WARTIME
AID
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought great suffering
to the country. All young men were conscripted into the army,
while the older men were drafted into work brigades. Food
supplies dwindled as the Allies sustained a blockade of the
Palestinian coast, and the Turkish army confiscated provisions.
Weakened by malnutrition, people died of typhus and other
epidemics. As famine, disease, and death ravaged the people
of Jerusalem, the Colony, struggling for their own survival,
engaged in relief work. With money from friends in the United
States, the American Colony ran a soup kitchen that fed thousands
during these desperate times. When the British Allied commander,
General Allenby, entered Jerusalem on December 11, 1917,
the Colony offered their philanthropic services to the new
rulers of Palestine and continued to serve their fellow Jerusalemites.
Relief work
During the war the Colony opened an embroidery industry
that sustained about 300 women whose husbands, fathers,
and brothers were in the army or forced labor corps.
When the food scarcities during the war became insurmountable,
the Colony closed this workshop because the women became
too hungry and emaciated to work. After the British
conquered Jerusalem in December 1917, the Colony became
the conduit of funds for organizations such as the
Syrian and Palestine Relief Fund and the Christian
Herald Relief Fund, which allowed them to open a new
embroidery and dressmaking school. This account book
and balance sheet records the Colony's expenses, remittances,
and other charitable allocations to the destitute living
in Jerusalem during 1918. |
American Colony School
of Handicrafts and Dressmaking.
Pamphlet, ca. 1922
Manuscript Division (25a)
|
Lace sample book,
ca. 1917
Manuscript Division (24)
|
Balance sheet for distribution
of charitable funds,
February-April 1918.
Manuscript Division (35)
|
"Account book of Money Received by Mr. Trowbridge,
February-December 1918"
Manuscript Division (34)
|
"Report of the Syrian and Palestine Relief Fund
Sewing Rooms and Christian Herald Relief Fund,"
ca. 1918.
Page 2 - Page
3
Manuscript.
Manuscript Division (31)
|
The Loud Soup Kitchen
In December 1915, Edward Loud of Oscoda, Michigan,
offered to organize funds to send to the Colony for
relief work. Loud had visited the Colony before the
war, and, like many visitors and guests, he maintained
close contact with members of the Colony when he returned
home. With the funds marshaled by Loud, the Colony
created a soup kitchen that fed more than 1,100 people
a day. Bertha Vester wrote to Loud that, "We make no
distinction in nationality or creed, the only requirement
being if they absolutely need the help. We have Syrians
and Arabs . . . Latins and Greeks, and Armenians, Russians,
Jews, and Protestants." |
Account of Distribution
of Loud Fund.
Carbon typescript, 1915
Manuscript Division (36b)
|
"Mr. and Mrs. Edward Loud at their island home
in Michigan."
Gelatin silver print
Manuscript Division (36c)
|
John Whiting to Edward
Loud,
Page 2 - Page
3 - Page 4
May 30, 1918.
Manuscript letter.
Manuscript Division (36a)
|
|
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