More than a thousand Americans served overseas with Near East Relief between 1915 and 1930, joined by hundreds of international and local staff. They were missionaries and mechanics, physicians and teachers, World War I veterans and conscientious objectors. Many were women who took on leadership roles years before they could vote in their own country. This collection brings together portraits, group photographs, and field scenes of the men and women who ran NER’s orphanages, hospitals, workshops, and supply lines. The images span the full geography of NER’s operations, from Constantinople and the Caucasus to Greece, Lebanon, Syria, and Persia.

Fred Midgley with the boy who guarded the line at Syra orphanage
Fred Midgley with the boy who guarded the line at Syra orphanage
Dorothy H. Sutton, Near East Relief worker, c. 1920–1926.
Dorothy H. Sutton, Near East Relief worker, c. 1920–1926.
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