National Armenian Relief Committee
Encyclopedia
The National Armenian Relief Committee (1896) was formed out of the leadership given by the New York Armenian Relief Committee and became a loosely federated organization in response to the Hamidian massacres
.
, Chauncey Depew
, Dr. Leonard Woolsey Bacon
, and the Reverend Frederick D. Greene, of New York. Operations centered at the Bible House in New York, and Brown Brothers in Wall Street
served as treasurer. The national committee gave directions on how to form local committees and in due course such committees, some formed earlier, some later, carried on fund-raising activities in several cities.
In early February 1896, the National Armenian Relief Committee sent $35,000 to the International Committee at Constantinople
, a group composed of British consular officials, American missionaries, and other men in whom there was confidence. The next month, the committee followed up with $10,000 to the same International Committee in Constantinople. But many questioned the effectiveness of this committee and felt that American contributions ought to be dispensed by an American agency.
was being recruited intensely by Spencer Trask
and the National Armenian Relief Committee to administer the funds through the Red Cross. In 1896, she went from the United States to Constantinople to administer the funds of the National Armenian Relief Committee.
Barton stipulated that the Red Cross would go into the field only if there was an assurance of sufficient funds and that agents in Turkey must have complete authority and not to be divided with the missionaries. With $50,000 on hand to start, Clara Barton received a standing ovation at her farewell when she said, "judge me not harshly, nor praise me unjustly, for I shall only have done all that I could. I may not meet you again, but therefore bid you good-bye."
Hamidian massacres
The Hamidian massacres , also referred to as the Armenian Massacres of 1894–1896, refers to the massacring of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, with estimates of the dead ranging from anywhere between 80,000 to 300,000, and at least 50,000 orphans as a result...
.
Organization
Its executive committee included Supreme Court Justice David J. Brewer, Spencer TraskSpencer Trask
Spencer Trask was an American financier, philanthropist, and venture capitalist. Beginning in the 1870s, Trask began investing and supporting entrepreneurs, including Thomas Edison's invention of the electric light bulb and his electricity network...
, Chauncey Depew
Chauncey Depew
Chauncey Mitchell Depew was an attorney for Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroad interests, president of the New York Central Railroad System, and a United States Senator from New York from 1899 to 1911.- Biography:...
, Dr. Leonard Woolsey Bacon
Leonard Woolsey Bacon
Leonard Woolsey Bacon was an American clergyman, born in New Haven, Connecticut. He was a social commentator and a prolific author on religious, social, and historical matters...
, and the Reverend Frederick D. Greene, of New York. Operations centered at the Bible House in New York, and Brown Brothers in Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
served as treasurer. The national committee gave directions on how to form local committees and in due course such committees, some formed earlier, some later, carried on fund-raising activities in several cities.
Policies
The Committee provided literature and arranged for speakers for these affiliated committees. It suggested as effective procedures at the public meetings the reading of letters from missionaries in Armenia describing atrocities and what was being done to help the victims. But it warned against overreaching the mark. It was well, the Committee advised, to introduce Armenians as speakers if they spoke briefly and did not seize the occasion to turn the meeting into one of mere protest rather than of relief. The praiseworthy zeal of some Armenians had, the national leadership warned, led to "very serious waste and complications."Fundraising
So deeply had Armenian relief cut into the popular consciousness that in 1896, a Thanksgiving appeal was launched nationwide, and Americans from St. Paul to San Francisco to Boston gave thanks by sending money to Armenian widows and orphans of the massacres. Citizens of St. Paul boycotted buying turkey and gave their turkey money to the cause. Clara Barton prodded Americans that fall: "Unless the open hands of charity be reached out and across the access be secured, hunger and cold will gather victims by the tens of thousands and bury them like the falling leaves beneath the snow." From John D. Rockefeller to the twenty-five hundred schoolchildren in Minneapolis who collected more than seven hundred dollars, donations came in from across the nation in large and small amounts: from the Worcestor Relief Committee; the Ladies Relief Committee of Chicago; the Citizens of Milton, North Dakota; the Davenport Iowa Relief Committee. By March 1896, $95,000 was raised in New York City, in Boston $40,000, and in Philadelphia there was enough anxiety about not keeping pace with rival cities that the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the $15,000 it had already raised was not nearly enough. By the end of the year-long drive, Americans had raised more than $300,000 in an age when a loaf of bread cost a nickel.In early February 1896, the National Armenian Relief Committee sent $35,000 to the International Committee at Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, a group composed of British consular officials, American missionaries, and other men in whom there was confidence. The next month, the committee followed up with $10,000 to the same International Committee in Constantinople. But many questioned the effectiveness of this committee and felt that American contributions ought to be dispensed by an American agency.
Operations
On advice from missionaries in Constantinople, the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, with headquarters in Boston, had decided early in December, 1895, that the American National Red Cross was the best possible agency for distribution, having the experience of working in the recent Russian famine of 1881. By December 1895, Clara BartonClara Barton
Clarissa Harlowe "Clara" Barton was a pioneer American teacher, patent clerk, nurse, and humanitarian. She is best remembered for organizing the American Red Cross.-Youth, education, and family nursing:...
was being recruited intensely by Spencer Trask
Spencer Trask
Spencer Trask was an American financier, philanthropist, and venture capitalist. Beginning in the 1870s, Trask began investing and supporting entrepreneurs, including Thomas Edison's invention of the electric light bulb and his electricity network...
and the National Armenian Relief Committee to administer the funds through the Red Cross. In 1896, she went from the United States to Constantinople to administer the funds of the National Armenian Relief Committee.
Barton stipulated that the Red Cross would go into the field only if there was an assurance of sufficient funds and that agents in Turkey must have complete authority and not to be divided with the missionaries. With $50,000 on hand to start, Clara Barton received a standing ovation at her farewell when she said, "judge me not harshly, nor praise me unjustly, for I shall only have done all that I could. I may not meet you again, but therefore bid you good-bye."