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6,000 refugees reach Jerusalem in days. News Bulletin, Jun 1918.
Location
New York, United States
Year
1918
Item Detail
Katherine Fisher wrote from Jerusalem that 6,000 refugees from Es Salt arrived within a fortnight, among them 1,700 Armenians exiled from Marash, Adana, Aintab and Kessab. Her figures show what the city's relief could meet. In under two weeks it gave out 2,417 garments and 1,461 blankets, two free dispensaries had attended 6,500 cases by 1 April, and a soup kitchen was being built to serve 2,000, while more than a thousand applicants had to be turned away from the Committee's workroom for want of space and raw material. The issue also audits $3,573,179.91 disbursed at fifty relief stations inside the Ottoman Empire and reports $2,271,570 cabled to Persia since November.
Context
The News Bulletin was the monthly publication of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, formed in New York in 1915 and renamed the American Committee for Relief in the Near East during 1918. It was published at One Madison Avenue.
The Bulletin kept contributors and campaign workers informed. Issues carry cablegrams relayed through the Department of State from relief stations across the Ottoman Empire, Syria, Palestine, the Caucasus and Persia, with campaign news, donor rolls, field photographs and accounts by survivors of the Armenian and Greek genocides.
The two 1918 issues cover the last months of the war: refugees driven west from Es Salt reaching Jerusalem in June, and in November the armistice, the renaming of the committee, and the decision to send Americans into the field under James L. Barton rather than remit funds through missionary channels as before.
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Holding Institution
Columbia University Library
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External Link
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Attribution
Columbia University Libraries, digitized for HathiTrust
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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 reads 'NEWS BULLETIN of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, One Madison Ave., New York.' ACASR wording; no Total Number. Cover date: 25 June 1918; the Bulletin is monthly, so the caption shows only the month.
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Document Contents
Lead article 'In Jerusalem with the 20th Century Crusaders,' from a letter by relief worker Katherine Fisher: 6,000 refugees from Es Salt arrive within days, among them 1,700 Armenians exiled from Marash, Adana, Aintab and Kessab. Relief figures follow: 2,417 garments and 1,461 blankets distributed in under two weeks, 1,728 tins of milk, 220 pounds of rice daily, 4,000 oranges ordered from Jaffa, a soup kitchen to serve 2,000, two free dispensaries with 6,500 cases attended by 1 April, a boys' orphanage of about 100 and a girls' orphanage and 'Shelter' of about 400, and a day nursery for working refugee parents. Mrs. Vester, relief worker, in the workroom turning away a thousand applicants. Plans for a button factory at Bethlehem and a chain of fair-price stores formed with the Military Government and the Army and Navy Canteen Board. Poem 'Just Another' by Agnes V. Williams. 'American Commission for Persian Relief' under Harry Pratt Judson, president of the University of Chicago, with Joseph W. Cook as acting head pending Judson's arrival; eighty tons of freight including typhoid serum for 50,000 and quinine for a quarter of a million; $2,271,570 cabled to Persia since November. 'War Chests' on four federated community fund plans adopted by 290 towns, cities and counties. 'From the Mail Bag' vignettes. 'Audited Reports of Relief Disbursements Received from Within the Ottoman Empire' certifying $3,573,179.91 disbursed at fifty relief stations. 'British Advance Frees Armenians' on the advance toward Mosul freeing captives who straggle into Bagdad. 'Magazines Contribute to Armenian and Syrian Relief' on 500 journals giving space and over $250,000 raised through the Literary Digest. State Department cablegrams from Teheran, Constantinople, Jerusalem and Cairo, with a message of thanks from the Persian Legation.