orphans in fourteen orphanages at an average of 225 piastres each, the Armenian Club of Cilicia aided 80,000 deportees, and the Ismid orphanage of 250 children had kept Christmas and New Year. A closing note counts two hundred barefooted children at Bardizag.

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)

  • Attribution

    University of Chicago, Office of the President. Harper, Judson, and Burton Administrations. Records (1869–1925)

  • 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].

  • Document Contents

    Opening poem 'For the Acorne Idealists' signed Robert Shelby Darbishire; 'Campaign Starts' on the thirty-four million dollar American appeal opening 1 February; 'Another Gift' recording $10,000 from Wellesley alumnae to support five workers; 'Holiday Season at Ismidt' on Christmas and New Year at the 250-child orphanage; the December report for the Aleppo area covering the shoe shop, bakery, industrial department, Rescue Home, bank and employment bureau; the November report for the Beirut area covering industrial and medical work, general relief, orphanages, day nurseries and the employment bureau, with 2,141 orphans in fourteen orphanages at an average of 225 piastres each; 'News Notes' on the recognition of the Republic of Armenia, the Third Class Osmanie medal to Major Davis G. Arnold and the Industrial medal to M. A. Carl Wallen, 80,000 Armenian deportees aided through the Armenian Club of Cilicia, and refugees from Russia held on Prinkipo and Halki; 'From the Caucasus'; 'Personnel Notes'; 'A Desert Idyl' signed Ida M. Heizer; 'Why Not?' on two hundred barefooted children at Bardizag.

Wellesley gives $10,000 for the work. Acorne, 31 Jan 1920.