Content Warning: The following archive review includes discussion of missionary activity and of colonialism.
Presbyterian Historical Society (Photo credit: Presbyterian Historical Society)
The Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia (PHS) has substantial holdings of missionary records in the Middle East which will reward exploration by scholars interested in the region. Because the PHS holds on-site archival records of Presbyterian missionary institutions and some American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) materials, their collections have the potential to cast new light on missionary activities and interactions with Middle Eastern populations.
Recent developments across the Middle East have made archival retrieval difficult to say the least. Iraq is no exception. In fact, there are many intricacies and obstacles related to the writing of Iraqi history, whether, cultural, social or economic. In the wake of the 2003 invasion, looting and vandalism left libraries, archives, museums, and government buildings in ruins, most notably in the examples of the Ba’th archives, now at the Hoover Institution, and the ISIS Files. The loss of these sources, the toll of dictatorship, years of sanctions, and the present state of violence in Iraq pose serious challenges to critical studies of Iraq. As a result, perhaps, twentieth-century Iraqi history has until recently been written through a rather narrow use of British colonial sources located in the National Archives in London. The collections of the Jesuit Archives & Research Center (JARC) are a welcome exception that proves the importance of thinking about Iraqi and Middle Eastern archives transnationally. The collection, it must be said from the outset, is most directly relevant to scholars interested in twentieth-century Iraqi history. It contains the materials of the Jesuit Mission in Iraq as well as correspondence with the Jesuit community in the US and covers the period from 1932-1969. However, those working on missionary history, US-Iraqi relations, elites, education, sport, and masculinity in the Middle East will also find the collections useful.
History
JARC is the home of the archives of the US Jesuit provinces and the missions they administered abroad. The New England Province administered the Jesuit mission in Iraq, which makes this archive the only one in the collection directly related to Middle Eastern history. In November 2017, the archives of the thirteen Jesuit provinces were centralized and relocated to a brand new facility in Saint Louis.
The Jesuits established an elite high school for boys (Baghdad College) in 1932 and a co-educational university (al-Hikma) in 1956 in Baghdad. However, already in 1921, the Chaldean Patriarch in Iraq, Mar Emmanuel II Thomas, a graduate of Université Saint-Joseph in Beirut, sent a petition to Pope Pius XI in Rome asking for the establishment of Christian secondary education in Baghdad. More than a decade passed, however, before the desire for Christian secondary education in Iraq materialized. Georgetown professor and founder of its School of Foreign Service, Fr. Edmund A. Walsh, S.J., arrived in Baghdad in 1931. Walsh had been sent to Baghdad in his capacity as fundraiser and officer of the Vatican-sponsored Catholic Near East Welfare Association. In Iraq, Walsh met with Iraqi government officials to discuss the possibility of opening a Jesuit high school in Baghdad. In March 1932, Walsh received a cable from the Iraqi Ministry of Education giving him the green light and the school officially opened in September of that year. While the Vatican was influential during the founding of Baghdad College, it quickly became an American Jesuit project. The Jesuit mission in Iraq was administered by the New England Province and funded by the presidents of eight American Jesuits colleges and universities: Boston College, the University of Detroit, Fordham University, Georgetown University, Loyola University in Chicago, University, Loyola University in New Orleans, St, Louis University, and the University of San Francisco. Together, these eight institution formed the The Iraq-American Educational Association. Between 1932-1969, the Jesuits in Iraq educated several generations of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Iraqis, Middle Easterners, and expats from prominent families, including the sons of ministers, Prime Ministers, senior government officials, ambassadors, consuls, businessmen, and newspaper editors. In 1969, the Jesuits were expelled from Iraq and Baghdad College and al-Hikma were “Iraqicized.” In the 1970s, al-Hikma was turned into a trade school. Equipment and the library were taken over by the University of Baghdad and most of the documents were moved to the US. BC continued as a college preparatory school, its teaching staff now coming from the University of Baghdad. The Jesuit church and cemetery were taken over by the Chaldean Patriarch and turned into an orphanage.
Collection
The collection is extremely well-organized and the finding aids, which can be downloaded online here, are very detailed. The collection is the home of a large body of documents pertaining to the education of several generations of mostly upper and upper middle class Iraqis and other Middle Easterners of all faiths at the two Jesuit institutions in Baghdad – Baghdad College and al-Hikma University. Al-Iraqi and Al-Hikma, the bilingual yearbooks of the two institutions, are very rich historical sources and perhaps the most interesting part of the collection. The yearbooks contain a wealth of information about the many clubs, societies, and extracurricular activities, such as sport and school trips organized by the two institutions. In addition, the many essays, short stories, and poems published in the yearbooks offers an opportunity to examine the expectations, hopes, anxieties, and concerns of the institutions’ students at a time when Iraq was experiencing tremendous political and historical upheaval. Finally, the yearbooks contain a wealth of photographs and several pages of advertisements for local and international businesses and products. The Baghdad College and the al-Hikma University yearbooks have been digitized and can be found here and here. Physical copies are available at JARC.
Baghdad College (Photo Credit: Pelle Valentin Olsen; JARC Collections)
The collection also contains the English-language newsletters of the school, al-Baghdadi, which was written to a Jesuit audience in the US. In addition, JARC is the home of alumni and school reunion materials, architectural plans and drawings, budgets, financial reports, contemporary newspaper and magazine articles about the mission, student statistics, commencement programs, promotional materials, house diaries for the boarding section, official correspondence, library catalogues, textbooks, and several other categories of documents. JARC also houses a large collection of photographs, audiovisual material, and the private papers of many of the Jesuits who taught in Baghdad. A handful of items in the collection, such as grades and report cards, are restricted. The entire collection consists of more than 100 boxes with several folders in each book.
While the collection is limited to Jesuit activity in Iraq, several documents touch upon local, regional, and international politics and developments. Researchers interested in the Jesuit mission might also find the archives of the The Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia useful. The Presbyterians arrived in Iraq in the early twenties and operated several schools, including the Baghdad High School for Girls. The Presbyterians were also active in other parts of the region.
The Research Experience
JARC is a very pleasant place to work. The building and the facilities are brand new. In fact, JARC has only been open to the public for about a year. The reading room gets a lot of natural sunlight, has large desks, comfortable chairs, lamps, several outlets, and free Wi-Fi. Gloves are provided for researchers interested in the photographic elements of the collection. More importantly, the staff is extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. Digital microfilm machines are available, but not necessary for the Iraq-related materials as none of this is on microfilm. It is possible that JARC will get more visitors when the word gets out. However, when I visited (September 2018), I was the only researcher working in the archives for more than a week.
Access
Baghdad College boarding students having breakfast, 1934 (Photo Credit: Pelle Valentin Olsen; JARC Collections)
Compared to archives in the Middle East, the archives at JARC are very accessible to researchers who have access to the United States and can afford travel. JARC is located in Saint Louis’ Central West End right next to the campus of Saint Louis University. For researchers arriving in car, parking is available for free in a private lot behind the main building. The parking lot as well as the two main entrances are handicapped accessible and the building is equipped with an elevator and ramp. The archives are open to researchers from Monday through Friday during the hours of 9:00 am to 11:45am and 1:00pm to 4:00pm. Research can be conducted by appointment only. To schedule a research appointment fill out the online Archives Request Form or contact JARC by phone or email. The staff is very prompt at responding. Upon arrival, researchers are asked to fill in and sign a form about their research topic and contact details. JARC provides 10 free photocopies. After that, a small fee is added. Staff will allow you to request several boxes at the same time. Researchers are welcome to bring phones, cameras, and laptops into the reading room. There’s no fee for using phones or cameras.
Transportation and Food
As already mentioned, JARC closes for an hour-long lunch break every day. Luckily, there are a couple of restaurants and a CVS close by. This is convenient since water and food is not allowed in the reading room. Backpacks and water bottles, however, can be stored in the lockers, which are provided free of charge. There are restrooms and water fountains at the entrance to the reading room. There’s a nice café (Café Ventana), popular with Saint Louis University students, located directly across the street from the archives. They also serve food and pastries. More cafés, restaurants, and bars can be found by walking either West or East on Lindell Blvd or Forest Park Ave. JARC is close to public transportation, which makes it possible to have lunch elsewhere in the city. Since the archives closes relatively early, researches have a unique opportunity to take advantage of the countless things Saint Louis has to offer (after they have organized their findings and typed up their notes): live music, great parks, a free zoo and botanical gardens, museums, restaurants, and bars. The hotels in Central West End are rather expensive – especially for researchers on a graduate student budget, and it might therefore be necessary to find accommodation elsewhere in the city or try airbnb, which lists several apartments close to JARC for around $50 a night.
Pelle Valentin Olsen is a graduate student at University of Chicago’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He works on modern Iraqi cultural and social history and literature.
