n 1920 a single business office was established for three of the independent Near East Colleges College. The office supervised the procurement of the colleges. Under the direction of Albert in New York City including Robert of supplies for all Staub the New York B LI\., Office coordinated efforts to raise funds so as to liquidate debts incurred during World War I and to provide adequate operating funds for the postwar years. In 1927 the New York Office was formally constituted as the Near East College Association.
The records of this office date from 1923 and serve to document the close link between Robert College administrators in Istanbul and 0 their supporters and benefactors in the united States. It has since I functioned as the Office of the Trustees.
The presidents and deans of the college wrote regularly to Albert Staub, reporting on developments at the college, enrollments, the need for new faculty, budgetary matters, and requirements for supplies necessary for the functioning of the college.
The profound changes that took place in Turkey during the 1920s had their effect on the college. On the one hand, the government under Ataturk took an ever increasing responsibility for educating the nation's youth. On the other hand, Turkish leaders became increasingly wary of foreign influences on Turkish society.
Fortunately, RC was a well-established institution that had a long LJ history of cooperation with Turkish authorities. In particular, the RC school of Engineering became an increasingly important place for training Turkish young men who would playa large role in the process of modernization. In 1928 the government granted graduates of Robert College the right to practice as engineers, and the following year the engineering school received official recognition from Turkish authorities.
Most of the correspondence is concerned with the day-to-day operation of the college and the always present problems of fund-raising; there is also, however, a sprinkling of commentary on political developments in Turkey as well as current issues in the United States. In particular, the U.S. Senate's consideration of the Lausanne Treaty was followed with great interest. Another subject of importance is President Gates's emphasis on the relationship between religious instruction and character building.
With the onset of the great depression in the 1930s, the college was forced into financial retrenchment and the presidency of Paul Monroe, who served from 1932-1935, was preoccupied with economic problems. His successor Walter Wright was concerned as well, about the increase in taxes enacted by the Turkish government. Wright also sees a more positive trend in the quality of new students and the fact that families of "political prominence" were beginning to enroll their children in the college.
By the late 1930s, with war clouds gathering, the Turkish government demonstrated a desire to improve relations with the democratic nations, particularly the united States. One expression of was the action taken by the government in exempting from the Buildings Tax (March 23, 1939). this the World War II compelled a number of faculty members to leave for military service and the College had to operate with a much reduced staff. The problems of operating an American educational institution in the Near East during wartime are well detailed in the letters of Walter Wright, Harold Scott (acting president), and Wright's successor Floyd Black. Scott, for example, enthuses about the arrival of "much needed reinforcements" in the form of five new instructors. are ready to "Their spirit cooperate in is splendid every possible and it is manner" obvious (January that they 21, 1944).
