Armenian News Network / Groong

NINETY-SIX YEARS AGO TODAY. The S.S. Leviathan leaves Hoboken, New Jersey on Sunday, February 16 ^th 1919 with nearly 250 early responder volunteers of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East anxious and determined to help in Բeconstruction.ՠTalented and willing American help for survivors of the Turkish Genocide against the Armenians is on its way.  A detailed list of workers and their efforts to salvage remnants, and Ұutting the fragments together.Ӡ

Armenian News Network / Groong
February 16, 2015

Special to Groong by Abraham D. Krikorian and Eugene L. Taylor

Long Island, NY

 

҈ere is not a nation,ӠɠҴemporarily washed from its habitat by the wave of war, but an entire people, deported, exiled, scattered, tortured and butchered — and not for the sake of conquest or strategic advantage over the enemy, but for the deliberate purpose of exterminating that people from the face of the earth.  What is left of the Armenian race ɛare] but few Ҧragments,Ӡand the task of putting these fragments together and maintaining them is the task of the United States.

1915 release to the Press by Committee on Armenian Atrocities (New York City)

 

Ҕhere recently was a Preparedness Parade, which marched up Fifth Avenue twenty abreast and took about thirteen hours to pass a given point. From 10 A.M. till well into the evening, this great army of 125,000 continued to tramp up the street. If the Armenian men, women and children who died in Turkey within a twelvemonth should rise again and march in solemn procession to beg the assistance of the American people for their surviving brothers, the procession...marching twenty abreast would take two days and two nights to pass the Great Viewing Stand.Ӽ/p>

 From Ғelief Work in the Turkish Empire in Bulletin No. 5ӠLatest News Concerning the Armenian and Syrian Sufferers May 24, 1916

 

Foreword

We contemplated designating this post as Ҽi style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>The Leviathan Party Sent to Turkey-in-Asia by the American Committee for Relief in the Near East in the Aftermath of Massacre, Persecution and Starvation: a list and partial profile of the Ԇirst Responder Volunteersՠas a resource in Armenian genocide studies.Ӽspan style="mso-spacerun:yes">  The title ultimately used is considerably longer, but we opted for the longer because it was more detailed and hence more informative. We like detail since as the adage says Ҕhe devil is in the detail.Ӽ/p>

All should know that this is a year of special commemoration.  It is the centenary of the onset of the genocide against the Armenians by the Young Turk regime who were in charge of the Ottoman Empire. There are of course many ways of remembering.  Some years ago on our retirement we undertook the task of attempting to attest and attribute relevant photographs.  Attest simply stated means affirming the accuracy of what a photograph represents, and attribute means identifying a given photograph with a person, place and time. [Endnote 1] 

What follows is an effort on our part to make available for convenient use and further study, a listing of volunteers who went to genocide-ravaged regions and centers of destruction to help.  Theirs are important human stories ̶ stories of work and effort among survivors to replace despair with hope.

This project was started some years ago. Although it has not matured as much as we had hoped in the interim, it seems appropriate to make it available now in this commemorative year so that those interested can make use of it and perhaps even see fit to add to it. We hope that it may one day reach the level of completeness that it so richly deserves. We are aware of a number of collaborative group and joint efforts aimed at achieving ends this special commemorative year that would otherwise be overwhelming for any given individual. Filling in the blanks here may well qualify for such further work. Only time will tell.

In an extemporaneous film we uploaded to You Tube on the History of the Armenian Orphan Rug we have described the volunteers who served in the Near East Relief as ԈeroesӮ  Indeed they were. The range of broad human service extended by these volunteers was, to use a nowadays much overused word, awesome. We can think of no better place than the lists of volunteers who served in the Near East Relief as a starting place to track down photographs relating to the period when the pieces of the Armenian nation were being picked up. In this posting we will not present specific photographs reflecting what workers found at their appointed posts. A few may be seen, however, incorporated into our video. [Endnote 2.]

Like many others, we view photographs as witnesses. Many will agree that the Internet is both a blessing and a curse. This is especially so when it comes to attestation and attribution. Reinventing the ҏld CountyӬ the yerghir, or the Land, imagining, better yet visualizing the various persecutions in Ottoman Turkey culminating in the Genocide, and the post-Genocidal period each have their enthusiasts, followers and partisans. Surprisingly, it has only been relatively recently that professional historians have oriented themselves in seeking to understand the past through photographs and imagery. For our part, we will state that it is not an easy task, is fraught with many challenges, and depends in no small measure on a good deal of luck. We are content, indeed happy, that we are not historians and there have felt quite free to follow any path that conditions and opportunities seem to dictate. [Endnote 3]

Deliberate confusion and obfuscation of incontestable facts through dogged and selective concentration on specific photographs has been utilized and exploited by many who seek to deny the Armenian Genocide just as they have been by those who deny the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews and others who were targets of the venomous hatred of the Nazis. [Endnote 4]  The fact remains however that no amount of minor criticism can detract from the fact of the Armenian Genocide.  The intent on the part of Դhe Turksՠand their supporters ever since the perpetration of the genocide has been to stimulate controversy by whatever means may seem appropriate at any given moment. As stated many years ago by Dr. Gerard Libaridian “The Armenian Genocide is not an historiographical problem, it is a political one.”

In our experience, one of the best ways to achieve excellent attestation and attribution, that is image and reality, is by seeking out individuals or their descendants who were on the scene at any given point or given timeframe and actually took or have photographs, and who wrote letters and accounts, and even kept diaries. Obviously this is not a trivial task, but it is a valuable approach that has been very much underexploited so far as finding photographs that can serve as historical landmarks.

We, like many others, have noted the irony that many Armenian photographers were active in the Ottoman Empire right from the very outset of availability of photography as a technique. Yet their legacy on the genocide and its aftermath is exceedingly minimal for very understandable reasons. When the Ottoman Government finally relented to the repeated requests of the United States and grudgingly allowed relief to be given to its victims, the response was quick. This has been commented on from time to time using arguments that Դhe Turksՠwere merely covering their selfish interests in the event their ally Germany lost the war, or that they themselves could reap benefits from Ԧoreign aidՠ– those in authority seeking shamelessly to take a percentage for themselves through graft, corruption, theft whatever.  There also was a very real concern, even fear, on the part of Turkey that the United States might enter the war on the side of the Entente, declare war on Turkey etc.  There even was an equally damning evaluation of Դhe Turksՠby an American who knew and worked over many years with the Ottoman government authorities.  He drew attention to the Turks as predictably being of an unfocussed mindset whereby they were typically unable to carry out any ңontinuity of action.Ӽspan style="mso-spacerun:yes"> Be that as it may, and on the surface of things, relief was being allowed by the Ottoman authorities. The real problem was getting it to those in desperate need. Travel infrastructure in the Empire was marginal. Not only getting relief to all in need but in a timely manner. That activity constituted additional challenges and many stories have emerged from that trying to work under such circumstances. For example, trucks were ultimately deemed very unsatisfactory for transporting relief supplies to the Kharpert region. Ultimately, time-tested camel caravans had to be relied upon to bring materials from the Black Sea coastal ports.

But let us jump ahead to the time when the war was over, and a number of the areas of Asia Minor were opened up, more or less to relief and reconstruction.  After all, survivors who had been driven out were supposedly being allowed by the Էinnersՠof the war to ԧo home.՛Endnote 4]

Before we give the main enumeration of the volunteers we think some additional background will be useful.  We give this background in the form of a few accounts from newspapers.  This is because the newspapers were the main source of information for those first learning what was being done to the Armenians of Turkey, and eventually those Americans who were contemplating volunteering.  The American missionaries who voluntarily left or were forced to leave the Empire during the genocide or were on leave back home or in Europe and could not return were among the first who were anxious to get back to Դheir people.ռ/p>

A few references and excerpts from the New York Times follow. The ones selected here are interesting especially since they refer to the situation fairly early on.

NY Times Sept. 15, 1916, pg. 4. Washington. Sept. 14, 1916. Ҕurkey Will Permit Relief for Syrians. Ottoman Government Yields to Pleas by Washington for Starving People.Ӽo:p>

Ҕhe action reverses the previous attitude of Turkish officials, who had refused two urgent please of the department for the privilege to make food shipmentsɔhe [State] department regarded Turkeyճ action was especially timely, since Oct. 21 and 22 have been named in a proclamation by President Wilson as relief days for raising further funds and supplies for Syrians and Armenians.  The consent of the Ottoman government with respect to Syria does not apply to Armenia, but negotiations are being continued for similar concessions there. (Our emphasis) As forwarded by the Embassy at Constantinople, the Turkish communication fixes only one condition, that supplies for Syria be distributed from Beirut through the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societiesɼb style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Turkey had insisted that there was no need for relief supplies there [Syria].  Advices from other sources, however, convinced the State Department that many of the inhabitants had been reduced to starvation.Ӽspan style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 

NY Times Oct. 4, 1916, pg. 2. Washington. Oct. 3, 1916. ҁsks for $5,000,000 to Succor Armenia.  American Committee Starts Biggest Undertaking of Mercy Since Relief of Belgium.Ӽo:p>

An exhaustive summary of the whole Armenian and Syrian situation was made public and will be sent to ministers of 120,000 churches all over the country and to many leading citizens and relief organizations. A fund of $5,000,000 is called for to relieve 1,000,000 destitute, exiled and starving Armenians and Syrians scattered broadcast all over Turkey, Persia, Syria and Palestine.  The appeal declares that nearly 2,000,000 Armenians originally in their native country, three quarters of a million have been massacred, or have died of wounds, disease or exhaustion since the war began. ɠҐeople were found eating grass, herbs and locusts,ӊsays the committee in describing its investigation of conditions in Armenia, ҡnd in desperate cases dead animals and human bodies have been reported to have been eaten. In some cases men were lined up so that several could be shot with one bullet in order not to waste ammunition.  A mother said that not a girl above 12 (and some younger) in the village of — escaped violation. The people kill and eat street dogs...Ӽo:p>

NY Times Oct. 22, 1916, pg. 2. ҇ive MILLIONS TODAY TO SAVE ARMENIANS.Ӽo:p>

ɠ҉t was announced yesterday that one wealthy American who has already given $18,000 to the Armenian and Syrian fund had sent another check for $25,000.  By request of the giver his name was withheld and will not be made public. Part of the receipts of the Yale-Harvard football game in the Yale stadium will be donated to the fund while the Rev.҂illyӠSunday, who is holding a revival is to take up a special collection in the Detroit Tabernacle.  As soon as the money collected begins coming in, which will be the next few days, the Committee in New York, of which Charles P. Crane, 70 Fifth Avenue, is the Treasurer, will begin the purchase of the most needed supplies, which are to be shipped to Armenia and Syria on a United States naval collier loaned to the committee for that purpose by order of President Wilson.  Mr. Crane said yesterday that he hoped that at least $4,000,000 will be raised in the next three weeks.

A statement detailing conditions in Armenia and Syria, as based on the latest reports received from Turkey, was given out by the Armenian and Syrian Committee yesterday. What is left of the Armenian race is described in that statement as but few Ҧragments,Ӡand the task of putting these fragments together and maintaining them is the task, the committee adds, of the United States,

҈ere is not a nation,Ӡsays the statement, Ҵemporarily washed from it habitat by the wave of war, but an entire people, deported, exiled, scattered, tortured and butchered — and not for the sake of conquest or strategic advantage over the enemy, but for the deliberate purpose of exterminating that people from the face of the earth.Ӽ/i> (our emphasis, see epigraph at the outset of this article.)

Ҕhen follows a complete story of the massacre of the Armenians by the Turks, and of the torturing or deportation of the survivors, a story which was told in all its detail in Viscount Bryceճ report, which was published in THE NEW YORK TIMES two weeks ago.

ҏne dollar, it is pointed out, will sustain ten people one week in Asia Minor. An average of $1 given by each American, it is added, will keep alive what is left of the sufferers for two years.Ӽo:p>

Hopefully these newspaper reports set the stage a bit as to what was happening after the onset of the Genocide in 1915.  Let us go forward to 1919.

The history of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief (ACRNE), a predecessor of what came ultimately to be the Near East Relief, has been told more than a few times. [Endnote 5]

After the War ended it took a while for the conditions in Asia Minor to improve to the point where relief workers could enter the Constantinople port areas (they had been mined).  Eastern Asiatic Turkey was a still greater obstacle, and the Americans who went over to assess the situation concluded that it was not yet safe for the volunteers to travel into the interior.

Finally, in the NY Times February 17, 1919 pg. 6 we read that Ҏear East Expedition Leaves.Ӡ  A reproduction of the full notice follows.

 

 

The S.S. Leviathan was formerly the S.S. Vaterland, a Hamburg-American (German) liner.  It was the largest ship on the seas (tonnage 59,956; length 950 ft.; 4 times around the promenade deck = 1 mile) and had been interned at Hoboken by the Americans at the outbreak of the European war in 1914. It was taken over, ңommandeeredӠby the U.S. Government when the Americans declared war on Germany on December 7, 1917.  It was refitted, renamed S.S. Leviathan and was used as an Army transport for American troops to Brest, Finistre, France in Brittany. The ship was often referred to as үne of Germanyճ worst enemies.Ӡ Nine thousand soldiers were typically carried per trip.

Below we present an image from a German postcard giving the particulars of Vaterland. This is followed by a photograph showing the Leviathan painted in camouflage. It was photographed on May 30, 1918, by the United States Signal Corps photographer Lt. A.J. Sutton and we scanned it at U.S. National Archives, College Park, Maryland (RG 111 Box 105). When the Leviathan was transporting the ACRNE volunteers to Brest, France, the Leviathan still had its camouflage (see 2^nd image below). By May 1919 its camouflage had been painted over or removed (see 3^rd photo below). That photo also shows tugs near the Leviathan that allows the sheer scale of size to be appreciated.

 

 

 

 

The June 13, 1924, issue of Near East Reliefճ now very rare serial magazine Ҕeam WorkӠwe find a fairly comprehensive document, some 64 pages long, of those who served in relief efforts.  The Ҍeviathan partyӠpeople are so designated. Since they belong to that distinct group of what might today be called Ԧirst respondersՠthey have special pride of place not only for their timely volunteering for service in general but their very early service from among the more than 10,000 individuals who eventually served.  Others had given aid and helped survivors of the massacres etc. but were not part of the large organized effort that constituted the ACRNE.  It is beyond the scope of this brief article to provide the significance of all this in the context of the foundations of humanitarian aid efforts but so far as the United States is concerned it may be useful to point out that a December 14, 1930 brief book review of the Story of  Near East Relief, an interpretation by Rev. Dr. James L. Barton, 1930) opened with the following: ҉n a very real and intimate sense this book belongs to almost the whole of the people of the United States, since almost every man, woman and child in the country contributed to the work of the Near East Relief, the story of whose labors and achievements it tells.Ӡ(NY Times, 14 December 1930 BR pg.18).  In Dr. Bartonճ ғtory of Near East ReliefӠ(1930) there is an extensive listing of ҏverseas PersonnelӠin the form of an appendix but only names are given. The two Գhotsՠof the same group photo below taken on the British Red Cross Hospital Ship ҇loucester CastleӠshow the workers in their ACRNE uniforms, expressly designed for the effort (see below for a brief timetable of travel from which one can deduce a rough date the photograph was taken).

 

 

 

 

 

Rough Timetable of Travel

The Ҍeviathan PartyӠboarded the ship on the 15^th of February.  Early the next morning they were on their way.  Among them were some women who were headed for Paris to serve in the YMCA.  Others were members of the Jewish Board.  Mine-Sweeps were on the sides so that loose mines could be cut loose.  At night, full black-out precautions were in place. The 6-day plus crossing was smooth and they disembarked at Brest, France on Sunday morning 23 February. They made their headquarters at the Red Cross at Brest, and boarded U.S. Hospital train ҐullmansӠwith blankets and pillows—berths to just sit on for Marseilles. They reached Marseilles on Wednesday around 1 P.M. and transferred promptly to the British Hospital Ship ҇loucester CastleӬ described as an attractive ship painted white with a Red Cross painted on both sides. It too was outfitted with mine sweepers, as a precaution. (It had been attacked back in March of 1917 by a German U-Boat in the English Channel. It was sunk but raised and rehabilitated for service.)

They went ashore for a day at Salonika, before going on to Constantinople. It was Saturday morning 8 March that 241 people were landed – some 20 days from New York. Some were housed at the terminal station of the ԏrientalՊBerlin-Bagdad Railway. Some were taken out to the Prinkipo island, of the PrincesՠIslands group, and put up at a luxury resort facility that was still occupied by German officer prisoners of War, etc. Out on the Sea of Marmora were boats being unloaded of supplies at the warehouse facility at the German-built deep-water port of Derindje. The main warehouse building also constituted living quarters for women at the top (3^rd) floor, men 2^nd floor, the storeroom, dining room, supplies divided for each unit such as Cesaria, Sivas, Harput, Malatia etc. (These arrangements etc. were switched and developed as time passed and the facility became fully operational as a relief supply center.)

There is a fair body of information through letters that provide detail and reflection on various happenings. The Missionary Herald tried to give updates on happenings (e.g., issue of June 1919 p. 235 ff.). The group that left for Harpoot (Kharpert) was the last to leave Derindje.  This was on the evening of Sunday, May 25, 1919. As an interesting aside we may quote from a letter written by Frances C. MacDaniels to her mother dated 25 May, 1919 stating җeլl hate to leave this place. It would make a wonderful summer resort. The beautiful bay, hills, wildflowers, and birds. They say thereճ a lake [Geuljuk] 15 miles from Harpoot, so maybe we can declare a holiday on the 4^th of July and have a regular bath.ӠShe seems not to have known that the ravines and gullies around the Lake were but one of many scenes of mass murder of Armenians during the Genocide. [See Endnote 6]

Before we present the Table, it will be helpful also perhaps to gain a bit of a broader perspective by reproducing a message communicated to Armenian Syrian Relief in New York City by Navy Radio from Constantinople to Washington, D.C. and forwarded. This message dated 3/12/1919 (read March 12) provides details such as were then available on the disposition and status of the volunteers and their intended postings at the various locations. The scale of this Ҧirst responderӊoperation will be evident. Some of the names in this Ԓadio Messageՠwill be familiar to some readers.

 

Message by Navy Radio, received via Washington 3/12/19

 

                        Please forward to Armenian Syrian Relief New York from Constantinople

Quote

                        Relief ship Westmount sailed February 26^th, for Batoum with 5000 tons flour, one medical unit, clothing, supplies 5000 pairs shoes all for half million waiting refugees and destitute people.  Dr. Main, Elmer, Hadley, Todd accompanying.  Immediate need for seed grains desperate.

                        Pensacola arrived March first with entire party in excellent health and cargo in perfect condition.  All hands engaged in discharging and storing cargo in preparation for shipment to interior.  Cargo all being stored in capacious warehouses constructed by Germans for military purposes put at our disposal by British without cost.

                        Twenty car train leaving March 6^th over Bagdad Railway with Professor Moore and Dr. Barton for Konia, Adana, Tarsus, Aleppo, Urfa, and Mardin.  Workers and supplies are taken also by same train for Cesarea, Sivas, Marash, Aintab, Diarbekir and Harput.  Additional trains will follow as soon as workers arrive to receive and distribute supplies.  Country can be entered with safety since military officers accompany, giving protection and assisting in relief operations.  Railroads are in hands of British; we are assigned whole trains for the transportation of cars, motor lorries, workers, farm tractors and to land supplies at all points reached by rail.  Overland transportation more difficult owing to bad state of roads.

                        Following assignment of workers has been made;

                        Accompanying Professor Moore to Konia, Cesarea, and Sivas are Custer, Hawkes, Beach, Thayer, Duer, Linn, Sutherland, Curt, Partridge, Irwin, and John Moore.

                        Accompanying Dr. Barton to Adana, Tarsus, Marash, Aintab, Aleppo, Urfa, Mardin, Diarbekir, and Harput are Loucks, Means, Vrooman, Weeden, Farnsworth, President Gates, Riggs, Wirt and Carrier.

                        Joining Dr. Main, Caucasus, are Ussher, Greenleaf, Ayer, Gilman, and Babcock.

                        A[at?]. Constantinople center Farnham, Count, Carman, with Peet, Hatch and Washburn.

                        Temporarily at dock and warehouses unloading and arranging cargo and hospital units, trucks and Fords are MacGeehon, Hoagland, Warden, Perry, Kingsbury, Salman, Bailey, Willson, Derstine, Bell, Field, and Capt. Niles Connelly, Burgess, and Stoltzfus brothers, leaving temporarily at Beirut Miller, Hertzler, Graber, Scott, Deter.

                        We are calling from Beirut to Aleppo, Aintab, and Urfa Zimmermann, Miller, Hertzler, Graber, Scott, Deter.

                        Visiting Samsoun and Marsovan with supplies are Hatch, and Washburn, accompanied by Holway and Smith.

                        Many telegrams received from various parts of Turkey report thousands of Armenian women and children forcibly taken by Turks are being set adrift by command of high Turkish officers influenced by French and British authorities.  Within few days 1300 children have been discharged in Constantinople and many more in Interior.

            The situation demands immediate and comprehensive action upon a large scale as surviving Armenians while cooperating to their utmost are too depleted and impoverished to receive back all their own while the opportunity for rendering mighty humanitarian service has never been surpassed.

                        We are straining every nerve to set the new emergency with our 120 American workers on ground.  Eagerly anticipating arrival 250 additional workers now on way that medical units may be put into action and orphans cared for.

                        The restoration of thes[e] subject peoples began simultaneously with arrival of Commission throwing unusual responsibility upon our Committee since all parties expect us to meet the situation adequately.

Unquote

Barton Sims

 

 

The Table listing the Leviathan volunteers follows the Endnotes and Acknowledgements below as an Addendum

The headings should be explanatory. To repeat, the Table is a working document.  Our hope is that it will open some avenues for those interested in Եnearthingՠfresh photographic materials reflecting service to the Armenian remnants. There remains, of course, an enormous task ahead but at least we hope we have provided a first draft sketch. [Endnote 7]

 

Endnotes

[Endnote 1]  For example Tessa Hofmann and Gerayer Koutcharian (1992) "Images that horrify and indict": pictorial documents on the persecution and extermination of Armenians from 1877 to 1922լ The Armenian Review, 45, 53-184; Armin T. Wegner, A.M. Samuelli (1996) Armin T. Wegner e gli Armeni in Anatolia, 1915: immagini e testimonianze = Armin T. Wegner and the Armenians in Anatolia, 1915: images and testimonies (Milano: Guerini e Associati);Ulrich Klan (2008) ҁrmin T. Wegner - Bildnis einer Stimme Begleitbuchӊ[Armin T. Wegner - Portrait of a Voice, a companion book] (Gttingen:WallsteinVerlag); Armin T. Wegner, Andreas Meier, Wolfgang Gust (2011) Die Austreibung des armenischen Volkes in die Wste: ein Lichtbildvortrag [The Expulsion of the Armenians into the Desert: a photo report (slide show)] (Gttingen: WallsteinVerlag, as Compact Disk); A.D. Krikorian and E.L. Taylor (2011) ҁchieving ever-greater precision in attestation and attribution of genocide photographsӠin Tessa Hofmann, Matthias Bjrnlund, Vassilios Meichanetsidis (eds.), The Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks, Studies on the state sponsored campaign of extermination of the Christians of Asia Minor, 1912-1922 and its aftermath: history, law, memory (New York and Athens: Aristide D. Caratzas).

[Endnote 2]  See video on our Conscience Films site entitled "History of the Armenian Orphan Rug (Coolidge Rug) Made for the White House 1925Ӭ a photo essay, with commentary by Abraham D. Krikorian, and 'scrolling' type-written "Afterword" on You Tube. The subtitle is ғtory of an Armenian Rug Made by Armenian Orphans for the White House: preserving authentic memory of survivors of the Turkish Genocide against the Armenians.Ӽ/span> The YouTube URL is: http://youtu.be/MkQQEFsXDRg

[Endnote 3] See http://www.groong.org/orig/Probing-the-Photographic-Record.html  ҠWitnesses' to Massacres and Genocide and their Aftermath: Probing the Photographic Record.Ӡ

[Endnote 4] For a range of valuable information in a single source see William H. Hallճ edited volume Ғeconstruction in Turkey. As series of reports compiled for the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief. 1 Madison Ave. New York City.ӠFor Private Distribution Only, 1918, 243 pages. This is available as an ebook at https://archive.org/details/reconstructioni00hallgoog 

[Endnote 4] Sybil Milton (1986) Images of the Holocaust ̶Part 1. Holocaust and Genocide Studies vol. 1 (no.1) 27-61. Part 2. Vol. 1 (no.2) 193-216;Sybil Milton (1989) Armin T. Wegner: polemicist for Armenian and Jewish right. The Armenian Review vol. 42 (no.4), 17-40; Sybil Milton (1999) Photography as evidence of the Holocaust. History of Photography 23 (no.4), 303-312; Markon, Genya (1999) The Photo Archives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. History of Photography vol. 23 (no.4), 341-349;Udo Wallendy (2003) Do photographs prove the NS extermination of the Jews? In: Germar Rudolf (editor) ҄issecting the Holocaust. The growing critique of Ԕruthՠand ԍemoryծӠTheses & Dissertations Press, Chicago, pgs. 243- 267.

[Endnote 5] See James L. Barton (1930) ғtory of Near East Relief (1915-1930), An Interpretationӊ(Macmillan, New York), 479 pages; for Ҕhe American Committee for Armenian and Syrian ReliefӠspecifically see the entry under that title by Charles V. Vickrey in The World Court vol. 4 no. 10, Oct.) 1918, 586-589.  This is in a special number of the World Court, vol. IV, no. 16 October 1918 entitled Relief and Reconstruction in the Near East. See http://books.google.com/books/about/The_World_Court.html?id=QjouAAAAYAAJ

[Endnote 6]  Susan K. Blair (ed.), (1989) The Slaughterhouse Province, an American Diplomatճ Report on the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1917 (New Rochelle, NY: Aristide D. Caratzas, Publisher). It is of some interest that Dr. Ruth A. Parmelee who was born in Turkey, a physician, of missionary parents and had served at Mezereh at the American Hospital did not confide in Mrs. MacDaniels as to what had been going on in Mamuret-ul-Aziz. In fact, Mrs. MacDaniels expressed the opinion that Dr. Parmelee was the least pleasant of the group going out to Harpoot. In fairness, Dr. Parmelee was a bit of a dour personality but had seen more than her share of the atrocities committed by Turks and Kurds, going back to her childhood at Trebizond during the Hamidian massacres. As time went on, Mrs. MacDaniels and Dr. Parmelee seem to have come to an accommodation and got along well.]

[Endnote 7] We sometimes joke that we are no longer ҳpring chickensӠand must move on full forward on ԧetting some of our work outՠso others can benefit from what we have done.

[Endnote 8] We have received the following email correcting the name for “Anna H. Fowle” to “Anne E. Fowle”. With verification, we’re adding this Endnote to correct the record.

From: Barbara Taylor

Subject: Website

Date: October 24, 2023 at 3:35:55 PM PDT

To: Groong

 

My grandparents were on the ship Leviathan that sailed from Hoboken, NJ on Feb 15, 1919.  My grandmother was Anne Eliza (Smith) Fowle (her name is incorrectly listed as Anne H. Fowle).   My grandfather was her husband, Theodore Wilson Fowle.  His brother Wilson Farnsworth Fowle also sailed with them.  Their brother Luther Richardson Fowle was the long time treasurer of the American Board for Near East Relief; their brother Charles Fowle worked in the New York office of the ACRNE at the time.

Anne and Ted married August 1918.   She was a graduate of Mount Holyoke College majoring in Physics.  He was a graduate of Williams College and the University of Michigan majoring in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.  I am in the process of transcribing their letters from 1919 to 1921 when they were in Turkey.   Ted was born in Turkey to American missionary parents (James Luther Fowle and Caroline Palmer Farnsworth) and his grandparents (Wilson Amos Farnsworth and Caroline Elizabeth Palmer) had been missionaries there for 50 years, retiring in 1902. 

Barbara

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank the United States National Archives for all their help and considerations while working on site both at the College Park, Maryland and at downtown Washington, D.C. facilities. We acknowledge the Oberlin College Archives for allowing us to work there and to study the Laurence H. and Frances C. MacDaniels materials.  Likewise, we thank the Archives at the University of California Berkeley, Smith College and Mount Holyoke College. We acknowledge help from Union Theological Seminary, Burke Library, Columbia University Libraries and Hoover Institution, Stanford University Archives and special collections. We owe our sincere thanks also to Mrs. Ellen MacDaniels Speers who has been a great help and source of encouragement to us, especially with her parents letters, photographs etc.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

                                                                                                                                                           

Hoboken, N.J.

February 14, 1919

 

Memorandum for:

 

            Executive officer, U. S. S. LEVIATHAN.

 

            1.  Herewith find LIST OF PASSENGERS for whom reservations are requested on your vessel scheduled to sail February 16, 1919.