Harbord–Vickrey Correspondence on Conscientious Objectors, 1922
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Location

Washington D.C., United States

Year

1922

Item Detail

Correspondence regarding conscientious objectors in Near East Relief, Harbord–Vickrey exchange, 1922

Context

Nellie Marie Miller Mann (1897–1997) was a Mennonite volunteer from Elkhart, Indiana, who served as secretary to the treasurer of Near East Relief headquarters in Beirut from 1921 to 1923.

A graduate of Goshen College and member of Prairie Street Mennonite Church, she was one of only two Mennonite women to serve in the Near East through the Mennonite Relief Commission during this period. From her desk in the Beirut office, Mann processed correspondence and financial records while the organization managed the evacuation of tens of thousands of Armenian orphans from Cilicia into Syria. She witnessed the Smyrna disaster refugee crisis of 1922 and the murder of NER worker Lester James Wright by bandits near Aleppo.

The collection includes personal and official correspondence, NER administrative reports, field accounts of relief operations in Syria and Cilicia, and documents related to the deaths of NER workers Lester James Wright and Menno Shellenberger. Mann’s letters to her family and fiancé Cleo Mann provide a rare firsthand account of daily life at NER headquarters during one of the organization’s most intense operational periods.

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  • Holding Institution

    Rockefeller Archive Center

  • External Link
    https://dimes.rockarch.org/collections/Ahi2i3M7wcFTbQuXZgxDib

  • Attribution

    Nellie Miller Mann Series (Series 14), Near East Foundation Records (FA406), Rockefeller Archive Center. Courtesy of David Mann.

  • Rights

    Some materials may be protected by U.S. copyright law. Materials are presented for non-commercial research and educational use under fair use. Uses beyond fair use may require permission from the copyright owner. Responsibility for rights determination and compliance rests with the user.

  • Notes

    David W. Mann published his mother’s writings in Letters from Syria, 1921–1923 (2013) and donated the original materials to the Near East Foundation.

  • Document Contents

    Two-letter exchange (February 27, 1922, and March 4, 1922) between Major General James G. Harbord and NER General Secretary Charles V. Vickrey regarding rumors that NER’s relief workforce in Syria and the Near East was disproportionately composed of conscientious objectors and certain missionary denominations — notably Mennonites — with risk of embarrassment to NER fundraising.

    Harbord cites the observations of Major General John L. Chamberlain, late Inspector General of the Army, recently traveling in Syria, and warns that if irresponsible parties were to inform the American Legion that NER employed conscientious objectors, it could seriously embarrass NER’s appeals for further funds.

    Vickrey replies with detailed figures: of 335 men in NER service, 79.1% had served in the Army or Navy, and an additional 6% had received exemptions, with commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates among them; among 300 women, 49% had war service. He defends the small Mennonite presence around Beirut as serving in subordinate roles (chauffeurs, warehousemen, an office secretary), notes that Mennonites contribute disproportionately to the NER treasury, and credits the resident American missionaries who alone knew the language and people during the wartime deportations as the providential foundation of relief operations.

Harbord–Vickrey Correspondence on Conscientious Objectors, 1922