Enhancement and Endowment of the Humanities Collections of the ARIT Libraries in Istanbul and Ankara

FAIN: CH-50528-08

American Research Institute in Turkey (Philadelphia, PA 19104-6324)
G. Kenneth Sams (Project Director: May 2007 to January 2010)
A. Kevin Reinhart (Project Director: January 2010 to February 2017)
C. Brian Rose (Project Director: February 2017 to June 2019)

The relocation and expansion of two American research libraries in Turkey and an endowment for facilities maintenance; a librarian's salary; and equipment and acquisitions; as well as bridge funding for the expenses deriving from the new facilities and fund-raising expenses.

Support for the expansion and enhancement of ARIT overseas library facilities in Istanbul and Ankara, and endowment of the additional cost of library facilities, IT equipment, professional staffing, and collections development, including electronic and print media.

Media Coverage

Cataloguing a century-old natural science collection (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Emma Harper
Publication: Cornucopia Magazine blog
Date: 4/7/2016
Abstract: Review of "Empty Fields," an exhibition based on the American Board Archives holdings, in particular the Merzifon Museum catalogue. The exhibition was developed by SALT Research
URL: http://www.cornucopia.net/blog/emtpy-fields-salt-galata/

Istanbul's Best Research Libraries (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Feride Yalav
Publication: the culture trip
Date: 12/6/2016
Abstract: A list of 7 research libraries in Istanbul, including ARIT Istanbul Library and SALT Research, Galata which provides digital access to ARIT's American Board, Near East Mission archives.
URL: https://theculturetrip.com/europe/turkey/articles/istanbuls-best-research-libraries/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=FOShareEmail&utm_campaign=FO_EMAIL_13_12_2016_CONTROL&utm_content=American_Research_Institute_in_Turkey

Remembering Lillian Cole Sewny on National Nurses Day (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Wendy Elliott
Publication: The Armenian Weekly
Date: 5/6/2018
Abstract: On the occasion of National Nurses Week (May 6-12), Wendy Elliott remembers Lillian Cole Sewny, an extraordinary nurse who saved thousands of lives in the Near East in 1901-1938. Sadly, she was unable to save the one she loved the most.
URL: https://armenianweekly.com/2018/05/06/remembering-lillian-cole-sewny-on-national-nurses-day/#

Associated Products

Machteld J. Mellink Collection in Near Eastern and Anatolian Archaeology (Acquisitions/Materials Collection)
Name: Machteld J. Mellink Collection in Near Eastern and Anatolian Archaeology
Abstract: This was a large donation of the library of Machteld J. Mellink, courtesy Bryn Mawr College. ARIT has accessioned approximately 3,000 volumes including 2,600 monographs and 400 journal volumes. In addition there is a large collection of annotated offprints. Duplicates in the collection are used for trade and sale to enhance library collection and benefit library collections at Turkish institutions.
Director: ARIT Ankara Director, Dr. Elif Denel (9/2009 - present)
Director: ARIT Ankara Director, Dr. Bahadir Yildirm, 2002-2009
Year: 2007
Address: American Research Institute in Turkey, Ankara Temsilcilik Sehit Ersan 24/9 Cankaya Ankara Turkey
Primary URL: http://www.dlir.org/projects.html
Primary URL Description: The web link provides access to the union catalog of the Digital Library for International Research (DLIR) which incorporates access to ARIT Ankara library holdings.

ARIT Ankara Toni M. Cross Library (Building)
Name: ARIT Ankara Toni M. Cross Library
Abstract: This includes the relocation of the Ankara library to new facilities that were especially renovated to meet the needs of the library and the newly acquired Mellink collection.
Director: ARIT Ankara Director, Dr. Bahadir Yildirm, 2002-2009
Year: 2007
Address: American Research Institute in Turkey, Ankara Temsilcilik Sehit Ersan 24/9 Cankaya Ankara Turkey

ARIT Ankara Librarian (Staff/Faculty/Fellow Position)
Name: ARIT Ankara Librarian
Abstract: ARIT Ankara hired a full-time librarian responsible for maintaining the collection and accessioning the new Mellink donation. In addition library staffing has enabled participation in projects in collaboration with the Digital Library for International Research (DLIR).
Year: 2007

Local Libraries and Archives of ORCs (DLIR - LALORC) (Catalog)
Title: Local Libraries and Archives of ORCs (DLIR - LALORC)
Author: ARIT Ankara Library
Abstract: This project provides information on 54 local libraries and archives in Turkey that have agreed to the posting of their basic information on location, hours, and holdings, including web-based cataloging when accessible. ARIT Ankara library carried out the survey of the local libraries and archives in collaboration with the Digital Library for International Research.
Year: 2009
Primary URL: http://dlir.org/component/lalorcsurvey/?view=home
Catalog Type: Other

ARIT Istanbul librarian (Staff/Faculty/Fellow Position)
Name: ARIT Istanbul librarian
Abstract: ARIT Istanbul library has hired a professional level librarian to manage the collections in Ottoman and Byzantine studies. The librarian also coordinates the scanning projects related to the collection of the American Board of Missions library.
Year: 2010

American Board of Missions library collection (Acquisitions/Materials Collection)
Name: American Board of Missions library collection
Abstract: The American Board of Missions donated its library collection to the ARIT Istanbul Library. The library consists of c. 1300 books and 1000 journals. 95% of the books are in English, and they are a valuable collection of often rare books from the 19th and 20th centuries on the Ottoman world, Islam, and Christian missions. There is a collection of more than 725 pamphlets. And there are c. 300 books and journals published by the American Board itself, in the various languages of the Ottoman Empire.
Director: ARIT Istanbul director, Dr. Antony Greenwood
Year: 2010
Address: American Research Institute in Turkey, Istanbul Temsilcilik Uvez Sokak no. 5 Arnavutkoy Istanbul Ankara
Primary URL: http://www.dlir.org/projects.html
Primary URL Description: The web link provides access to the union catalog of the Digital Library for International Research (DLIR) which incorporates access to the ARIT Istanbul Library holdings.

ARIT Istanbul Library American Board Pamphlet Collection (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: ARIT Istanbul Library American Board Pamphlet Collection
Author: ARIT Istanbul Library
Abstract: The American Board pamphlet collection contains roughly 1000 brochures, booklets, leaflets, flyers, and off-prints that date from the mid-1800s to the present, with close to one-third from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Approximately 85% of the materials focus on the operations, institutions, or affiliate organizations of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) that were located in Turkey and the Balkans.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://www.dlir.org/abpc-home.html?layout=default
Primary URL Description: Provides links to full-text access to 176 items from the collection. Scanning and cataloging of the materials is on-going and will be posted as the work is completed.

ARIT Istanbul Library American Board Periodical Collection (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: ARIT Istanbul Library American Board Periodical Collection
Author: ARIT Istanbul Library
Abstract: Initial presentation of full text digital presentation of rare journals acquired with the American Board of Missions Library, including illustrated periodicals of the 19th century aimed at children and adults that were produced in both Greco-Turkish and Armeno-Turkish.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://dlir.org/arit-periodical-collection.html
Primary URL Description: Describes the journal collection and provides links to currently available volumes as well as plans for scanning and publication of ARIT holdings not presently available.

American Board of Missions Document Archive (Acquisitions/Materials Collection)
Name: American Board of Missions Document Archive
Abstract: The archives of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions is currently stored offsite and closed to researchers, pending processing by ARIT. The collection comprises approximately 500,000 pages of primary documents, including the administrative reports and correspondence, organization documents and financial records of the American Board missions and stations that span nearly two hundred years (1820-2010) of activity in the area of what was then the Ottoman Empire, including the Balkans and northern Syria. It contains invaluable eye-witness accounts of regions of the Middle East and eastern Europe during an important period in Late Ottoman history and offers a huge collection of unpublished and unstudied materials that give evidence for an important unwritten chapter on American diplomacy in Turkey, the Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East.
Director: Dr. Antony Greenwood
Year: 2012
Address: American Research Institute in Turkey Istanbul Temsilcilik Uvez Sokak No. 5 Arnavutkoy 34345 Istanbul Turkey
Primary URL: http://dlir.org/about-arit-i-digital-library.html
Primary URL Description: Introduction of the collection and some initial postings of content
Secondary URL: http://globalministries.org/news/mee/ucc-and-arit-agree-on.html
Secondary URL Description: Press release announcing the transfer of the archive from the United Church of Christ, Global Ministries to ARIT.

American Board of Missions Photographic Archive Collection (Acquisitions/Materials Collection)
Name: American Board of Missions Photographic Archive Collection
Abstract: This collection contains approximately 3,000 images submitted together with mission reports. Most date from 1830 through 1919, when the mission institutions were in full stride. The missionaries were encouraged to explore their surroundings and record and report their observations. The photographs provide some of the earliest recorded information on the cultures the missionaries encountered - flora and fauna; manners and customs; landscape and built environment. Temporarily housed off-site, the collection is not yet accessible to researchers, pending processing by ARIT.
Director: Dr. Antony Greenwood
Year: 2012
Address: American Research Institute in Turkey, Istanbul Temsilcilik Uvez Sokak No. 5 Arnavutkoy 34345 Istanbul Turkey

American Board Personnel Card and Photo Collection (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: American Board Personnel Card and Photo Collection
Author: American Board of Missions
Abstract: The American Board’s Near East Mission (Turkey) maintained a set of personnel files at its regional office in Istanbul, for Board employees who worked in Turkey and its surroundings. One component of this collection is a series of more than 1,800 index cards that provide basic information about each individual, such as birth and death dates, educational and employment history, and dates and places of work assignments. The card file includes both missionaries and contract workers who served the Board in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, starting with Revs. Levi Parsons and Pliny Fisk, the Board’s first appointees sent to the Middle East in 1819.
Year: 2013
Primary URL: http://www.dlir.org/archive/orc-exhibit/items/browse/collection/8
Primary URL Description: Browse or search the American Board Personnel Card File.
Secondary URL: http://www.dlir.org/abpcc-home
Secondary URL Description: Introduction to the personnel documents presented through the Istanbul Digital Library
Access Model: open access

American Board Memorial Book (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: American Board Memorial Book
Author: American Board of Missions
Abstract: In 1935, the Near East Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions undertook preparation of a memorial book to commemorate and honor those who had served the Board in Turkey, the Middle East, and the Balkans from the early 1800s through the early twentieth century. The initial three-volume work was compiled and edited by Charles Trowbridge Riggs, Near East Mission Secretary from 1910 to 1938, and contained biographical sketches of more than six hundred missionaries. Subsequent to Mr. Riggs’ death in 1953, a fourth volume was prepared to include those members of the Mission who died prior to 1970 but were not included in the earlier volumes.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://www.dlir.org/archive/orc-exhibit/items/browse/collection/12
Primary URL Description: Browse or search the American Board Near East Mission Memorial Book.
Secondary URL: http://www.dlir.org/abpcc-home
Secondary URL Description: Introduction to the American Board Near East Mission Memorial Book.
Access Model: open access

American Board Archive series, Near East Relief (1917-1928) (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: American Board Archive series, Near East Relief (1917-1928)
Author: American Board of Missions
Abstract: Items in this series include documents, newsletters, and pamphlets that relate to the agency Near East Relief (NER) and its efforts to provide humanitarian aid in Anatolia and surrounding regions during and after the First World War. The Near East Relief originated in 1915 as an emergency measure to aid minority populations in the wake of WW I. It raised funds and channeled aid primarily through the American Board mission stations in Turkey. Eventually the NER evolved to send aid directly from overseas.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://www.dlir.org/aba-official-records-1917-1928.html
Primary URL Description: Description and link to access the documents of the Near East Relief series.
Secondary URL: http://www.dlir.org/arit-aba-home.html
Secondary URL Description: Introduction to the American Board Archive digital collection.
Access Model: open access

American Board Archives series, selected reports and other records of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, affiliates and successors in Turkey and the Balkans, 1825-1988 (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: American Board Archives series, selected reports and other records of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, affiliates and successors in Turkey and the Balkans, 1825-1988
Author: American Board in Turkey
Abstract: The items in this series consist of portion of the official correspondence, documents, reports, and minutes of the American Board’s enterprises in Turkey and the Balkans, primarily communications of officers and personnel, as well as reports by staff, committees, and mission stations and institutions.
Year: 2014
Primary URL: http://dlir.org/aba-selected-records-1825-1988.html
Primary URL Description: Istanbul Digital Library, American Board of Missions archive, American Board reports and correspondence, 1825 - 1988.
Secondary URL: https://www.archives.saltresearch.org/R/KH49JUEUPLXTAH87RFCILBU5U4M8YGKJAA7ANA4VGJK23DBEE5-04199?func=search-simple
Secondary URL Description: SALT Research, link to archival documents
Access Model: open access on-line

American Board Archive series, Annual Station Reports (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: American Board Archive series, Annual Station Reports
Author: American Board in Turkey
Abstract: Annual station reports from the Near East mission stations, 1921-1926 and 1931-1937 (384). Reports from the mission stations of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions during the critical years of World War I, the founding of the Turkish Republic, and the relief effort in the Near East.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: https://www.archives.saltresearch.org/R/58D559IFVELHULRXVH8NYDRMX5S83J3AY4AFUGANU31P9T6UXK-00927?func=collections-result&collection_id=4337
Primary URL Description: Access to archival documents in digital format
Secondary URL: http://dlir.org/arit-aba-home.html
Secondary URL Description: Digital Library for International Research introduction to the American Board Archive and link to SALT Archives
Access Model: open access on-line

American Board Archive series, Photograph albums (3) and individual photographs ( (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: American Board Archive series, Photograph albums (3) and individual photographs (
Author: American Board in Turkey
Abstract: Photographic albums with images of missionaries and their families; individual photographs from mission stations of people, locations, buildings, scenes.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://dlir.org/aba-photos-and-albums.html
Primary URL Description: Description of the photograph and album series description and links
Secondary URL: https://www.archives.saltresearch.org/R/SR34X5EY34X7H598UTA794LR9VHL1G2NI7IVU53TAJCDXI1PXH-03455?func=collections-result&collection_id=4538
Secondary URL Description: SALT Research access to American Board photographs and albums
Access Model: open access on-line

American Board Archive series, The Riggs Papers (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: American Board Archive series, The Riggs Papers
Author: Elias Riggs, Riggs family members
Abstract: This series includes private correspondence and other material, including five diaries and close to 2,000 pages of personal letters, notes, and sermons. These items relate to the Riggs family of missionaries, principally Rev. Elias Riggs (1810-1910), his wife Martha Dalzell Riggs (1810-87), and three of their children, Elizabeth, Emma, and Samuel.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://dlir.org/aba-the-riggs-papers.html
Primary URL Description: Description of the Riggs Papers series and links to archives and additional information
Secondary URL: https://www.archives.saltresearch.org/R/SR34X5EY34X7H598UTA794LR9VHL1G2NI7IVU53TAJCDXI1PXH-03468?func=collections&collection_id=4597
Secondary URL Description: SALT Research link to archive series, Riggs papers
Access Model: open access on-line

Catalogue of the Museum of Anatolian College, Merzifon (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Catalogue of the Museum of Anatolian College, Merzifon
Author: American Board
Author: Johannes Jacob Manissadjian
Abstract: This is the hand-written catalogue of the Museum of Anatolian College in Merzifon, a compendium of the natural history of the location in the early 20th century. I consists of an alphabetical list of the contents of the museum displays. Also includes a brief history of the museum. The items are described in various categories, including taxidermy, fossils, plant samples, insect samples, mineral samples, skeletons, etc.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: https://www.archives.saltresearch.org/R/SR34X5EY34X7H598UTA794LR9VHL1G2NI7IVU53TAJCDXI1PXH-04863?func=collections-result&collection_id=4798
Primary URL Description: SALT Research link to digitized catalogue document.
Secondary URL: http://dlir.org/arit-american-board-archives-guide.html
Secondary URL Description: Guide to the American Board Archives, including a description of the Miscellaneous Bound Materials. The catalog is part of this series containing bound volumes and other materials that were not created by the Istanbul Treasury Department. Included are minutes, account ledgers from mission stations, and letters. Some of this material was sent from the mission stations to the Treasurer’s Office after the closure of ABH institutions in the twentieth century.
Access Model: open access on-line

Istanbul Treasury Department Records (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Istanbul Treasury Department Records
Author: American Board
Abstract: Items in this series were primarily created during the years when William W. Peet served as the ABH treasurer (1881-1925). Documents include correspondence with mission stations, the headquarters office of the ABCFM in Boston, and other organizations, as well as financial records such as account books, bills and receipts. Reports, minutes, plans, property deeds and other records relating to mission stations are also found.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: https://www.archives.saltresearch.org/R/SR34X5EY34X7H598UTA794LR9VHL1G2NI7IVU53TAJCDXI1PXH-05873?func=collections-result&collection_id=4797
Primary URL Description: SALT Research link to the digital files of the archives collection.
Secondary URL: http://dlir.org/arit-american-board-archives-guide.html
Secondary URL Description: Guide to the American Board Archives digital collection, including the Istanbul Treasury Department Records.
Access Model: open access on-line

Guide to the American Board Archives (Web Resource)
Title: Guide to the American Board Archives
Author: Diane Ryan, archivist
Author: Brian Johnson, librarian
Author: Antony Greenwood, ARIT Istanbul
Author: Arden Alexander, archivist
Abstract: This web page provides a guide to the Records of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, affiliates, and successors in Turkey and the Balkans. The guide includes discussion of the Archives' arrangement, scope and content, history, and conditions of access and permissions. It provides summaries of the series of documents that have been made accessible to date, along with links to those document collections. Also included are references and links to related collections.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: http://dlir.org/arit-american-board-archives-guide.html
Primary URL Description: Records of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, affiliates, and successors in Turkey and the Balkans

Near East Mission Records, Istanbul Treasury Department, 1926-ca. 1960 (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Near East Mission Records, Istanbul Treasury Department, 1926-ca. 1960
Author: American Board
Abstract: Items in this series were primarily created during the years when Luther R. Fowle served as the ABH treasurer (1926-1954), after the ABCFM’s European, Western, Central, and Eastern Turkey Missions were combined into a single unit, The Near East Mission, subsequent to the First World War. Documents include correspondence with mission stations, the headquarters office of the ABCFM in Boston, and other organizations and financial records such as account books, bills and receipts. Reports, minutes, plans, property deeds and other records relating to mission stations are also found.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://www.archives.saltresearch.org/R/9HPF5N1QAY3753V52JTE15ICFLXNNN7143EB1M6LJE53S38CUK-06437?func=collections-result&collection_id=4845
Primary URL Description: This links to the digital version of the documents - manuscript, typescript and print - that make up this collection of Near East Mission records, predominantly 1926-1960
Secondary URL: http://dlir.org/arit-american-board-archives-guide.html
Secondary URL Description: Guide to the American Board Archives collections, including a brief description of the Near East Mission Records
Access Model: open access on-line

ARIT Toni M. Cross Library Catalog (Catalog)
Title: ARIT Toni M. Cross Library Catalog
Author: Elif Denel
Author: Hakan Cakmak
Author: Ozlem Eser
Abstract: This page gives access to the catalog of the holdings of the ARIT-Ankara library.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: http://aritankara.org/
Primary URL Description: This link goes to the webpage of the ARIT Ankara's Toni M. Cross Library, which provides access to a window for entering search terms in the library catalog
Secondary URL: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/ARIT/Library.html
Secondary URL Description: ARIT library resource webpage, that gives access to the ARIT Ankara's Toni M. Cross Library webpage and search function
Catalog Type: Other
Publisher: American Research Institute in Turkey

Collections: American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (Web Resource)
Title: Collections: American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
Author: Brian Johnson
Author: SALT Research
Abstract: This collection consists of administrative records that were held by the Amerikan Bord Heyeti (ABH), which was the Turkish office of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), at its headquarters in Istanbul. It comprises correspondence of the ABH’s local financial officers and reports by staff, committees, and mission stations, which document the activities of stations, schools, medical facilities, publishing and evangelistic ventures in Anatolia and the Balkans, and also in Syria and other regions of the Middle East. ABCFM was a Protestant agency founded in the United States in 1810 to send missionaries abroad for religious and altruistic labor. Its first personnel arrived in Izmir in 1820, and up until 2010, when ABH closed permanently, ABCFM and its successors pursued education, health, and publishing work in Turkey and the surrounding regions.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://www.archives.saltresearch.org/R/6VN5VHCMCFK718NJ9HBXHM1SCHQL6FHB5AKS5KSR14FX5X4FSR-06370?func=collections&collection_id=3319
Primary URL Description: Summary and access to the archival collections of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions that are currently accessible on-line through SALT Research, Istanbul
Secondary URL: http://dlir.org/arit-istanbul.html
Secondary URL Description: Background comment and access to the on-line archives and publications of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions through the Digital Library for International Research.

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