Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Syria Mission Records

Descriptive Summary

Title

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Syria Mission Records

Inclusive Dates

1808-1967

Bulk Dates

1823-1959

Call Number

RG 115

Creator(s)

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Syria Mission.

Quantity

20.00 cubic feet (ca. 60,000 items)

Language

Material in English, Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, with some German and French

Restrictions on Access

Open for research. Medical, educational, and psychological records of living people are closed.

Digital Content

To browse this collection's digital content visit Pearl.

Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not be available on Pearl or in their entirety.

Repository

Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 USA

Biographical Note / Administrative History

Administrative History

American Protestant work in Syria dates from 1819, when Pliny Fisk and Levi Parsons, representatives of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) arrived in Smyrna with the objective of initiating missionary work in the Jerusalem area. Following the reunion of Old School and New School Presbyterian Churches in the US in 1870, the ABCFM's Syria Mission was transferred to the Board of Foreign Missions.

The work of the Presbyterian Church in Syria was conducted through four main stations, sixty-three outstations, and several substations. Three of the main stations were taken over from the ABCFM. The first was Beirut, occupied in 1833; Suk-el-Garb and Zaleh were two of its substations. Tripoli was occupied in 1848 and Sidon in 1851. The last main station, Aleppo, was opened by the BFM in 1920; its substations included Hama and Deir-ez-Zore. The work of the Syria Mission transcended three distinct states. Lebanon encompassed Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon and Zaleh, and Syria included Hama, Aleppo and Deir-ez-Zore. Latakia was the location of limited mission work in certain villages.

The conflict between Christian and Muslim, a dominant and recurring theme throughout Syria's history, presented the mission with a diversity of problems unknown in other mission fields. The division of the population along religious lines resulted in internecine warfare throughout Syria/Lebanon that had an unsettling effect on the mission's educational, medical and evangelistic work. The mission made progress, especially in the areas of educational and medical assistance. Educational institutions included the American School for Girls, the Syrian Protestant College (later known as the American University of Beirut), the Tripoli Girls' School, and the Gerard Institute. Medical work was carried out in three locations: the Hamlin Memorial Sanitarium for tubercular patients, the Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Tripoli, and the Deir-ez-Zore Hospital in the remote northern desert.

The first evangelical church in Syria was organized in Beirut in 1848; by 1921 the existing three presbyteries united to form a synod. Though a Syrian Evangelical Church was organized, its communicants remained few and the Church continued to function with the Mission until 1959. In that year, the American Protestant Mission in Syria/Lebanon was dissolved and its work and program integrated into the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon.

Collection Overview

Record Group 115 consists of the records of the Syria Mission Archives. The collection is unique in its extensive amount of 19th century material. Correspondence from missionaries, from representatives of the ABCFM, from the BFM, and from governmental representatives are here in abundance.

Organization and Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically.

Alternative Formats

To browse this collection's digitized content visit Pearl.

Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not have been digitized in their entirety.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Processing Information

The records of the Syria Mission Archives were originally arranged by subject. Each document was item indexed, with an abbreviated calendar system describing the contents of each. The original work on this collection was done by James Willoughby, who by his own admission was an amateur archivist. Despite his elaborate and detailed system, it was extremely difficult to use the collection, given its lack of chronological or alphabetical order. Therefore the records were reorganized into their current alphabetical arrangement. Remnants of Willoughby's system, however, can still be found throughout.

Between five and ten percent of this collection is written in foreign languages; some of this material was translated by Willoughby.

Collection processed and preliminary finding aid prepared: 1972
Grace Mullen, Assistant Records Researcher
Final finding aid prepared: 1983
Frederick J. Heuser Jr, Archivist

Catalog Headings

The following headings have been used to index the description of this collection in the society’s electronic catalog.

Corporate Subject

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Syria Mission.

Topical Subject

Presbyterian Church Missions Syria Educational work.

Presbyterian Church Missions Lebanon Educational work.

Missionaries Syria.

Missionaries Lebanon.

Missions, Medical Syria.

Missions, Medical Lebanon.

Genre-form

Minutes. aat

Financial records. aat

Annual reports. aat

Corporate Added Name

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Syria Mission.

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Syria Mission.

National Evangelical Synod of Syria.

Collection Inventory

Box	Folder	Description	Alternative Formats

1	1	Finding Aid to Record Group 115
	2	Abeih Station [Hasbaya] correspondence, 1844	Digital
	3	Abeih Station reports, 1844-1860	Digital
	4	Abeih Station reports and correspondence, 1844; chiefly on dispossession of Protestants at Hasbaya	Digital
	5	Abeih Station minutes and reports, 1844-74	Digital
	6	Abeih Station reports, 1875-95
	7	Action Chretienne en Orient, 1939-46
	8	Aleppo College, 1880-1963
	9	High School for Girls, 1941-42
	10	Station, 1924-55
	11	1836-1943
	12	reports, 1853-1935
	13	North Syria School for Boys, 1928-58
	14	reports, 1931-37
	15	Alter, Neale, 1934-1959
	16	American Bible Society, 1875-1914
	17	American Bible Society, 1922-65
	18-19	American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1842-1960
	20	American Mission in Egypt, 1870-1960
	21	American Consul, 1831-1903
	22	American Consul, 1904-1908
	23	American Consul, 1911-1961
	24	American Embassy, 1933-1955
	25	American Press, reports, 1835-1855
	26	correspondence/reports, 1860-1917
	27	annual reports, 1872-1915

2	1	American Press, annual reports, 1918-1930
	2	American Press, Administrative Comm. minutes, 1922-1925
	3	American Press, finances, 1926-1949
	4	American Press, correspondence, 1927-1944
	5	American Press, annual reports, 1930-1940
	6	American Press, annual reports, 1941-1952
	7	American Press, history of, n.d.
	8	American Press, property, 1931-1948
	9	American Press, examples of work, n.d.
	10-13	American Red Cross, 1941-1944
	14	American Tract Society, 1836-1949
	15	Armenian Pilgrims, 1844: 1944
	16	Arab Evangelical Episcopal Church, 1944?-1952
	17	Arab Evangelical Union, n.d.
	18	Arabic hymnal, 1874-1930
	19	Armenian Evangelicals, 1928-1958
	20-21	Audio-Visual Aids, 1933-1961
	22	Arabic Bible Translation, 1844+
	23	Bailey, M. Claire, 1937-1955
	24	Beirut, American Community School, correspondence, 1908-1924
	25	Beirut, American Community School, accounts, etc., 1911-1946
	26	Beirut, American Community School, correspondence, 1925-1926
	27	Beirut, American Community School, correspondence, 1927-1933
	28	Beirut, American Community School, minutes, 1934-1946
	29	Beirut, American Community School, correspondence, 1934-1961

3	1	American School for Girls, reports, 1838-1955
	2	American School for Girls, reports, 1891-1960
	3	Junior College, 1922-1933	Digital
	4	Junior College reports, 1926-1964
	5	Junior College minutes, 1932-1954
	6	Junior College minutes, 1934-1943
	7	Junior College minutes, 1936-1958
	8	Junior College minutes, 1944-1951
	9	College for Women, 1952-1955
	10	College for Women, 1956-1963
	11	College for Women, 1948+
	12	College for Women, 1963-1964
	13	American University of, 1941+
	14	American University of, 1886-1964
	15	Anglo-American Cemetery, 1903-1928
	16	Anglo-American Cemetery, 1929-1950
	17	Anglo-American Cemetery, 1931+
	18	Anglo-American Church, 1855-1951
	19	Anglo-American Community Church, 1935?-1953?

4	1	Anglo-American Church, 1946-1953
	2	Community Church of Beirut, 1952-1957
	3	Evangelical Church, 1838-1913
	4	Evangelical Church, 1907-1960
	5	Evangelical Church, 1903-1960
	6	Evangelical School for Girls, 1900-1964
	7	Jessie Taylor Evangelistic Center, 1930-1956
	8	Jessie Taylor Evangelistic Center property, 1808	Digital
	9	Jessie Taylor Evangelistic Center 1875-1914
	10	Jessie Taylor Evangelistic Center 1890-1936
	11	Jessie Taylor Evangelistic compound property, 1906-1916	Digital
	12	Jessie Taylor Evangelistic reading room, 1900-1922
	13	Ras Beirut School, reports, 1892?-1925
	14	Ras Beirut School correspondence, 1906-1951
	15	Ras Beirut Synod Church, 1960-1964
	16	Station, reports, 1840-1866
	17	1902-1916
	18	minutes, 1922-1939

5	1-3	Benton, William A., 1855-1869
	4	Bertsch, A. Monroe, 1946-1959
	5	Bible Lands Missions' Aid Society, 1875-1950
	6-9	Union for Christian Education, 1869-1961
	10	Bour; Mission, House of Hope, 1928-1937
	11	Boyes, Harry R., 1922-1954
	12	British and Foreign Bible Society, 1832-1865
	13	British Syrian Mission, 1876-1952
	14	Byerly, Robert C., 1924-1959
	15	Cassile, Helen H., 1946-1953
	16	Central Coordinating Committee for Refugee Relief, 1950-53
	17	Christian Medical Association, 1926-1955
	18	Church development--stewardship, 1885-1930
	19	Church cooperative parishes, 1905?-1941
	20	Church cooperative parishes, 1938-1944
	21	Church cooperative parishes, 1938-1965
	22	Church synod progress, 1940-1942
	23	Church Growth, 1930; 1963
	24	Church integration/Five Year Program, 1951-1958
	25	Church of Scotland, 1850?-1959	Digital
	26	Church of Scotland, 1850?-1959

6	1	Church stewardship, n.d.
	2	COEMAR, minutes/correspondence, 1959-1960
	3	Committee on work among non-Christians, 1919-1940
	4	Conference on Missions, 1874; 1876
	5	Conference for work among non-Christians, 1934-1939
	6	Conferences, miscellaneous, 1890?-1950
	7	Congregational Christian Service, 1949-1955
	8	Correspondence re protection of missionaries in Syria, 1822-63
	9	Correspondence to Syria Mission from Sandwich Islands, 1838; 1841
	10	Council of Missionary Societies in Great Britain/Ireland, 1939; 1949
	11	Court cases, 1881-1956
	12	Magdousha Case, 1905-1909
	13	1940+
	14	Customs House correspondence, 1890-1935
	15	Daily Vacation Bible School, 1926-1943
	16	Danish Mission, 1926-1952
	17	Birds Nest Orphanage, 1940-1946
	18	Birds Nest Orphanage, 1940-1946
	19	Deir-el-Komr, station reports, 1859
	20	Deir-el-Zor, correspondence, 1941-1959
	21	Deir-el-Zor, correspondence, 1925-1937
	22	Deir-el-Zor, evangelistic work, 1929-1953
	23	Deir-ez-Zore, reports, 1930-1955
	24	Deir-ez-Zore, correspondence, 1938-1941
	25	Deir-ez-Zore, correspondence, 1945-1963

7	1	Direct Evangelism Committee, 1930-1951
	2	Dorman, H.G. Jr., 1932-1954
	3	Decherd, Douglas H., 1931-1967
	4	Ecumencial Institute, 1962
	5	Education Committee, 1911-1963
	6	Educational Committee, reports, 1922-24; 1947-48
	7	Educational Committee, minutes, 1926-1959
	8	Educational Survey, 1957-1958
	9	Erdman, Paul, 1921-1957
	10	Evangelistic Committee, correspondence, 1890: 1920-1937
	11	Evangelistic Committee, reports, 1913-1955
	12	Evangelistic Committee, correspondence, 1921-1951
	13	Evangelistic Committee, minutes, 1927-1957
	14	Evangelistic Committee, correspondence, 1937-1939
	15	Evangelistic Committee, correspondence, 1939-1943
	16	Evangelistic Committee, correspondence, 1943-1956
	17	Evangelism, industrial, 1931-1955
	18	Evangelical Alliance, 1875-1961
	19	Evangelistic Literature, 1935-1940
	20	Evangelistic Work, 1824-1939
	21	Executive Committee, correspondence, 1868; 1957-1959
	22	Executive Committee, minutes, 1925-1956

8	1	Field Publicity, 1881-1959
	2	Finance Committee, minutes, 1855-1959
	3	Finance, samples of shipping papers, 1912?
	4	Finance, ledgers, 1910-1923
	5	Ford, George A., 1913?-1931
	6	Fraternal Workers' Committee, minutes, 1959-1964
	7	Freidinger, W.A., 1933?-1954
	8	Glockler, H.W., 1934-1955
	9-11	Government relations on school matters, 1885-1965
	12	Government regulations, 1929-1958
	13	Greek Catholic Church, 1848-1849; 1899; 1950
	14	Greenslade, 1921-1958
	15-16	Hamlin Memorial Sanatorium, property, 1908?-1957?
	17	Hamlin Memorial Sanatorium correspondence, 1916-1927	Digital
	18	Hamlin Memorial Sanatorium reports, 1904-1964
	19	Hamlin Memorial Sanatorium correspondence, 1928-1934	Digital
	20	Hamlin Memorial Sanatorium correspondence, 1935-1945
	21	Hamlin Memorial Sanatorium correspondence, 1945+

9	1	Hasbaya Station, 1845-1853
	2	Hasbaya Church, 1844-1963, including roster of Palestinian refugees housed in Hasbaya, 1953
	3	Hasbaya Station reports, 1851-1855
	4	Hermil Evangelistic Project, 1940-1946
	5	Hill, Douglas, 1946-1953
	6	Home and Family Life Committee, 1947-1960
	7	Homs Station, reports, 1855-1960
	8	Horne, Ottora M., 1931-1956
	10	Hunter, George C., 1856
	11	Hunting, Bernice, ~.d~
	12	Indigenization/Philosophy of Missions, 1844-1960?
	13	International Red Cross, 1949-1951
	14	International Missionary Council, 1927-1949
	15	International Missionary Council, 1950+
	16	Interstation business/early surveys, 1837?-1922
	17	Iran Mission, 1924-1959
	18	Iraq Mission, 1927?-1949
	19	Jerusalem cemetery, 1835-1959
	20	Jerusalem cemetery, 1897-1907
	21	Jerusalem cemetery, 1897-1912, including photographs
	22	Jerusalem cemetery, 1905-1912
	23	Jerusalem cemetery, 1905-1927, including photograph
	24	Jerusalem and the East Mission, 1915-1958

10	1	Jessup, Stuart D., 1925-1938
	2	Jibrail Rural Pellowship Center, 1939-1960
	3	Jibrail Rural Pellowship Center reports, 1947-1958
	4	Joint Christian Committee for Refugee Work, 1948-1956
	5	Joint Christian Committee for Refugee Work, 1950-1960	Digital
	6-7	Joint Christian Committee for Refugee Work, minutes/reports, 1950-1957
	8	Junior Year Abroad, 1953-1964
	9	Language School - Missionary Study Center, 1929-1930
	10	Lebanon Stations, reports, 1911-1929
	11	statistics, 1911-1912
	12	Law, Louisa, 1929-1932
	13	Leadership Training, 1844-1958
	14	Literature Distribution, 1915-1944
	15	Literature - Publication, 1932-1936
	16-22	1936-1960
	23	manuscripts, nd
	24	Literature, Torch Library, 1960-1966
	25	Literature Committee, reports, 1923-1961
	26	minutes, 1952-1963

11	1	Mabbs, Robert B., 1923-1958
	2	Mardin Station, reports, 1920-1925
	3	Medical, government relations, 1929?-1959
	4	Medical Bulletins to the Field, 1921-1951
	5-9	Medical Department, 1923-1960
	10	Miscellaneous correspondence of Mission Secretary, 1928-1958
	11-13	Miscellaneous correspondence, 1872-1955
	14	Miscellaneous correspondence of Mission Secretary, 1930-1952
	15-18	Mission-Church Relations, 1844-1959
	19	Mission Circular Votes, 1900-1920
	20	Missionary correspondence, 1834-1949
	21	Mission History file, nd
	22	Mission Library, reports, 1835-1931
	23-26	Mission meeting minutes, 1900-1945

12	1-3	Mission meeting minutes, 1946-1959
	4	Mission Narrative Reports, 1835-1971 (incomplete)
	5-10	Mission Statistics, 1870-1925
	11	Missionary outfit lists, n.d~
	12	Mission Statistics, 1928-1941
	13	Missionary Student Center, 1920-1953
	14	Muslim Evangelism, 1885-1965
	15	Muslim Apologetics, 1889-1956

13	1	Nabatiyeh Project, 1924-1956
	2	Nabatiyeh Girls' School, reports, 1943-1945
	3	Nabatiyeh School, 1947-1959
	4	National Council of Churches of Christ, 1949-1951
	5	NECC (Near East Christian Council), committee on evangelism, 1923-1960
	6	NECC literature committee, 1924-1937
	7	NECC work among Muslims, 1927-1956
	8	NECC 1929-1964
	9	NECC evangelism, 1937-1961
	10	NECC literature committee, 1938-1965
	11	NECC audio-visual committee, 1939-1965
	12	NECC relief for refugees, 1952-1959
	13-15	Near East Mission, 1937-1955
	16-19	Near East School of Theology, 1909-1963

14	1-6	1935-1964
	7	Nelson, W.S., 1917-1930
	8	Newman School of Missions, 1930-1949
	9	Nile Mission Press, 1927-1957
	10	Nicol, James, 1930-1958
	11	Orme, Dr. Rhoda, 1947-1964
	12-14	Orphaned Missions, 1940-1947
	15-16	Other Churches and agencies, 1911-1964

15	1	Peet, W.W., 1903-1912
	2	Personnel lists, 1881-1939
	3	Philosophy of Missions, 1950-1951
	4	Presbytery documents, miscellaneous, 1885-1916?
	5	Press and censorship, 1890?-1942
	6-8	Project Board, 1934-1947
	9-17	Property, 1855-1963
	18	Protestant communities in Syria, 1852-1904

16	1-6	Publication Committee, minutes/correspondence, 1902-1951
	7-8	Reformed Church of America, Arabia Mission, 1936-1959
	9	Relations with non-Evangelical Churches, 1891-1958
	10-13	Relief Work, 1915-1951
	14	Religious Education, 1923+
	15	Resignation Letters, 1843-1912
	16	Rost, Glenn S., 1936-1949
	17	Rules and regulations of the Syria Mission, 1844-1934?
	18-20	Rural Mission Work, 1932-1956
	21	Rural Churches, 1936-1946

17	1	Sample BFM application forms, 1837+?
	2	Seto, Paul, 1952-1959
	3	Scherer, George H., 1921-1958
	4	Scripture Gift Mission, 1919-1955
	5	Shannon, Winifred, 1936-1945
	6	Scholarships, 1937-1957
	7	School correspondence, 1885-1889
	8	School curricula, n.d.
	9	School of Theology, alumni letters (copied), 1912
	10	Shweir School, 1870-19ln
	11	Shweyer property, 1900?-1911?
	12	Shweyer School, 1921-1957
	13-16	Sidon, Gerard Institute, 1875-1964
	17-18	Sidon Girls' School, 1906-1957
	19-20	Sidon Station, 1907-1943
	21	Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1927-1959
	22-23	Special Projects (Hama and Munsiff), 1924-194
	24	Student Conferences, 1921-1955
	25-26	Student Work, 1931-1964

18	1	Summer Residences, 1953-1959
	2-3	Suk-el-Gharb, Lebanon School for Boys, 1909-1947
	4-12	Syria-Lebanon Synod, correspondence/minutes,/annual reports, 1896-1966
	13	Syria Mission Schools, 1886-1959
	14	Syrian Native Church, 1827-1860
	15	Synod correspondence, 1953+
	16	Synod Meeting minutes, 1930-1954
	17	Synod committee reports, 1951-1963
	18-22	Synod reports (in Arabic), 1961-1963 (others undated)
	23	Synod, salary and pension materials, 1936-1955
	24	Synod statistics, 1905-1950

19	1	Teacher Training School, 1859?-1956
	2	Teagarden, Irene, 1935-1959
	3	Technical Assistance Program, 1949-1952
	4	Theological Education, 1844-1912
	5-6	Tripoli Boys' School, 1902-1964
	7-9	Tripoli Girls' School, 1883-1964
	10-15	Tripoli, Kennedy Memorial Hospital, 1914-1963
	16	Tripoli, medical reports, 1895-1914
	17-21	Tripoli Station, correspondence, reports, statistics, 1845-1943

20	1-3	United Missionary Council, minutes, reports, correspondence, 1911-1961
	4	United Nations Relief and Works Agency, 1948-1955
	5	Votaw, Paul D., 1946-1955
	6	White, F.L., 1927-1958
	7	Williams, Dr. & Mrs. Neil, 1953-1962
	8	Wilson, Lois C., 1940-1958
	9	Women's Work, 1860?-1955
	10	World Council of Churches, 1948-1953
	11	World Day of Prayer, 1875-1965
	12	Work among non-Christians, 1871?-1950
	13	Young, Agnes (Nancy), 1931-1943
	14	YMCA/YWCA, 1929-1952

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Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Syria Mission Records

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