Archives

Diana Apcar

Diana Apcar and her husband in traditional Japanese clothing

Diana Apcar

Diana Apcar was instrumental in raising money for Near East Relief in Japan

Agnes Evon

Agnes Evon teaches a woman how to keep well water pure for drinking

Charles V. Vickrey at desk

Charles V. Vickrey at desk. Vickrey was a prominent and driving force behind the highly successful giving campaign, Golden Rule Sunday, that supported thousands of orphans in orphanages across the Near East

Annie T. Allen

An article about Annie T. Allen and her work at the Near East Relief.

Miss Myrtle Shane

An article about Miss Myrtle who was the last American woman who remained in Alexandropol after other women fled the area seeking safety from the red armies.

The Leviathan

The Leviathan transported the first large group of Near East Relief volunteers in Feb. 1919. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Bain Collection.

Medals, Near East Relief

An article described the workers’ medal designed by Walter Thompson to overseas workers of Near East Relief in recognition of their splendid service.

Constance Sheltman

Kentucky native Constance Sheltman left her job as a school bookkeeper in 1920 to start her career as a Near East Relief worker. She helped employ thousands of refugee women.

Cooperation At The Corinth

Americans who worked at the Near East participated in saving lives of many Armenians. Cushman views the boat that was created by one of the students in the orphanage. The article talks about her experience while being part of a team that supports and helps the Armenian.

Annie Slack Distributing Quinine Candy

Annie Slack worked for Near East Relief, and later, for the Near East Foundation. As an experienced nurse, Slack developed a mobile health clinic that was the only source of medical care for natives and refugees in Moushashen, Syria. She employed five nurse assistants, three of whom were former Near East Relief orphans.

Image courtesy of the Arab Image Foundation (AIF).

Mary Kifer Albizzi

Portrait of Near East Relief worker Mary Kifer Albizzi. This photograph was published in the Des Moines Register on Aug. 7, 1921, as part of a larger profile commemorating Albizzi’s work. Mary Kifer Albizzi drowned while on vacation with her new husband, an Italian lieutenant and Marquese, in 1921.

Wedding of Elsa Reckman and Stanley Kerr, Beirut, 1922

Relief workers Elsa Reckman and Stanley Kerr met while working in Marash. They worked together to evacuate thousands of children from Cilicia to Syria. The couple was married at the Near East Relief personnel house in Beirut in 1922. Photo courtesy of Doug Kerr.

L-R: Roy King, unknown man, unknown child (possibly Zadi Gannaway), Stanley Kerr, Elsa Reckman Kerr, Marion Kerr King (Stanley’s sister), unknown woman. 

Rose Ewald

Rose Ewald spent six years as a Near East Relief worker in various locations. She was the supervisor of supplies at the Kazachi Post factory, insuring that the workers had the raw materials to sew clothing for 15,000 orphans. When Ewald returned to the U.S., she agreed to serve as the American director of Near East Industries — a Near East Relief subsidiary dedicated to employing refugee women and selling their handcrafts. You can read more in Every Stitch a Story: Near East Industries.

Priscilla Capps Hill

Priscilla Capps joined Near East Relief in Athens in 1923. In 1925 she was named overseas director of Near East Industries, which promoted refugee employment and cultural preservation. Priscilla married an American working in Greece. She operated the Near East Industries shop in Athens until 1940, when the growing threat of World War II forced the Hills to flee to France. Photo c. 1925.

You can read more about Mrs. Hill’s exciting career in Every Stitch a Story: Near East Industries.

Ed Blatchford

Portrait of Near East Relief worker Ed Blatchford

Gordon Berry

Portrait of Near East Relief worker Gordon Berry

Belle Bass

Portrait of Near East Relief worker Belle Bass

Dr. Shedd with refugees, Urumia

Dr. William A. Shedd and his wife Mary Lewis Shedd were longtime missionaries to Persia. Dr. Shedd died on the flight from Urumia to Hamadan. He is credited with saving the lives of thousands of Assyrian and Armenian Christians.

Kathryn Gillespie Imbrie

(Mrs. Robert), of New Rochelle, N.Y., signed with Near East Relief in June, 1919. For two years almost all of Miss Gillespie’s time was spend at Trebizond. In December, 1920, she was on leave at Constantinople where she closed the Acorne Shop (February, 1921). In the Caucasus she helped move the orphans from Kars to Alexandropol and then went on to Constantinople. Reaching headquarters on April 29 she returned to the Caucasus without delay, May 6. In October, 1921, she went to Constantinople as the first step on her return trip. She left on November 4, 1921. She is now Mrs. Robert Imbrie, her address being care State Department, or 1701 Q Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

From Team Work, 1924

Dr. William A. Shedd

Dr. William A. Shedd was a Near East Relief worker in Persia. He died during the evacuation from Urumia to Hamadan. He saved the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of refugees. Image from his wife Mary Lewis Shedd’s 1922 book, The Measure of a Man.

Near East Relief headquarters, Urumia

The main building at the American College of Urumia served as Near East Relief headquarters for the region. This building was one of the few important structures left standing after the devastating siege of Urumia.

Children playing in the ruins at Corinth

Near East Relief transported 2,700 orphans from Turkey to Corinth, Greece in 1923. This photo appeared in the March 1927 issue of the New Near East magazine.

Inez Webster holding a baby

Near East Relief worker Inez Webster presents a baby layette made by orphanage girls to a refugee mother. This photo appeared in the March 1927 issue of the New Near East magazine.

Nellie Miller with children dining on the porch at the Birds’ Nest

Nellie Miller’s original caption reads”Watching the babies eat on the spacious veranda of the old palace which was rented to the Near East Relief for a nominal sum because it was standing empty.” Nellie stands at left. The woman at right is probably a mairig, or nurse matron.

Clearing irrigation ditches

The original caption reads: “Clearing irrigation ditches to get rid of the malarial mosquitoes.” Malaria was a major problem in the orphanages and refugee communities, especially those located near standing water. Relief worker Emma Cushman is credited with eliminating malaria at the Corinth Orphanage.

Emma Cushman with girls

Near East Relief worker Emma Darling Cushman with young girls just prior to the evacuation from Turkey. Cushman went on to head orphanages in Greece.

Dr. Mabel Elliott in her American Women’s Hospitals uniform

Dr. Mabel Elliott in her American Women’s Hospitals uniform. Dr. Elliott sailed from the U.S. as part of the Leviathan party in February 1919; she was part of the first group of Near East Relief workers to enter the former Ottoman Empire after the Armistice. Dr. Elliott had an important career with Near East Relief as a loaned employee from American Women’s Hospitals.

Photograph from Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy’s book, Certain Samaritans.

Maria Jacobsen with a child at Zouk Orphanage

Maria Jacobsen, a Danish missionary who worked with Near East Relief in Syria, specialized in working with the youngest orphans. Maria Jacbosen ran Zouk Orphanage before opening the Birds’ Nest in Sidon in 1923.

Katherine Ogden Fletcher with orphans in Juniyeh

Miss Katherine Ogden Fletcher worked for Near East Relief in Caesarea, Angora, and Mersine. She was named director of the orphanage at Juniyeh, where she helped the girls to created a system of self-government. In this photograph from the New Near East magazine, Miss Fletcher watches girls clean lentils for an orphanage meal.

 

Maria Jacobsen with a baby, 1923

Maria Jacobsen, a Near East Relief worker from KMA, a Danish missionary organization, with a baby. The original caption from the New Near East magazine refers to Miss Jacobsen as the “mother” of the children at the Birds’ Nest Orphanage. Prior to opening the Birds’ Nest in late 1923, Miss Jacobsen operated the orphanage at Zouk.

Elsie Truran

Returned Near East Relief worker Elsie Truran visits with the governor of Colorado, 1921.

Orphans and relief workers at Kazachi Post

Very young orphan children with two relief workers in front of a dormitory at Kazachi Post orphanage, Alexandropol (now Gyumri), Armenia. The building is marked “No. 9.” The marking is visible behind the head of the woman on the left.

View of train station, most likely in Kars, Turkey

View of train station, most likely in Kars, Turkey. Numerous train tracks are visible in the foreground. The building is a long one-story structure with prominent arched windows in the Roman style. The date is unknown.

Men and children in a horse drawn sleigh in the winter

Men and children in a horse drawn sleigh in the winter. The harsh winter conditions in the Caucasus region made automobile travel difficult and impractical. The individuals are unidentified, but they may be relief workers with their own children rather than orphans.

Woman with orphans in white dresses

Photograph of woman with orphans in white dresses on the grounds of Alexandropol orphanage. The children wear garments sewn by older girls at the Alexandropol workshop as part of their vocational training in dressmaking. The photograph shows heavy wear and scratches.

Wedding of Near East Relief workers in Beirut

Wedding of Near East Relief workers in Beirut. Rev. Joseph Beach and Rev. James E. Nicol officiated the double wedding ceremony of Marion Kerr to Roy King and Ann Frances Sproule to Alfred Bastress. Kerr, King, and Sproule were Near East Relief workers.
Marion Kerr recorded the names of the attendees on the back of the photograph (L-R):
Miss Inez Webster, Mrs. Arthur Bacon, Mrs. Charles Fowle, Mr. Arthur Bacon, Belle Dorman, Daisy Humphrey, Mrs. Elsa Kerr, Helen Clark (partly hidden), Mrs. Gannaway, Stanley E. Kerr (Marion’s brother), Carol McAfee (partly hidden), Mary Francis Bacon, Mrs. F. Hoskins, and Rev. James E. Nicol. Azadouhi (Zadi) Gannaway, a former NER orphan, was the flower girl.
Image courtesy of Ellery Flynn.

Mary Archer

Portrait of relief worker Mary Archer, who was married to fellow relief worker Laird Archer.

Blanche Easton

Near East Relief worker Blanche S. Easton. Miss Easton married fellow relief worker Joseph W. Beach.

R.M. Davidson with medals

Near East Relief worker R.M. Davidson wearing the medals that he received in recognition of his humanitarian work.

Dr. R.T. Uhls with trachoma patient at Alexandropol

Dr. R.T. Uhls attending to a trachoma patient at Alexandropol. Near East Relief started a trachoma hospital at Seversky Post Orphanage to combat the virulent eye disease, which often led to blindness if left untreated.

Article about Dr. Mabel Elliott

Dr. Mabel Elliott joined Near East Relief on loan from American Women’s Hospitals. She headed the AWH Marash unit during the siege on that city. Dr. Elliott evacuated the American hospital with 5,000 refugees, half of whom died from exposure to cold and snow before the end of the three days’ march to safety. In 1921, Elliott established a NER hospital at Ismid before transferring to the Caucasus as medical director. Dr. Elliott published her memoirs in Beginning Again at Ararat.

 

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.

Dr. Mabel Elliott with a patient

Dr. Mabel Elliott with an emaciated young patient. Many children arrived at the orphanages suffering from severe malnutrition.

Edith May Winchester

Winchester, Edith May of Fox Chase, Pa., was one of the first American nurses to enter Armenia after the war. She died from typhus at Erivan on May 17, 1919, being the first Near East Relief worker to give her life in service. She arrived in Erivan during the height of the typhus epidemic when Armenian refugees from Turkey were dying on the streets at a rate of 190 a day. Miss Winchester was the first to respond to the call of relief doctors to serve in an emergency typhus ward hastily opened. She contracted the disease and died within ten days, before her eagerly awaited mail from home reached. In her memory a nurses’ training school has been opened at the Edith May Winchester Memorial Hospital in Alexandropol, Armenia. From this school have been graduated the first nurses registered in the Armenian Republic. All were former orphan wards of the Near East Relief. They will form the faculty of a new government training school and the nucleus for a newer established Armenian Public Health Service.

From Team Work, 1924

Ernest Yarrow distributing supplies

Near East Relief worker Ernest Yarrow distributes supplies to widows and children in the Caucasus, where he was the Director of relief operations.

Rev. Lester James Wright

Wright, Lester James of Waukesha, Wisc., was the first Near East Relief worker to meet a violent death. He was slain by bandits, near Aleppo, Syria after having accompanied a convoy of orphans out of Harpoot. The children had been moved without mishap to safety and Mr. Wright, with three other relief workers and a native driver, were returning to Aleppo at the time. The bandits opened rifle fire upon the party without warning. Wright was killed instantly. Enoch R. Applegate, another relief worker, was wounded at the same time.

(Source: Team Work Volume III no. 6 – Smith – June 1924The Story of Near East Relief – Barton – 1930)

Robert E. Willson

Influenza and exhaustion brought on by the pressure of work among four thousand refugees at Mersine, Turkey, cost the life of Dr. Robert E. Willson, of Morning Sun, Iowa, on February 18, 1923. Dr. Willson had been engaged in missionary work in Cilicia for a number of years and passed through the massacres of 1909, when thousands of Armenians in Adana, Marash, and other cities in that region were slain by the Turks.

(Source: Team Work Volume III no. 6 – Smith – June 1924)

George St. John Williams

Williams, George St. John of Foxburg, Pa., died from pneumonia at Marsovan, Turkey, on December 10. 1922. Mr. Williams was in charge of the Near East Relief unit at Marsovan at the time that the orphans from the interior were being evacuated by way of Samsoun and the Black Sea. In meeting each column as it arrived in the city on the long trip overland to the coast, Williams contracted a heavy cold. He continued at his work despite the remonstrances of his physicians and pneumonia developed. A veteran of the A. E . F., his body was sent to the United States and buried with full military honors at Arlington Cemetery.

(Source: Team Work Volume III no. 6 – Smith – June 1924The Story of Near East Relief – Barton – 1930)

Mary L. Graffam

Graffam, Mary L. of Lewiston, Me., who like, Annie T. Allen, had gained a tremendous influence throughout Turkey as a missionary, died on August 17, 1921, also at Sivas, as the result of an operation for cancer. Overwork among the orphans and refugees in that city had so taxed her strength that she failed to rally after the operation. Miss Graffam was one of the few women who remained in the interior throughout the war. As a result of her efforts thousands of Armenians were saved from slaughter. In one instance her presence so aggravated the ill-nature of the Turks that an order for her execution was signed but afterward countermanded. At the time of the Armistice the Turkish caretaker of the former Kaiser’s farm at Sivas, in terror of punishment for war-time misdeeds, deeded the property over to her. This property was used as an orphanage until the Near East Relief withdrew from Turkey.

(Source: Team Work Volume III no. 6 – Smith – June 1924The Story of Near East Relief – Barton – 1930)

Menno Shellenberger

Shellenberger, Menno: Smallpox contracted from refugees at Diarbekir caused the death in that Turkish city of Menno Shellenberger, of Hesston, Kansas, on December 14, 1921. Shellenberger had been transporting supplies by motor-truck from Aleppo, three hundred miles away, to Diarbekir when he became ill.

(Source: Team Work Volume III no. 6 – Smith – June 1924The Story of Near East Relief – Barton – 1930)

Jay H. Robinson

Robinson, Captain Jay H. of Oakland. Cal., died at the American Hospital, Constantinople, from pneumonia on December 10, 1920. During the influx of Russian refugees lo Constantinople following the collapse of General Wrangel’s anti-Bolshevik forces in Crimea, Captain Robinson worked night and day distributing food and caring for the sick and wounded. The illness from which he died was brought on by exposure and overwork while engaged in this service .

(Source: Team Work Volume III no. 6 – Smith – June 1924The Story of Near East Relief – Barton – 1930)