I am honoured to announce that I have received a research grant from the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies. This funding will support the development of my thesis into a publication and will help me lay groundwork for further study. My thesis, entitled: ‘The Role of American Women Missionaries in Documenting the Armenian Genocide: A Case Study of Mary Louise Graffam’ investigated Mary Louise Graffam, an American missionary who served in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire during the early 20th century. Graffam played a crucial role in documenting the atrocities committed against the Armenian people during the Armenian Genocide of 1915, which is still refuted by Turkey, is not recognised in the UK, and was only recently recognised in the USA. My research explores Graffam’s personal efforts to provide aid, bear witness, and record the stories of Armenian survivors, particularly in the city of Sivas in the east of present-day Turkey, which used to have a large Armenian population. Through her work, she left behind invaluable historical documentation that highlights both the humanitarian aspect of missionary work and the critical role women played in preserving these tragic narratives.
Image credits- Above: Map of the Asian Ottoman Empire in 1894, Dodd, Mead, and Company from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001877379, Wikipedia public domain; Below: ‘Mary Graffam in the countryside of the Ottoman Empire’ in Sahagian, Helen (2004). Richard G. Hovannisian. ed. Armenian Sebastia/Sivas and Lesser Armenia. Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publ.. pp. 373-398. Wikipedia public domain.
This Research Grant will allow me to delve deeper into Graffam’s life and legacy by accessing primary sources, letters, and reports she wrote. The most important of these are held in the archives in the American Board for Foreign Missions in the Houghton Library at Harvard University, some of which are digitized online. There are also significant missionary documents in the UK, such as those of the Church Missionary Society at the University of Birmingham. Private papers such as those of missionaries like Helen Harris, wife of scholar Randel, are also held at Birmingham, would also allow me to compare missionary women working for different organisations.
The goal of my research is to shed light on the often-overlooked contributions of American women missionaries like Graffam, who not only provided aid but also took on the responsibility of recording and sharing the horrors they witnessed with the wider world. Using the perspective of gender studies, I seek to understand what were the distinctively feminine dimensions to her work. How was this femininity performed in Graffam’s public and private image (as seen through her published works and correspondence), and how does this distinguish her from her male counterparts, and, perhaps, make her a less problematic witness of the Armenian Genocide than her male missionary counterparts?
Image credit: Mary Louise Graffam, Personnel Card, American Board for Foreign Missions Archive, Houghton Library, Harvard University. Wikipedia public domain. Original online source:
My project seeks to highlight the intersection of humanitarianism, gender, and history, showing how individuals like Graffam played a vital role in documenting the Armenian Genocide at a time when global awareness of such atrocities was limited. It also seeks to question why missionary sources have been so discredited as evidence of the Genocide and if approaching them from a gender studies perspective helps to appreciate them on their own terms within complex contexts and power relations. By exploring Graffam’s work, I hope to provide insight into how women’s voices and actions helped shape, and can continue to shape, our understanding of this dark chapter in history.
I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Alyson Wharton, for her invaluable guidance and support throughout this process. Her insights and encouragement have been instrumental in shaping my research and helping me navigate the intricacies of this important topic. I am incredibly grateful for the support of NAASR and the Knights of Vartan, based in Belmont, Massachusetts, in the USA. This funding is essential for accessing the materials and conducting the research needed to bring this important historical narrative to light. I look forward to sharing my findings as the project unfolds and contributing to the larger discourse on Armenian history and the role of women in humanitarian efforts