mshm226 Letters to Rev. and Mrs. Isaac Bird, 1822-1835. Finding Aid Encoding funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections

South Hadley, MA

Finding aid generated in MARC format from database, then encoded using Perl scripts and XSL stylesheet. 2004-04-06 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mshm226 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections Letters to Rev. and Mrs. Isaac Bird, 1822-1835. Finding Aid MS 0035 Encoding funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Collection Overview Letters to Rev. and Mrs. Isaac Bird 1822-1835. MS 0035 10 letters Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections

South Hadley, MA

Letters to Rev. and Mrs. Isaac Bird, 1822-1835; missionaries in Beirut, Lebanon. Correspondence in English and Arabic (with translations) reflects living conditions among Christian missionaries in the Middle East chiefly with regard to their health, general living conditions, and prospects for success among the Nestorians, Muslims and Jews. English and Arabic Biographical Note

Rev. Isaac Bird, b. Salisbury, Connecticut on June 19, 1793; graduated Yale College and Andover Theological Seminary. Sailed to the Middle East as a missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1822. Was principally in Malta, Beirut and Smyrna until 1835, when his wife Ann's ill-health brought them back to the United States. Following his return, Rev. Bird taught at theological seminaries in New England and died in Hartford, Connecticut in 1873.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Collection of 10 letters written to Rev. Isaac Bird and/or his wife Ann P. Bird when they were missionaries in Beirut. Many of the letters mention the diseases affecting the area and one letter has slashes in it from when it was fumigated. The letters also give news of the conditions other missionaries in the Middle East were working in, such as a fire destroying a school and the absence of gingham with which to make dresses. One of the Arabic letters concerns repayment of a debt owned to Rev. Bird. Two separate translations of the 4 letters in Arabic is included.

Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized by language into two series, subarranged by recipient.

Letters in English Letters in Arabic Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

Unrestricted

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Rev. and Mrs. Bird Letters, Mount Holyoke College, Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA

Search Terms Bird, Isaac, 1793-1876. Bird, Ann P. King, Jonas, 1792-1869. Dwight, Elizabeth Barker, 1807-1837. Tod, Emma. Reynolds, Mary. Barker, J. Assaad, Jacob. Haddad, Samar Tanus. Isa, Latouf. Lafluf, Yusuf. Misaad, Yusuf. Missionaries - Middle East - Correspondence. Diseases - Middle East - History - 19th century - Sources. Middle East - Economic conditions - 19th century - Sources.