From the Archives: Working in the Aftermath of the Armenian Genocide

Esther Follansbee Greene
Esther Follansbee Greene

Activism isn’t a new concept for Smith women, as Smithies have been involved in efforts to better the world since the early years of the College’s conception. Details regarding the stories of individual Smith activists can be found in documents preserved in the Smith College Archives.  One such student, Esther Follansbee Greene, class of 1901, volunteered with Smith College’s effort to the war service during the aftermath of World War I, many years after her college graduation. Working as a missionary and as a caregiver in orphanages in Armenia, Esther was able to provide direct aid to those devastated by the war.  Esther’s role as an activist was less an outward protest to the horrors she heard of and witnessed and more of an attempt to actively better the lives of those who suffered due to the war.

In her student record folder in the Smith College Archives, there is little paperwork detailing Esther’s life as a Smith College student.  However, we do know that she was a part of Smith College’s class of 1901 and that she later became a member of the faculty of Smith College’s School for Psychiatric Social Work (today’s Smith College School for Social Work), where she utilized both the training and practice of her experience in Armenia, applying it to working with individuals, families, and groups in a clinical setting in the United States. Originally from Peace Dale, Rhode Island, Esther ventured abroad in February 1919, recognized as a member of the relief expedition to Armenia and Syria.

Armenian Orphans Waiting to Receive Aid
Armenian Orphans Waiting to Receive Aid

The Near East Relief handbook, which describes projects and locations of volunteers, states clearly the mission of the Relief Unit: “The immediate object of the Near East Relief has been physical relief…the distribution of food and clothing to save men, women, and children from death through starvation and exposure, … to save children made orphans by massacres and deportations, … [and to distribute] medicine for the thousands suffering from diseases.”

The main focus of Esther’s personal mission was to aid the Armenians, who, as the chapter, “The Case for Armenia” in the handbook notes, were “… in dire need and imminent danger of complete destruction. One million Armenians were deported, and eight hundred thousand massacred during the early years of the war and those who escaped [had] been in constant imminent danger of death through starvation.” Her missionary work involved the orchestration of the organization and treatment of patients at the Smith College Relief Hospital in Malatya (a city in modern-day Turkey), as well as a caregiver position at an overcrowded and under-supplied orphanage for 500 to 600 Armenian children left parentless during and after the Armenian Genocide.

Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia. Photo by Esther Follansbee Greene.

To be more effective at her job, Esther had to learn Armenian, a task she found quite difficult, as she observes in a letter to her friend Mary B. Lewis: “Armenian is my greatest trial now … learning it is like working with your fingers and ties to find a foothold in a wall.” Even in the wake of the aftermath of a war, Esther still experienced a common sentiment shared by many who move to another country, immersed in a different culture and language. As the photographs she took of cultural monuments such as Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) and the Islamic cemeteries show, Esther was intrigued by the culture she now lived in, despite the destruction around her.

Esther’s other letters and photos show the devastation and suffering caused by the turmoil of the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, in particular the effects on the Armenians. Her work at the orphanage plunged her into both the culture and the reality of the political and social situation. In a letter to her friend Mary, Esther mentions, “Our worst enemy here is malaria.” Having suffered from the disease herself while abroad and seen many children succumb to the illness, she recognized the dangers it posed to society and the necessity to improve the living conditions of those around her as well as to move the healthy away from disease-ridden areas until they could be deemed safe again.  In another one of her letters, she writes to a colleague back in the United States, “The other day, I saw a plot and mound of five thousand human bones … I also saw a cemetery where three thousand children were taken in batches and either killed there or left to starve … I went to these places not for the gruesomeness, but because I wanted to say I have seen them myself…” Her experiences opened her eyes as she strove for understanding of the consequences of World War I in the post-Ottoman Empire region.

The letters and documents that Esther left behind provide a personalized perspective that gathers insight into a historical moment of great turmoil and confusion.  Esther utilized her skills to help those in need and traveled to the area in need in order to provide the most direct aid. Esther’s story demonstrates the determination shared by countless Smithies to create a global community and to bring about social change through action.

References

Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. 12. War Service Collection, World War I 1914-1918, Near East Unit, 1918-1920, Box No. 30, Esther Greene 7.1901

Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. 12. War Service Collection, World War I 1914-1918, Near East Unit, 1918-1920, Box No. 30, Esther Greene 1901: Correspondence to the war service board (1919-1924)

Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. 12. War Service Collection, World War I 1914-1918, Near East Unit, 1918-1920, Box No. 30, Esther Greene 1901: Correspondence to family (July-September 1919)

Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. 12. War Service Collection, World War I 1914-1918, Near East Unit, 1918-1920, Box No. 30, Esther Greene, Photographs, Box 30

 

BURNS.Kaitlin  headshot_4Kaitlin Burns is a senior Psychology and French Studies double major at Smith. She discovered her passion for travel, languages, and all things global through her experience as a Global Stride Student at Smith as well as her time studying abroad in Paris, France. She is interested in education and art and hopes to combine her global studies with these passions in the future.

 

Chelsea Orefice

Chelsea Orefice is an Engineering (BS) major entering her senior year in the fall of 2015. Chelsea was a Global Stride Scholar when she entered Smith. Through this program, she wrote about Esther Follansbee Greene’s life and service involvement during WWI. She is enthusiastic and passionate about women’s empowerment as well as the inclusion of more women in STEM fields.

 

 

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