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Near East Relief clothes Diarbekir. NER Weekly, 23 Oct 1920.
Location
Diarbekir, Turkey
Year
1920
Item Detail
With this issue The Acorne became Near East Relief, the bulletin taking the organization's new name. Abby Noyes Little's account of six months at Diarbekir describes clothing that arrived on the last train over the Bagdad railway, a daily clinic of about a hundred patients, and women spinning and weaving cotton, with Emily I. Wade staying on alone. Ruth Henry reported from Adana after nearly five weeks of siege that more than 700 men and women were employed in the industries. Three nurses graduated at the Harpoot American Hospital on 21 September and signed the Florence Nightingale Pledge.
Context
The Near East Relief Weekly Bulletin was a four-page weekly printed in Constantinople for the organization's own staff. It continued The Acorne, the bulletin of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East, and took the new title with Vol. II, No. 42 on 23 October 1920, when the organization itself was renamed Near East Relief.
Because it was written for people already in the field and not for donors at home, the Weekly is plainer than anything Near East Relief printed in America. Station reports give the numbers (e.g., children fed, beds occupied, pairs of shoes made, tons landed at Batoum) and the personnel notes record who arrived, who transferred, who married and who died.
The run covers the fall of Kars, the landing of Russian refugees in Constantinople in the winter of 1920, the famine in Armenia through 1921 and 1922, and the French withdrawal from Cilicia.
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Holding Institution
Columbia University Library
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External Link
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Attribution
Digitized by Columbia University Libraries; available through HathiTrust (Public Domain).
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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: 'Near East Relief. Vol. II. No. 42. 25 Rue Taxim, Pera, Constantinople. October 23, 1920.'
Most of the people described in these pages were survivors of the genocide of the Ottoman Armenians and of the killing and deportation of Greeks and Assyrians in the same years. The bulletin does not use the word "Genocide," which was not coined until 1944. Its writers say "the deportations", "the massacres", or simply "the troubles", and often say nothing at all about how a child came to be an orphan. Where an issue documents the events or their aftermath, the record indicates this in the Subject field. The period's own vocabulary is kept in the original article titles and in quoted phrases.
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Document Contents
'Change of Name' announces that The Acorne has become Near East Relief after the organization adopted its new name; 'Clothing the Population of an Ancient City with American Supplies', by Abby Noyes Little, describes six months at Diarbekir, where clothes arrived on the last train over the Bagdad railway, a daily clinic treated about one hundred patients, women spun cotton and wove cloth, and Emily I. Wade remained to continue the work; 'Graduation of Native Nurses at Harpoot American Hospital', signed Ruth A. Parmelee, records the 21 September exercises for three nurses, with addresses by Henry H. Riggs and Mark H. Ward and the nurses signing the Florence Nightingale Pledge; 'Miss Ruth Henry Reports Conditions at Adana Improving' describes nearly five weeks of siege, relief for wounded Turkish civilians, milk and flour sent to nearby towns, and more than 700 men and women employed in industries; E. A. Yarrow's letter thanks the Kars personnel who stayed at their posts as Turkish forces approached; 'Death of Mrs. Peet' reports Martha Hamilton Peet's death and funeral in Constantinople; 'Personnel Notes' records assignments, transfers and departures.