An American Philanthropist in Istanbul, 1920-1929: Anna Van Schaick Mitchell’s Albums, Photographs and Papers at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives

ABSTRACT

This note is based on hitherto untapped visual resources (photographs, presentation albums, and scrapbook) on post-World War I Russian refugees in Istanbul that belong to the Anna Mitchell Papers, which were gifted to the Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford University in 1967.

KEYWORDS:

• Anna V. S. Mitchell papers
• Hoover Institution Library and Archives
• Stanford University
• Russians in Istanbul
• Turkey
• American philanthropy
• 1918-1945

Acknowledgment

I wish to thank all my good colleagues in the photographic and reference services of the Hoover Institution Library and Archive for providing me with digital images used in this article. I am also grateful to my long-time colleagues Robert H. Davis, Jr., Columbia University; Dr. Lyubov Ginzburg, Independent Scholar; Dr. András Riedlmayer, Emeritus, Fine Arts Library, Harvard University; and Dr. Nelli Shulov, New York, for their critical read of earlier drafts of this note.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

(1) The Hoover Library contains rare printed sources on the period, e,g., Report on the work of the High Commission for Refugees, presented by Dr. F. Nansen to the Fourth Assembly, 1923: together with 41 additional League of Nations documents on various phases of its humanitarian activities (assistance to refugees, repatriation of prisoners of war, and protection of women and children, 1920–1925) [1920 – 1926]; Russkii Komitet v Turtsii. Materīaly po voprosy ob ėvakuat͡sīi russkikh bi͡ezhent͡sev iz Konstantinopolia [1922]; Almanakh na proshchanie, A.A. Bournakine, C.W. Minty, B.V. Ratimoff et Dominique Valery, editors (Konstantinopolʹ: [s.n., 1924]); Russkai͡a Tserkov na Bosfore [1926 … 1945][S.l.: s.n., between 1926 and 1945] and Evgenii A. Adamov, Constantinople et les detroits; documents secrets de l’ancien Ministère des affaires étrangères de Russie (Paris, Les Éditions Internationales, 1930–32). Razviei gore v Golom polie, a manuscript journal of savage caricatures distributed in l920–1921 by the Cavalry Division interned on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Edited by A.Ia. Kozinets.

(2) The seven boxes of Mitchell papers contain a large number of documents, including her correspondence with more than 165 individuals, some of whom were also signatories to her presentation album. The collection also contains rich visuals. Among them are 593 prints and 60 negatives. Envelope A 43 – prints dealing with A. Mitchell’s relief work with Russian refugees in Istanbul, undated; Envelope B 23 – prints, album dealing with Russian Cossacks in Bulgaria and Serbia, undated; Envelope C 1– print of Anna V. S. Mitchell in Washington, D. C, early 1900’s; D 28 – prints depicting scenes of WW I devastation in France, undated; E-H 421– prints depicting scenes of WW I devastation and relief work by Anna V. S. Mitchell in France, 1919–1921; and finally, Envelope I 60 – negatives from the above prints undated; and two loose portrait photos of the Admiral Mark Bristol and his spouse.

The Bryn Mawr College Library’s Olivia Stokes Hatch Papers, Series II. contains Michell’s rich correspondence with her sister Caroline and other family members, covering the period between 1889 and 1964, as well as her diaries. The Iurii I. Schidlovsky Papers at the Russian History Foundation (Jordanville, NY) holds a tribute collection to Mitchell of watercolor gramoty [c. 1922–26]

(3) On Whittemore see George Kosar, Thomas Whittemore, Fundraiser for Russian Refugees (Pocantico Hills, NY Rockefeller Archives Center Research Reports, ©2022)

(4) Nezabyte Mogily: Rossiskoe zarubezh’e: nekrologi 1917–1997, 6 vols. (Moskva: Rossiiskaia Gos udarstvennaia Biblioteka, 1997–2007)

(5) The Charles Claflin Davis papers are held by the Harvard Law School Library, Historical & Special Collections. A subset of 223 of the photographs in the Charles Claflin Davis papers have been digitized by the Law School Library and can be found posted in HOLLIS Images, https://images.hollis.harvard.edu by searching under his name. András Riedlmayer’s talk for Columbia University’s Sakıp Sabancı Center. The Center’s conference “Istanbul’s Russian Moment” in December 2020, featuring a small selection of the Davis photos, and is available online at: https://sakipsabancicenter.columbia.edu/news/istanbuls-russian-moment-1919–1923.