This finding aid is made available for public use following the Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons designation.
This collection is open for research.
Onsite storage.
Formerly part of the independent Missionary Research Library (MRL), these records were accessioned by the Burke Library at the time of the MRL's closure in 1976.
Pliny Fisk was a missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions who served in Syria. Fisk was born in Shelburne, Massachusetts on June 24, 1792. After his preparatory studies he went to Middlebury College in Vermont, graduating as part of the class of 1814. In January 1815, he was examined by the Franklin Association of Congregational ministers and received a license to preach. In March, 1815 his first assignment was to preach in Wilmington. He established a Sabbath school and a Ladies' and Gentlemen's Missionary Association while he was in Wilmington. In November 1815, Fisk became a member of the Andover Theological Seminary. In September 1818, Fisk completed his professional studies and that same month at a meeting of the Prudential Committee of the Board, the Palestine Missions was established and Fisk was appointed to that station. In November 1818, he received ordination in the Tabernacle Church, Salem. Fisk died on October 23, 1825 in Beirut.
Fisk's journal was purchased from Mr. E. J. Van Lennep, grandson of Isaac Bird, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on August 3, 1935. In 1935, the preceding journal volume was held by the library of Middlebury College. The papers were then transferred to the Missionary Research Library (date unkown).
Missionary Research Library Archives: MRL2, Near/Middle East
Item description, MRL 2: Pliny Fisk Papers, 1821-1935, box #, folder #, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
Materials were placed in new acid-free folders and a box. The finding aid was created by Tenny Thomas in 2009, and edited by Leah Edelman in 2020.
Memoir of the Rev. Pliny Fisk, late missionary to Palestine, by Alvan Bond. Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1828, c1827. Burke [UTS] Union Rare (Non-Circulating) Call Number: MP84 F54x
MRL 12: American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions records, 1878-1958, The Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University in the City of New York.
This collection contains provenance notes regarding the purchase of Fisk's journal; Fisk's journal, continued by Rev. Isaac Bird with notes and miscellaneous matter; and Fisk's book of extracts and records, compiled while he was stationed in Smyrna.
Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Information concerning copyright, fair use, and reproduction requests can be consulted at Columbia's Copyright Advisory Office.
This collection is arranged in reverse chronological order.
The provenance notes in this file give evidence of the purchase of Fisk's journal from Mr. E. J. Van Lennep, grandson of Isaac Bird, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, on August 3, 1935.
This file contains Fisk's journal, written in Fisk's hand up to page 117; the following pages are in another hand, probably that of Isaac Bird [Yale, 1816, Andover Seminary, 1818], as diary notes and translations with a loose manuscript letter from W. Turner, Constantinople, Nov, 16, 1824 and an extract reply from John Barker. Also in Fisk's hand are 18 pages from the back of the volume, detailing products of the French industry in French.
Fisk compiled this Book of Extracts and Records while stationed at Smyrna. Writings are in Arabic, English, Greek, and Latin, and are in Fisk's hand up to page 289; the 17 pages after page 289 are in a different hand, possibly that of Isaac Bird. The volume contains a transcription by Fisk of Capitulations and Articles of Peace between H M King of Great Britain and Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Dardanelles, 1809. The volume also contains the Order of the Maronite Patriarch (the order is dated 1825 so could be Patriarch Youssef Hobaish of Sahel Alma, 1823-1845), against the missionaries use of the Bible without the deutrocanonical books as decided at the Council of Trent.