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Farming Class at Syra Orphanage

Relief worker and agricultural specialist Fred Midgley (in white hat) teaches farming skills to a group of Near East Relief orphans at the agricultural school at Syra. The children living at the Syra Orphanage were survivors of the genocides against the Ottoman Armenians and the Anatolian Greeks.

Boys washing radishes at Syra

Boys at the Syra agricultural school — known to the local Greek community as the “American school” — grew a wide variety of foodstuffs, including radishes and other root vegetables that stored well.

Boys playing in the yard at Syra Orphanage

Physical education was an important part of life at Syra Orphanage, and at all Near East Relief orphanages. The children enjoyed recreation periods in the large play yard.

George White with Syra resident

Near East Relief worker George White with “the guard”: the boy who policed the gate between the boys’ and girls’ camps at Syra Orphanage.

Boys gardening at Syra Orphanage

Boys working in the onion field at Syra Orphanage. Syra, which housed 3,000 orphans, also functioned as an agricultural school. The gardens, fields, and livestock helped the orphanage to be self-sufficient while teaching the children valuable skills.

Girls at Syra Orphanage

Two young women pose outside of a building at Near East Relief’s Syra Orphanage. The original caption identifies the girls as two sisters named Sevart and Suzanne. Sevart, or Sirvart, is an Armenian name meaning “beloved rose.” Suzanne’s name may be an Anglicization of the Armenian name “Shushan,” which means “lily.”

Postcard of Syra Orphanage

Postcard featuring the orphanage complex on the island of Syra (Syros). The complex, which housed and educated 3,000 children, was built by orphans and refugees.