Collections
Near East Relief appoints Nellie Miller to the relief expedition. New York, 1921.
Location
New York, United States
Year
1921
Item Detail
The certificate names no post and no station. Nellie M. Miller was appointed to the relief expedition generally, and the Beirut assignment and the treasurer's office came afterward. It was issued on 20 August 1921, the same day she sailed, and carries the organization's standing formula that its work was "purely humanitarian" and conducted "without distinction as to race, nationality or religion." C. V. Vickrey signed as General Secretary and C. M. Fowle for the personnel committee.
Context
Nellie Marie Miller Mann (1897–1997) was a member of Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana, and a graduate of Goshen College. The Mennonite Relief Commission placed her with Near East Relief in 1921, one of two Mennonite women it sent to the Near East in these years. She was appointed on 20 August 1921, sailed the same day aboard the S.S. Patria, and reached Beirut on 20 September. At the Syria-Palestine headquarters she was secretary to the treasurer and, by April 1923, in charge of the individual remittance department. She left Beirut at the end of August 1923.
The collection holds her letters to her family and to her fiancé Cleo Mann, her appointment papers and contract, and the Near East Relief reports, rosters and field accounts she kept. Together they document the Beirut office through the movement of orphans out of Anatolia and Cilicia into Syria and Lebanon in 1922, the Greek deportations of the following winter, and the deaths of two NER workers, Menno Shellenberger at Diarbekir and Lester James Wright on the Aleppo road. David W. Mann published his mother's writings as Letters from Syria, 1921–1923 (2013) and gave the originals to the Near East Foundation.
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Holding Institution
Rockefeller Archive Center
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External Link
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Attribution
Rockefeller Archive Center. Near East Foundation records, FA406. Nellie Miller-Mann, Series 14.
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Rights
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Notes
Printed on the certificate: "This is to certify that Miss Nellie M. Miller has been duly appointed a member of the relief expedition under the direction of the Near East Relief Committee with instructions to render on behalf of the Committee such service as may be within her power in the relief of suffering in Western Asia." / "The work of this Committee is purely humanitarian and is carried on without distinction as to race, nationality or religion."
Signed in ink: "C. V. Vickrey, General Secretary." / "C. M. Fowle."
Sources for the Item Detail:
• Near East Relief contract with Nellie Marie Miller, signed on or before 20 August 1921 ("Date of departure — August 20, 1921 S.S. PATRIA For Naples"). Nellie Miller-Mann, Series 14, Rockefeller Archive Center.
• Charles V. Vickrey to Major General James G. Harbord, 4 March 1922 ("in Syria … we have employed and do employ in subordinate positions a number of Mennonites"). Nellie Miller-Mann, Series 14, Rockefeller Archive Center.
About this group
• Nellie Miller-Mann, Series 14, Near East Foundation records (FA406), Rockefeller Archive Center.
• Near East Relief appointment certificate, 20 August 1921, signed C. V. Vickrey and C. M. Fowle ("Miss Nellie M. Miller has been duly appointed a member of the relief expedition"). Nellie Miller-Mann, Series 14, Rockefeller Archive Center.
• Near East Relief, Syria-Palestine Area, Organization and Personnel, 28 April 1923, sheet I ("Secretary to Treasurer & in charge of Individual Remittance Dept. — Miss Nellie M. Miller"). Nellie Miller-Mann, Series 14, Rockefeller Archive Center.
• Nellie Miller Mann, Letters from Syria, 1921–1923, transcribed and edited by David W. Mann (Morgantown, Pa.: Masthof Press, 2013).
• Rockefeller Archive Center finding aid, Near East Foundation records: https://dimes.rockarch.org/collections/Ahi2i3M7wcFTbQuXZgxDib
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Document Contents
Printed certificate of appointment on Near East Relief letterhead, One Madison Avenue, New York, dated 20 August 1921 and addressed "To whom it may concern." It certifies that Miss Nellie M. Miller has been duly appointed a member of the relief expedition under the direction of the Near East Relief Committee, with instructions to render such service as may be within her power in the relief of suffering in Western Asia, and states that the Committee's work is purely humanitarian and carried on without distinction as to race, nationality or religion. Signed in ink by C. V. Vickrey, General Secretary, and C. M. Fowle. An embossed corporate seal under a red paper wafer and ribbon sits at the foot. The printed letterhead lists the Executive Committee and the National Board of Trustees, headed by William Howard Taft.