Meeting and interaction of cultures: the Clarks, American
missionary family, and the Bulgarian environment from the 19th to the 20th centuries
Rumen and George Genov
New Bulgarian University and Harvard University
Interactions and influences between cultures go on different roads and in different ways. They are a constant phenomenon in the history, but they are activated particularly in the 19th century, with the European expansion, but also with a reverse influence on our continent. Bulgarians, although Europeans as geographic, and to a certain extent cultural-historical affiliation, have no place in this worldwide expansion, but nevertheless this, they come into contact with other cultures no matter how incidentally, this happens.These contacts interactions and influences between the Bulgarian and American society, dynamic and advanced, in the 19th-early 20th century are of a particular interest. For a long time, the main intermediaries in this had been the American Protestant missionaries. The religious enthusiasm that affects a certain part of the United States’ society re-echoes in the Bulgarian lands in a rather unexpected way.Religious enthusiasm that affects a certain part of the society.
In the first half of the 19th century, Europeans started “discovering” the existence of a forgotten people in the southeastern corner of the continent – the Bulgarians – more and more distinct. During the Revival period (a phenomenon once magnified, and now posed in doubt,dignified or even denied by some people), the Bulgarian people appear as if by the nothingness, declares its existence, asks for its rights and freedom.
Foreigners, travelers and diplomats, with some astonishment, start to distinguish the Bulgarians’ own image, so far seen only as a part of the roommillet – the Sultan’s Orthodox subjects simply called“Christians“ or even „Greeks“ on the ground that they belong to“The Greek“,i.e. the Eastern Orthodox religion. But this „discovery“ of the Bulgarians is not limited only with the Europeans,
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the Americans on the other side of the Atlantic do it too, although the distance of tens of thousands kilometers. It also leads to a direct presence of America in the Bulgarian lands, especially spiritual and cultural one. Its media becomes the American Protestant missionaries who began to work in the Bulgarian society from the mid of the twentieth century. Inter alia, the proselytism, the attempts to turn Bulgarians into „good Protestants”, the missionaries also develop a large-scale educational and cultural activity for their time. If on the commitment to Protestantism their effort gives comparatively modest results, then, in the latter case, they are significant. Besides this, the missionaries become a kind of a transmission in the mutual acquaintance and the interaction of both peoples and cultures. On the one hand, they become „unofficial ambassadors“ of America in Bulgaria, on the other hand they identify themselves with the Bulgarian people to some extend and represent their inspirations and causes to the Americans. Afterwards, it turns out that the goals of the missionaries and the Bulgarians coincide, even the hierarchies of The Orthodox Church ceases to a serious threat in the face of the American Protesters. Some authors define the US President Woodrow Wilson’s diplomacy as „Missionary“, but the Bulgarian case comes to Missionary diplomacy in the literal sense of the word after the United States entered the First World War, Protestant missionaries are pondering to explain to the American decision makers why the Bulgarian cause is well founded and why the United States should not declare war on Bulgaria.
The theme of the work of the American Protestant missionaries has been a subject of a public debate for 150 years, i.e. since the time when the beginning of their active presence in the Bulgarian lands initiated. They find both adepts and sympathizers, as well as opponents and opponents, among the Bulgarians.
The latter’s arguments ranged from infringing the positions of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the undermining of national unity to a „cultural imperialism“ at a later stage. During the first decades of their activity, missionaries and their adepts also faced a more direct resistance from the Orthodox Church and the local population – from
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ostracism to physical abuse. But still, unlike some other Balkan countries, the American Protestant missionaries have been since the very first beginning, much more favorably accepted and they leave the country when they consider it necessary, not under pressure, for example by Orthodox fundamentalism or extreme nationalism and xenophobia.
Otherwise their presence and activity become a significant element of the public climate and they have a definite place in the modernization processes of the Bulgarian society and culture. They turn into an important factor for Bulgarians’ horizon expansion, the transfer of cultural values. At the same time, largely thanks to them, Americans discover the Bulgarians, their history,political life, aspirations, culture to some degree. Due to the fact that they not only reside in the country and plumb its characteristics and problems,but, to some extent, identify with them, too, they are also more informed, and in somewhat more objective than the rest of the American scientists, journalists,visitors and tourists who cross it in the second half of the 19th century and the first third of the twentieth century. Of course, the missionaries were motivated by the awareness that they were the holders of the „truth,“ the authentic word of God,by the desire to „reform“ the Orient in the spirit of the Protestant reforming and to turn the Bulgarians into „good Christians“.[1]As Thomas Lowery writes, „The first task of the Protestant mission has given the word of God to the nations in their own language. „[2]The American Protestant missionaries’ activity, their proselytism and the educational activity (mainly by the congregation a list and the Methodist denomination) as well as their role in the building of the ideas about the Bulgarians from the mid-19th century onwards, have been the subject of much research by Bulgarian and American authors. The positive estimates of Missionary activity were based on the American scientists or the Bulgarian protestants. The negative attitude towards the missionaries and their
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followers was reinforced during the Cold War period (pastoral processes of the late 1940s, the qualification of missionaries as representatives of „cultural imperialism“). The last two decades(even before the start of the democratic change), there was a change in the assessment of the activity of the American Protestants missionaries represented in serious historical research.
Articles, studios, and books were published, scientifically conferences devoted to the history of Robert College, the educational activity, the support of the Bulgarian national cause and its promoting beyond the ocean were held. It could be said that these new publications not only contributed to a more objective and balanced assessment of the American Protestant missionaries’ activities and role in the Bulgarian community,but they outlined a new perspective in the research of modern Bulgarian culture, too.
The most significant scientific research on this topic belongs to some prominent Bulgarian historians such as Mani Stoyanov, Petar Shopov, Veselin Traikov, Petko M. Petkov, Andrey Pantev, Maria Todorova, Hristo P.Hristov, Georgi Genov, Ivan Ilchev, Plamen Mitev.[3]
From the American side,William Hall, Marin Pundev, Philip Shashko, Tatiana Nestorova, Barbara Reeves-Ellington and, above all, James F. Clark[4] contributed to the topic development.
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The appearance of American missionaries in the Bulgarian lands, no matter how incidental and strange it might look like, is not the result of a random act. At the beginning of the 19th century, a revival of the Missionary activity in the United States was observed. It is conditioned by the problems related to the unsustainable expansion of the United States and their „moving border“’s relocation more and more to the west, but the Missionary evangelistic activity goes beyond its limits, including to distant and even exotic countries. This affects the main denominations over the time, but the initiative comes from the Presbyterian Church of the United States. It acts in parallel with The Congregationalist (Congregational) Church of New England, as both denominations are very close in their attitude to the Calvinism. In order to avoid any rivalry, B.M. Palmer goes out with „Plan for unification „of their activities. One of the results of their co-operation is the creation of the American Council of Commissioners for foreign missions (ASMCA, American Board of Commissionaires for Foreign Missions). In 1810, on the initiative of a group of students from Congregationalist Andorran Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, the US Council of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was set up(ASCMM). 5 Later,Missionary societies create other denominations- Baptists (1813), Methodists (1819), Episcopal Church (1836-37),Lutheran (1839) and others. In 1870, however, the Presbyterian church retreats from the American Council, so the further Missionary activity in the Bulgarian lands is carried out by congregationalists. The Missionary interest in the Ottoman Empire dates back to the early nineteenth century, both on the part of American and American-British organizations – biblical societies and various Protestants denominations. In fact, Protestant activity in the region, in Bulgarian Riggs’ Translation from Bulgarian Narodni Pesni (Folk Songs) by the Miladinovi Brothers. – Etudes balkaniques, 1, 1990; Pundev, Marin. Bulgaria, America, Russia. Sofia 1996; Reeves-Ellington, Barbara. „That Our Daughters May Be As Corner Stones“: American Missionaries,Bulgarian Nationalists and Politics of Gender, 1832-1872. Binghampton, 2002.
5 Reid, Daniel G. (Ed.) Dictionary of Christianity in America. Downers Grove, Ill., 1990, p.p. 44,
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Land, in particular is a joint Anglo-American initiative, but real activities and methodological and congressional denominations are also developing. 6
Since 1819, the US Council has begun to send missionaries to the different parts of the Ottoman Empire. In the course of this activity,the American missionaries „discovered“ the Bulgarians as a separate people in the Orthodox subjects of the Sultan (Rum Millet). Already in 1826, a functionary of the British and Foreign Biblical Society points out the need to translate the Scriptures into Bulgarian.
Missionaries of the American Council visiting the Ottoman Empire emphasize the need of action in the 1930s, and in 1841 the Missionary H. Homes wrote to the headquarters of the ACMM that „one mission among Bulgarians is more necessary than in the middle other peoples, but there are no missionaries among them yet. „
The first contacts between the Bulgarians and the American missionaries date back to the 1930s, but a serious proselytizing and educational activity – twenty years later. One of the first missionaries who unfolded wide and multilateral activity in Bulgaria was James Franklin Clark. He has lived in the country for 57 years and becomes Patriarch of the American missionaries, in many ways an illustrative example of the role and importance in their Bulgarian-American ties and attitudes. Nevertheless his activity is not very well known, excluding a brief biographical account and some references to moments from his Missionary career. 7 .
As it is generally known, the first contact between the Bulgarians and the Americans missionaries dates back to the 1930s, and the serious proselytizing and educational activity – twenty years later. The beginning is set with the exploratory tour of the two representatives of ASMCHM Henry J.O. Dwight and William Schofler in 1834. 8 One of the first missionaries to
6 Clark, James F. The Pen and the Sword, p. 313.
7 See. Ilchev, I., Pl. Mitev. Touching America (19th-early 20th century) .Sofia,
2003, pp. 388-389; Raichevski, St. America and Bulgaria (to the Constituent Assembly of 1879) Sofia, 2003, pp. 183-184.
8 Thompson, Edward. Our Oriental Missions. Vol. 2. China and Bulgaria. Cincinnati, 1870;
Clark, JF Americans and the April Uprising. – East European Quarterly, Vol. XI, No 4 (1978)
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among the Bulgarians is James Clark, who was fated to act among them for the longest time, too – more than 65 years.
James Franklin Clark was born on the 31st of January 1832 in Buckland,state of Massachusetts. He is the fifth son (out of 8 children in total) of Benjamin F. Clark(1792-1872), Congregationalist priest and Sarah Chaplin Clark (1771-1840). The searches of J. F. Clark and his grandson – the famous American historian-Bulgarian James Franklin Clark II follow family genealogy only to the grandfather of the first – Samuel Clark.
According to official data provided by the Secretary of the Republic of Massachusetts, this progenitor is a participant in the American Revolution as a private individual in the company. Coal of Regiment of Regiment and Regiment of Polar Elizabeth Porter, starring in some of her most eloquent episodes – the first battle at Lexington on April 19th, 1775, and a march to Fort Ticonderogain 1776, Samuel Clark, a landowner, participated in the war as a volunteer at his own expense until October 1777. 9
James Clark graduated from a theological seminary in Andover Amherst College and received a Ph.D. in Theology. Andover Seminary is related to the creation of the American Council of the commissioners for foreign missions and this determines the choice of the young to devote himself to mission. Before he drove to the East, he had married to Isabella J. Davis, his companion for the next 40 years.(died on 16/28 February 1894 in Bulgaria).
The Missionary and educational activity of J. F. Clark in Bulgaria began in 1858. He settled in Plovdiv where his colleague William Merriam had already begun to work. Clark takes trips to the area around the city and further (to Stara Zagora, Sofia, Niš, Vidin,Turnovo), the impressions of which encourage him and he comes to the conclusion that the Bulgarians were „at the threshold of a spiritual revolution“.
Right from the beginning of his long stay in the Bulgarian lands, James Clark, along with the usual Missionary activity – sermons,the dissemination of the Bible and the religious brochures, – has shown a strong
9 Archive James F. Clark, CSD – Bulgarian Documents in Foreign Archives Division,
KMF 19, inv. No 443, A, I, 1, paragraphs 13, 23.
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interest in the educational work and makes serious efforts to master the Bulgarian language. 10
The missionaries got sent to the Bulgarian lands during the period when „Bulgarian-the Greek oppression“- the Bulgarian struggle against the Patriarchate of onstantinople,for church-national autonomy – reaches its apogee. The missionaries quickly are orientated in the conflict and take unambiguous attitude towards it. To them, the Bulgarian struggle for independent church is a movement for „emancipation“ of „oppression,“ guided by the „spirit of freedom“in which Bulgarians’ cause is „fair“, as James Clark writes by Plovdiv. „Another issue arouses our concern, but also our interest sympathy. The spirit of freedom in the Bulgarians has made them rise against the Greek hierarchy. They feel they have rights and declare them. Charles Morse notes: „The Bulgarians in European Turkey are now three to four times the number of the Greeks; and they justly feel that they can no longer submit to such degradation and oppression, and strongly desire the recognition of their ancient privileges.“In a report from the mission station in Edirne from 1861, it is stated: „The struggle of the Bulgarians against the Greeks provokes interest and excitement. Five million people are trying to get rid of the slavery of the Greek hierarchy.“The missionaries of course can not be retained by analogy between the Bulgarian Church struggle and the Protestant Reformation: „Sometimes expressing such exalted feelings that strong are reminded of the beginning of the Reformation,“ the same report says. The same is Morse’s opinion, too: „Similarly, in this struggle, the Bulgarians were made to study the teachings of Scripture and to compare them with those of the Greek church. One of their leading representatives issued a pamphlet in such a sincere and fascinating language that it reminds us of Luther at Reformation dawn.“ 11
William Merriam reflects in his diary „the battles“ between Bulgarians and Greeks (that reach fierce hand-to-hand skirmish in Plovdiv
10 Ilchev, I., Pl. Mitev. Touching America at 165-178 – Application – From the Diary of America
William Merriam (1859-1860).
11 The references to „Mission Herald“ here and below have been searched and promulgated by
Persica Zlatkov. Bulgaria and Bulgarians through the eyes of American missionaries for the period between 1857 and 1888 (by The Missionary Herald), translated by Boris Popivanov.
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churches, as it happens on the 12th of December 1859 and 1st of January 1860)The missionaries establish ties with the Bulgarian leaders in Plovdiv, such as Dr Stoyan Chomakov, Yoakim Gruev – Director of the Bulgarian Classroom School.
Some Bulgarians are willing to use some methods of protestantism for the purposes of the church struggle. According to the testimony of Maryam, on March 13th, 1860, Joachim Gruev informed him that a group of fiery young people were planning to go to one of the Greek churches in the town and to ask ultimately the Greek clerics to throw away their icons and candles, and to begin to preach the „pure gospel“, but he managed to discourage them. 12
When the struggle of the Bulgarians for an independent church is close to a decisive outcome, Clark, writes from Plovdiv in 1869: „Over the past month, the Bulgarians were granted the recognition for their right to have their own church by the government. None can say how it will affect our work. I already know that American missionaries have gained support by all the classes of this nation. The conscience of the thinking people is on their side.“
The missionaries, according to their own acknowledgment, are initially well accepted by the Bulgarian population, which they find it natural for people who „have suffered for a long time under double oppression“. 13
Regardless the over-optimistic expectation of a „spiritual revolution“ and „Reformation“ and the real interest in the technological products of the American civilization, such as sewing machines, harmoniums etc., as well as the sale of the New Testament and religious brochures, the missionaries head, quite pragmatically, for the educational activity. They were pushed to this the interest shown by the Bulgarian leaders, such as Dr. Stoyan Chomakov, by Bulgarian youth, even from the Turkish pasha and the Russian vice consul in Bulgaria, Plovdiv. 14 This is also helped by the case, in 1858 the English philanthropist, Mrs. Ann Marston donates to the two American organizations, the American board of commissioners for foreign missions (Congolese) and
12 Ilchev, I., Pl. Mitev. Touching America, p. 167.
13 Archive J. F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. No 443, C, II, 13, paragraph 1.
14 Ilchev, I., Pl. Mitev. Touching America, pp. 169-177.
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The Methodist Episcopal Council, of 300 English pounds for education of Bulgarian boys and girls. Congolese American Council creates a school for boys in Plovdiv and for girls in Stara Zagora.
The Plovdiv all-male school is associated with Clark’s educational activity. It was opened on October 22nd, 1860, initially with four students (Petar Musevich from Pazardzhik, Nikola Boyadjiev from Panagurishte, Ivan Tondjorov from Samokov, Andrey S. Tsanov from Vidrare village, Botevgrad region).
The missionaries hire a house in Plovdiv with 5000 grosz annual rent, which serves as both a school and a boarding school. Although it was opened to all nationalities with training in Bulgarian, Turkish and Greek languages,the school is visited exclusively by Bulgarians. 15 The curriculum of the four-year course includes: Algebra and Geometry, Physics, Chemistry and 5-6 other scientific disciplines, logic, speculative and moral philosophy,rhetoric, singing, biblical classes.
In 1872, Clark was able to summarize the Missionary activity: „… Bulgarian language is used in almost all of their churches and schools they dispose of printed textbooks – some of them missionaries’ work – in almost all the subjects of the lower and upper classes taught in ordinary schools of America… I think eighteen editions of various parts of Scripture have come out of print and about 60,000 pieces must be in the hands of the population … Besides them, tens of thousands religious books and hundreds of thousands of instructional brochures are in circulation everywhere and exert influence in favor of pure Christianity. „
As Clark points out, „from each of the males and girls’ schools at missions in Philippopolis and Eski Zagra 80 students, many of them who have an influence in the spread of Christ’s truth have graduated. “ 16
But the zealous Missionary appreciates quite optimistically the perspectives for the expansion of Protestant influence and, in particular, the enlightenment because of the girls’ school from Stara Zagora remained in 1869 without pupils,The Plovdiv School was closed on July 7th, 1869. This happens on the pretext
15 Archive J. F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. No. 443, C, II, 13, paragraphs 2-3, 36-37; Raichevski, St. America and Brussels (to the Constituent Assembly of 1879) Soya, 20093, pp. 154-155.
16 Zlatkov, Persida. Bulgaria and Bulgarians through the eyes of American missionaries for the period 1857-1888 – http://reocities.com/paris/jardin/4656/ABCFM-BULGARIA.html
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of the bad climate, but there is also an intolerable atmosphere due to collisions with the Orthodox Church and hostile moods. Clark himself turns out to be embroiled in the noisy scandal with the monk cut from the Rila Monastery Polieft, who seeks for support from the Protestants. And though Clark prevails by finding support from the Ottoman authorities for the right of freedom confession of Protestant faith, the effect of this and other cases is negative. 17
In addition, in the late 1960s, anti- protestant propaganda was reinforced –publications of newspaper and magazine articles in which Protestant missionaries have been condemned as enemies of Orthodoxy (by Todor Burmov, Vassil Cholakov, Ivan Vladikin, Georgi Dzhurov, Father Matthew Preobrazhenski), and the Holy Synod even conceived the creation of a special fund for this purpose. 18
So it is necessary to relocate both schools to a more favorable environment and Samokov as distinguished by „healthier climate“ has been chosen for their new place. 19 After acting for a short as a one-year pastoral course in Sara Zagora, the school finally was relocated in 1871 J. F. Clark became the first principal of the male school, which has been called the American College and Theological Institute (American Collegiate and Theological Institute) since 1880, but is also known as American Science Theological Institute. The name itself speaks of its denominational and pro-zealistic character, unlike the prestigious secular Robert College in Constantinople. Samokov school is conceived as an eological seminary to prepare preachers and their assistants. But soon the enrollment is liberalized, and the program is expanded at the expense of secular subjects, with a period between 1884 and 1909 of training increases from 5 to 7 years (6 years of study course and 1 year theology). 20 In 1885-86 an industrial branch (printing house and printing house) was established carpentry), which allows s partial solution of the permanent financial problems, although the school never becomes
17 Stoyanov, M. Start of Protestant Propaganda in Bulgaria. – Notifications from the Institute
for History, Vol. XIV-XV, 1964; p. 49.
18 Ilchev, I., Pl. Mitev. Touching America, pp. 121-124 .//
19 Again, p. 376.
20 Archive J. F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. No 443, C, II, 13, paragraph 38.
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a self-sustainable institution. Students have the opportunity to participate in a number of organizations of a public character – literary societies („Nadezhda“- 1882, „Development“ – 1891), abstainer society (established in 1892-1882 with more than 100 members), a branch of the international founded in 1844 the Young Christian Association, Utheha Charity Company (1901) J. F. Clark teaches there Physics, Geology and Mineralogy, and creates significant collections of minerals, fossil animals and stuffed birds. i i Both in Plovdiv and in Samokov, students are offered a modern curriculum, though of Clark’s alumnus (such as Georgi N. Chakalov, son of one of the first Protestant Bulgarians in Samokov, but not sympathetic to Protestant, the only Bulgarian left memories of Samokov school) dislike the emphasis on biblical classes and Clark’s immutable return to the Scriptures, regardless the taught subject. 21
The first years of the Missionary activity in Samokov coincide with the political and revolutionary boil in the Bulgarian society and its apogee – the outbreak of the April Uprising. Appreciating the role of the American missionaries, Clark notes that although they are basically to be refraining from taking an attitude towards political issues, merit of Missionary teachers are definitely „involved in the formation of the characteristics of some national leaders „. 22
The missionaries, although sympathetic to some aspects of the national struggles of the Bulgarians, generally occupy the position of the political neutrality, reject revolutionary actions, and avoid the confrontations with the Ottoman authorities that could jeopardize their action. But in 1876, when the Bulgarian question occupies a central position in the big eastern crisis, they have to take a relationship and a definite one position. After an initial appearance of some skepticism about data on atrocities and the number of victims, they contribute to the notices
21 NCBM-BIA, f. 772, a. 1, 12-14, cf. Ilchev, I., Pl. Mitev. Touching America
(19th-early twentieth century) .Sofia, 2003, p. 389.
22 Archive J. F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. No 443, C, II, 13, Item 3.
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reach out to European public opinion through the press and are included in the subsidiary shares. Theodore Bayington wrote on October 18, 1876 by Istanbul: „The brothers in Bulgaria help in distributing aid,sent from England. In my opinion, this is the best service with which today can be loaded. We gain trust and good will of the Bulgarians as never before. They see that we sympathize with them their troubles and that we are happy to help them with whatever we can. I’m trying to avoid purely political issues, but we would lose our influence, if we remain indifferent to the terrible evils that have endured you. Brother Clark did a noble job in the vicinity of Philippopolis. Brother Marsh relieves sufferers in Boyadzhik by cooperating with the bishop, the priests and the people; I hope Brother Bond will be able to cooperate with Philipopolis district. “ 23
In March-April 1865, J. F. Clark makes a tour to the villages in South Bulgaria – Pazardzhik, Batak, Kamenitsa, Peshtera, Razlog and others,so he gets to know the places he will visit under tragic circumstancesten years later. In 1872, his travels led him to Bitola, one of the places where his son William is about to take over Missionary work. 24 In the summer of 1876, J. Clark is one of the first foreign witnesses who visited many of the villages in Thrace became the scene of the April uprising and the atrocities of his crushing. In July-September 1876 he accompanied one of his graduate (Nikola Tchakalov from Samokov) tours settlements in the Plovdiv region and finds out that from 56 villages (32 of whom visited personally), half are totally or partially destroyed, and a big number of Bulgarians were killed, according to him, amounts to 5,000,that they subsequently die much more than cold, starvation and disease. He draws detailed lists of destruction and victims in Plovdiv(Panagyurishte, Musala, Armand, Muhovo, Petrich, Strelcha and many others),which are of great importance for the subsequent distribution campaign
23 Zlatkov, Persida. Bulgaria and Bulgarians through the eyes of American missionaries for
the period 1857-1888 – http://reocities.com/paris/jardin/4656/ABCFM-BULGARIA.html
24 Archive J. F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. No 443, B, I, 15, Item 5; Clark, James F. The Pen and
Sword: Studies in Bulgarian History. Ed. By Dennis P. Hupchick, (Boulder: East European Monographs No. 252, 1988.
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benefits in kind and money to the injured and needy in which Clark plays an extremely important role. 25
Clark’s reports on the situation in the regions of the uprising,edited and supplemented by Henry Dwight, were sent to Missionary headquarters in Boston, with a proposal to be published in the American press. But the ASMCM leaders decided to keep neutrality and divert the proposal. 26 They are known only after a century,when they were released by his grandson with the same name. You can just if assuming that if they had reached the press, then the echo of the The April Uprising in America would be much stronger. But no matter what these reports are of practical significance – to inform those who come later interviewers and reporters, as well as the help campaign.
In the coming months Clark is directly involved in the assistant campaign to distribute the aid arrived mainly from England to the Central Assistance Committee in Constantinople and the International Consular Office Committee in Plovdiv. In this activity he brings American business,practicality and efficiency. In his personal archive hundreds have been preserved receipts and reports from his Bulgarian assistants -alumni of American schools, Bulgarian teachers and others
Bulgarian princes. From September 1876 until her departure through April next year Clark became one of the first aides of the English philanthropist Lady Emily Ann Strangeford who created „help the Bulgarian peasants „and came to participate personally in the distribution of the aid collected. 27
Clark’s help is particularly valuable as he speaks Bulgarian,knows the situation well, and has already visited personally many of the villages affected by the repression, made statistics of the dead,the wounded, the needy, the burning houses and has already joined aiding activity by starting to distribute benefits on behalf of the
25 Archive J. F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. No. 443, B, I, 16; C, II, 13, item 13.
26 Clark, James F. Reporting the Bulgarian Massacres. – Clark, James F. The Pen and the Sword,
- 422-438.
27 Genov, R. The Eastern Question, the April Uprising and English Philanthropy:
The Stretford family and the Bulgarians. Sofia, 2007. p. 30-31.
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Central Assistance Committee in Constantinople. Clark began building on a temporary hospital in Batak, which was later taken over by Lady Strangford. Her preliminary work and knowledge of Clark’s language and conditions is happening to be her invaluable assistant. In his personal archive hundreds receipts and reports have been preserved from his Bulgarian assistants -alumni of American schools, Bulgarian teachers and other Bulgarian princes. 28
James Clark is known for his Missionary enthusiasm, the case he agrees with Lady Stingford not to combine the care of the bodies of those suffering with care for their souls. Still on the English philanthropism has to refute accusations made (including by US Consul General Eugene Skyler, considered great friend of the Bulgarians) to the American pastor that he used the worried the position of people under his care, of proselytism. It consists of the distribution of religious brochures in Batak and the singing of hymns. 29 Help action started in 1876 and actually continued until the end of the Russian-Turkish war .
James Clark’s Reports on the Events in Bulgaria and the Situation of the troubled population, edited and supplemented by Henry Dwight, were sent to the Missionary office in Boston, with a proposal to be published in the US press. But the heads of ASMCHM decide to keep neutrality and divert the proposal. 30 The detailed Clark and Henry Dwight’s report on the April Uprising and his consequences – „Suffering in Bulgaria“, however, remains unpublished. It was not until 1883 in Clark ‘s retrospective Missionary Herald titled „Missionaries among the Bulgarians“ outline the data about the victims and sufferings of the Bulgarians in the suppression of
28 James F. Clark. A brief description of the work to assist Bulgarians and other sufferers of the uprising in May 1876 „(April 30, 1877) List of fire houses and the murdered inhabitants of villages in southern Bulgaria (1877); List of Needs those who suffered from the repressions during and after the April Uprising from food, clothes,bedding and shelter. – Archives, JA. F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. No. 443, B, I, 7; B, I, 15; C, I,16; С, І.
29 Viscountess Strangford. Report of the Expenditures of the Bulgarian Peasant Relief Fund. With
and Statement of Distribution and Expenditures. 2 nd ed. London, S. a. [1877], p.15.
30 Loco cit.
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The April uprising . The „sufferings in Bulgaria“ become public a century later, through the publications of Clark’s grandson, bearing the same name – a prominent American historian whose overall creativity is related to the Bulgarian themes. It can be reasonably assumed that if they had come to the press, then the resurrection of the April uprising in America would be much stronger. Nevertheless, these reports have a practical relevance – to inform the interviewers who came later porters, as well as the help campaign.
Clark argued before the Turkish authorities about arrested Bulgarians and their saving. Such people, in the end, protect him from the attacks contained in brochures against the Protestant missionaries written on „talgadzhiyski“language „. 31 Clark’s support continued during the Russian-Turkish War and the Kresna Uprising when 20,000 new refugees arrived in free Bulgaria. According to his calculations, Clark participated in a grant allocation totaling $ 45,000. About himself and his assistants, this activity is related to deprivation, diseases and suffering. 32 Clark’s work and merits in the assistant campaign was appreciated by Lady Strangford and other English, her assistants and the place of events. 33
What are the immediate results of the missionaries on the Bulgarian lands? From the address of Bulgarians, they adopted its protestantism who became members of the congressional denomination from Bansko, Stara Zagora, Yambol, Banya, Kostenets to ASKCHM (US Council of commissioners for foreign missions) goes out that for 13-year activity missionaries have managed to bring together 109 people (less than 10 people annually). 34 Ten years later, by 1883 the results were the following: the Missionary support of 15 elementary schools, high school character, hundreds of students – boys and girls from all regions populated with Bulgarians, the publication of a weekly newspaper and a monthly magazine
31 V. „Plovdiv“, # 36, September 17, 1898
32 Archive J. F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. No 443, C, II, 13, Item 3.
33 Moore, Robert Jasper. Below the Balkan. Transl. from Sofia, 1992, p. 97; Baker, James.
European Turkey. Transl. from Sofia, 1994, pp. 47-48.
34 Archive J. F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. 443, B, I, 13, 17-20
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„Zornitsa“ (a model of the American edition of Childs Paper), with 4,000 subscribers each, five churches, five ordained pastors, over 150 Protestant Bulgarians (without the deceased in the meantime 70), about 1,000 children attending Sunday schools. After 1878 the activity in the new one increased capital Sofia and the foothills grow from 15 to 80 people. At the same time they are17 churches or prayer homes were built, mainly by the local Protestants (ASACM participates with about 1/10 of the funds).
Especially in Samokov schools are represented Bulgarians from 60 different settlements. 35
After about another decade, the annual ASKMM statistics for 1894, the following developments were registered: 24 missionaries, male and female,working in the Bulgarian cities, 10 pastors, 13 preachers, 78 Bulgarian assistants, 42 regular prayer homes, with a subset of 2,278 people, 1,436 regular members, Sunday schools with 1,886 students. The leptune,then it amounts to 7,455 dollars, or 3,23 dollars per person. 36
The first major constitutional crisis of 1881-83 -the suspension of the Turnovo Constitution does not remain outside the field of the American Missionaries In his quotation „Bulgaria Clark pursues the political development of the Principality of the history of the Bulgarian people: „The history of the ages when their people have been free, and their kings have been honored with boldness and state hood skills, has been studied so thoroughly in schools that the people met enthusiastically the new Prince of Bulgaria. But the Prince wanted more power than the liberal party considered constitutional … Hehas dissolved two popular assemblies with a majority of liberals and a special assembly an appeal to the people was able to secure an extraordinary meeting that would repealed the Constitution for seven years … The government is actively using its power to curb liberal tendencies; it is reported that the same time twenty teachers were called to the army, just to stop their influence among the people … Under such circumstances is completely of course, to American schools being watched with suspicion. „
35 Archive J. F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. No 443, C, II, 13, paragraphs 3-4.
36 Again, l. 13.
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After the termination of the constitutional suspension Clark writes in his article „Recent Changes in Bulgaria“ (1884):
„The government was passing more and more in Russian hands. Prince Alexander, who returned after a few months’ absence with brave,determined and seemingly wise, has recovered much from the lost trust and respect for the people … The constitution was also immediately restored with the understanding that some specific parts of it should be changed. When the Russians declared themselves against its radical measures, he immediately demanded the resignation of the acting minister of war and fired all Russian officers serving in his army. The last event happened on October 27, 1883 was presumptuous, but fair. “ 37
During the Serbian-Bulgarian War of 1885 the American the Council unambiguously supports the Bulgarians. „Never the error that Providence is always on the side of the larger army, it was not more explicitly than in the last war in Bulgaria- writes in an editorial article of 1886. – The forces of Serbia, apparently,surpassed many times those of Prince Alexander. The political and the military authorities in all parts of the world had no doubt that King Milan will quickly conquer Sofia. But there is a God in heaven, to whom the armies can not stand and who would not allow this disgraceful assault to succeed.
Bulgaria may not achieve what it wants, but it gains respect of humanity with its courage and it is unlikely to be possible for European powers after such a brilliant defense of its rights to restore the pre-war situation. „
Missionaries also provide effective help. In a report from Samokov it is said, „They built a hospital where Dr. Kingsbury was very strongly interested. Our ladies are busy sewing hospital clothes. We hope to do something to relieve the suffering. Definitely the poor Bulgarians will need all the help and sympathy they can receive. Our army is very poorly equipped with items from the first necessity – there are no tents against the frosty weather. The Bulgarians are
37 Zlatkov, Persida. Bulgaria and Bulgarians through the eyes of American missionaries for
the period 1857-1888 – http://reocities.com/paris/jardin/4656/ABCFM-BULGARIA.html
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brave soldiers. A subdivision of Samokov has gone for eight hours and then he threw himself into battle. They say they were terribly cut off, and no wonder! But the boldness will remain. The Serbs have many gaps that cut off unprotected Bulgarians. „
In the monthly edition „Missionary News from Bulgaria“, written by Clark, from April 1886 it is stated: „And the prince and the people deserved the honor that was given to them. The way Prince Alexander accepted the forces offered to him by Eastern Rumelia looking for unity with Bulgaria; his ability to quickly concentrate, equip and dispose of troops,where circumstances require, personal interest, which showed to those who were gathered to defend their homeland and families perhaps left in need, has earned him universal respect and love …
The people followed the lead of the Prince. Many volunteers formed the regular army, and the army had been marching in storms for days mud to repel the unintentional assault … A thousand volunteer was gathered to protect the borders of his country, and all the people, and the men,and the women took their heart to help prepare and send voluntary and necessary supplies to the army. The missionaries completely they sympathized with the people in their efforts for more freedom and enthusiasm his tribute to the Prince. “ 38
The abdication of Prince Alexander I Battenberg in 1886 was confronted with corruption: „The political situation in Bulgaria is such that awakens deep anxiety. Prince Alexander, whose behavior earned him not only the love of his people, but also the admiration of all the lofty people, became the victim of intrigue and was forced to abdicate. The Hand of Russia in this work is obvious. Its purpose is obvious, namely, not to allow between its territory and the Bosporus to establish an independent nationality headed by an energetic ruler. That is why it has stirred up the riots that led to itto the abdication of Prince Alexander. The Return of the Prince and the enthusiastic people were ample evidence that his abdication is not their act, and that he is the nation’s choice for her
38 Zlatkov, Persida. Bulgaria and Bulgarians through the eyes of American missionaries for
the period 1857-1888 – http://reocities.com/paris/jardin/4656/ABCFM-BULGARIA.html
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ruler. But to his humble obedience to the Russian king upon his return was answered by a letter which can not be characterized in any other way,except as brutal, and not to expose his people to a bloody war with a small hope for success, Alexander retired, „- wrote in an editorial article by October 1886
James Clark testifies to the departure of Prince Alexander:“Yesterday we saw him leave us with great honor, but among much sorrow and weeping. From the palace to beyond the outskirts of the city the street on which was passing, crowded with citizens and soldiers, present at the strange spectacle of the head of state, who is forced to give up his crown,but leaves the throne loved and mourned. During his short reign, our missionaries discovered in Prince Alexander’s face a friend of their work in Prince Alexander’s face, though he did not recognize the Protestants except as part of the whole people he had tried to treat impartial justice. „Clark explains the change of Bulgarians’ feelings towards the Liberator – the transition from gratitude to mistrust. In a letter dated March 17, 1886, he wrote:“The future of the people still seems very bleak to me. Russia generously pouring gold and blood to release the people from the Turks, but its course later made the thinking Bulgarians believe that her goals were selfish and that they were swallowed up million in its population, will lose any independent existence. “ 39
Clark tries to outline the contribution of US missionaries to the development of the Bulgarian nation and statehood, especially in the sphere of education and the formation of national leaders. In the article mentioned from 1883, „The Missionary Work among Bulgarians“, he compared the role of the education for political leadership in Bulgaria with that in America:“About fifteen primary education schools exercise visibly positive influence. In three institutions of higher order are collected hundreds of young men and women from all regions inhabited by Bulgarians, and many of the graduates today belong to the most influential circles.
These schools provide them with such good preparation for life realization among their own people as the corresponding American
39 Zlatkov, Persida. Bulgaria and Bulgarians through the eyes of American missionaries for
the period 1857-1888 – http://reocities.com/paris/jardin/4656/ABCFM-BULGARIA.html
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institutions are working for themselves in America. „Clark also notes:“The National Assemblies in both Philippopolis and Sofia gave place to a Protestant MP, both of them taking a high position as capable and reliable people. “ 40
The children of the married couple James and Isabelle Clark take the road of their parents. The son William P. Clark ends Boston Latin Public Sculle, Amherst College in Massachusetts and walks in the footsteps of a father like a Missionary in the Bulgarian lands. In 1900 he married the Swiss Martha Gischer, the daughter of a Methodist shepherd, a music teacher in the American school in Lovech (from 1897), then in Samokov. They share the Missionary life in Samokov, Thessaloniki, Bitola, then for some time in Sofia and Sofia – Plovdiv to return in 1933 to the United States with their two sons -Henry and James. The second one, bearing the name of his grandfather, who, unlike the previous generations Clark did not take the way of a Missionary, but as known historian-Bulgarian devotes his academic research career to Missionary activity in Bulgaria. 41
The daughter of James and Isabelle Clark, Elizabeth Clap Clark, was born in 1868 in Plovdiv. Her childhood goes to Samokov. Next in Mount Hollywood College in South Heathley, Massachusetts, one of the first,but she does not end it because she has to go back to her care for her sick mother. After her death she was again in America, studying some time in the Boston Conservatory, and in 1894-97,National Kindergarten College in Chicago (Evanston suburb), becoming a zealous follower of the theory of the German pedagogue-creator of the modern pre-school upbringing Friedrich VA Froebel. In 1897, Elizabeth Clark returned in Bulgaria and opens a children’s garden in Samokov. 42 From the 1900s the child a garden with permission from the Ministry of Enligh tenment was opened in
40 Again there.
41 Clark, A, II, I, 68; C, I, 10, item 30; cf. also: Angelova, Penka, „Prof. Dr. James Franklin Clark: „Biblical Societies, American Missionaries and National Revival of Bulgaria, Harvard, 1938 „, in: Bulgarian-American Cultural and Bulgarian political ties in the 19th century – the first half of the 20th century. Race. Ivan Ilchev, Plamen Mitev. Sofia, 2004, 100-107.
42 Archive Clark, C, I, 10, l. 29
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Sofia, where there are 45 years. 43
This is not the first, neither the only kindergarten in Bulgaria, but it’s special the opening of a two-year training course for children’s teachers,this private course was small, the classes were initially led by English, later – in Bulgarian with the participation of Bulgarian lecturer send well-trained specialists such as Penka Kassabova (Geo Milev’s sister;another two sisters of the poet finish their course). With advanced methodology and the American Kindergarten drive become a model for this genre institutions in the country. The American Kindergarten is housed in the specially built building on „Hristo Belchev“ Str. and „Solunska“(designed by architect Fingov) and keeps this name until it is closed down 1942, although from the 1930s it became purely Bulgarian and there is no one relationship with America. By 1932, Elizabeth Clark had handed over the leadership of the garden and the course of Penka Kassabova (Clark himself discovers a private kindergarden in the village of Kneja). Besides the kindergarten on Hristo Belchev Str.accessible to relatively wealthy parents, Elizabeth Clark discovers during1914 and a branch in Yuchbunar – the poorest district of Sofia. 45 The activity of Mr-Clark has been covering more than 30 years, her work is growing, she finds public and state recognition. She also works on Sunday schools, arranging lectures for young mothers, developing charity activity in support of the extremely poor, in disasters and wars, becomes an institute for the establishment of the Animal Protection Society.
Since 1922, Elizabeth Clark has published the „Kindergarten“ magazine (goes to1928). It allocates from its modest means a considerable amount of construction of a building for the Preschool Education Institute. Elizabeth Clark adopts three orphans – Bulgarian women, one girl and two boys (Georges and Boris), who gave his name and provided education. 46 In 1939, in Elizabeth Clark’s initiative was to set up a Pre-school Foundation Education (with Prof. Venelin Ganev and Secretary Penka Kasabova) as a scientific and educational institute by donating its own resources
43 CDA, Fund 32k (Elizabeth K. Clark), op. 1, a. f.
44 See p. Kasabova, Penka. Sketches on the Way of Life. Sofia, 2001, p. 104.
45 Again, 30.
46 Again, pp. 29, 158.
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(400 000 levs) The Foundation existed until 1952 when it was a law closed all private schools and institutions. On April 16, 1937, at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first kindergarten in the world,at the Military Club, Elizabeth Clark receives the Order „St. St. Cyril and St. Cyril and St. Methodius I degree (at the proposal of the Ministry of Education enlightenment). 47 Elizabeth Clark dies on December 12, 1942, and is buried in her father’s grave in Sofia’s central cemetery.
The charity work of the old Missionary James Clark and his daughter Elizabeth does not limit herself only in the post-April period uprising. In 1896-97 the missionaries of ASCCHM and James Clarkass embed and distributed aid to the American fleeing the Ottoman massacre Empire after the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising – for the Macedonian refugees settled in Dupnitsa, Ihtiman, Banya, Ladzhene. 48 In 1914 Elizabeth Clark is among the members of the American Subsidiary Committee Bulgaria, which engages in various charity activities in favor families of killed and injured soldiers, refugees (for example, manual laundry-ironing house to be occupied by war widows, as well shelter for the workers’ children). 49 In 1914, Elizabeth Clark was among members of an American Support Committee in Bulgaria, who is committed with various charity activities in favor of the families of the killed and wounded soldiers, refugees (for example, a hand-washing machine, which will be occupied by war widows, and a shelter for the children of workers). 50
Beyond formal preaching and educational activity missionaries also engage in wider activity directed at the Bulgarian community. One form of it is Sunday schools, which are perceived in the Bulgarian press as „one of the solid foundations of the republicans’ order in the United States „. 51 For the sake of accuracy Sunday schools, as a form and organization for elementary education
47 Again, p. 37.
48 Archive Clark, C, I, 43, l. 29.
49 CDA, fund 32k, op. 1, a. 3, paragraphs 1-8.
50 Again there.
51, „Vremia“, g. I, No 36, April 23, 1866 – cit. by Ilchev, I., Pl. Mitev. Touch to
America, p. 77.
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socialization in the conditions of demographic explosion and industrial and emerging urban society emerged in the UK in the 70s of the 18th century, but soon they received distribution in America as well as in European countries that are far away from British conditions. 52 For about 30 years the number of Sunday schools of roostants increased more than 4 times (13 schools respectively1875 and 57 in 1909) 53
The missionaries’ activity to some extent also stimulates women’s appearances in the public sphere, leaving their role in a reduced role the patriarchal family. From 1883 the famous Elena Stone and othersmissionaries organize summer biblical schools in different cities since 1886 they are held in Samokov under a program developed by James Clark and Andrei Tsanov, from the Bulgarian Evangelical Society (since 1895 the summer biblical courses are held jointly by congregants and methodologists). 54
An important part of the activity of James Clark, now overlooked by the researchers are his efforts to promote the abstinencea cause he is one of the pioneers in Bulgaria. Engaging the missionaries with her are, of course, natural. Abstinence, i.moderation in everything, and especially in the sensual delights, as well as the struggleagainst vain this is one of the main virtues of the Puritans. In that Clark’s activity is a transfer of the abstinence experience campaigns and organizations in the United States where they start from the middlein the 18th century, continue in the next, but especially intensify after The Civil War – The Anti-Saloon League, the Partythe Prohibitionist Party, and so on. As he points out,his letter to the notorious philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1908) himself James Clark gives a vow of complete abstinence (including tobacco use) in the 1850s during the Campaign
52 Genov, R. The Monitorial (Bell-Lancasterian) System and the Modernization of Bulgarian
Education. – In: Kostova, L., Dobing, M., Wadham-Smith, N., Payne, J.-A. (Eds.) Britain andEurope. Veliko Turnovo, 1993, p. 143. Laquer, Thomas. Religion and Respectability: The EnglishSunday School and the Formation of a Respectable Working Class. New Haven, 1977; Rice,Edwin Wilbur. The Sunday-School Movement, 1780-1917 and the American Sunday-SchoolUnion, 1817-1917.Philadelphia 1917.
53 Nestorova, T. American missionaries among the Bulgarians. Sofia, p. 64.
54 Ilchev, I., Pl. Mitev. Touching America, p. 77.
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The America of Irish Preacher Father Matthew (Theobald Matthew – an Irish monk-cappuccino who, under the influence of quakers, devotes himself to an abstinence campaign, and organizes major campaigns in Ireland and England, as well as a big tour in the United States). 55 In 1880, Francis E.K. Willard (1839-98), prominent pedagogue and abstinent activist movement in the United States, turns to the Missionary Zoi A. Locke,to take up the abstinence activity in Bulgaria. In 1890 it was createdthe first abstinence company that is related to the AmericanWomen’s Abstinence Union. In the 1990s, American missionaries and Clarkin particular, make efforts to publish abstinent literature and songs. The American missionaries are conducting awards for the American philanthropist Demorest for Speech of Abstinence. Speech of the winners of the competition are translated and printed with thousands specimens to be distributed with the assistance of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education. A donation of 500 leva with which they areprinted 100,000 leaflets (total 540,000 p.) 56 itself JK. F. Clarkgave in 1908 200 dollars and aided from America, England and Bulgarian issues and distributes 150,000 brochures, posters and circulars, publishes materials such as apps to newspapers, articles in medical magazines. These are mainly translations of articles and posters issued by American Abstinence Organizations and the International Reform Bureauin Washington. These materials are published and distributed by Clark and the Bulgarian Evangelical Society with President Valko Iv. Shopov (one of the most prominent Bulgarians, a teacher, an entrepreneur and a mayor of Plovdiv). Packages of such materials have been sent to the members. The National Assembly, with a view to adopting legislation for restrictionor prohibiting the production of intoxicating drinks and drinking establishments that at that time operate in a number of states in America.
The Clark family managed to draw the attention of Queen Eleonora,known for his charity, for the restrained cause. She gives them repeated audiences and promises co-operation. But neither she nor her
55 Archive Clark, B, I, 48, Item 20.
56 Archive Clark, C, I, 43, l. 50.
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the Bulgarian rulers, in particular the Minister of the Interior, Mihail Takev (otherwise favorable to the cause), are ready toaccept the American practice of the so-called local option (ban on production and sale of alcohol at the discretion of individual settlements,counties or states). This does not discourage Clark, who continues through the publishing of abstraction literature to influence the publicopinion. During the period 1896-1907 brochures, applications and circulars were printed and distributed in 78,000 copies (with a total of 484,000pages, worth 1,067 francs). The next two years (1907-09) this activity rises sharply (191,000 copies with 2,888,000 pages, of 1936.82 francs, of which 1082 francs received as aid, and the others – given by Clark himself). 9,000 of these brochures were sent to Macedonia.
On October 17, 1909, James Clark received an apocalyptic blow to him attaches to a bed. But even then, with the help of two teachers from his daughter ‘s kindergarten, he completed 13 articles published asapplications in Bulgarian newspapers. They are printed in apps to two magazines (in 6,200 copies, 1/3 of them sent to Macedonia). Successfully uses Clark’s brochure „Slavery in Bulgaria“ (to be considered „Slavery“ to 1,700 drinking establishments in the country). During his illness Clark had been visited five times by Queen Eleonora at his home on 21 Hristo Belchev str., Sofia, became the center of charity initiatives. The brochure „Slavery in Bulgaria“ was reprinted in 1914 in Sofia10,000 copies. Then 2,000 circulars were printed as well as a poster“The Last Steps of the Drinker“ in 10,000 copies. Abduction activity is supported by the Bulgarian authorities – ministries on enlightenment,on the outer work sand religions, the Ministry of War, the Exarchate, who disseminated school materials in Bulgaria and Macedonia,barracks. Although no remarkable success has been achieved at national level, Clark’s efforts are not without results. In addition to being promoted
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the abstinent cause, until 1914 the inhabitants of 23 villages decided to close pubs, at that time 27 abstinent companies were created. 57
End of James Clark’s tireless and selfless activity who reached his Patriarchal age put his death on July 2, 1916. His burial took place in a few hundred people most Bulgarian newspapers place obituaries. According to his will, from July 10, 1911, James Franklin Clark leaves all shares of rubber plantation in Chiapas, Mexico (Chiapas Rubber PlantationCo.) to his daughter and ½ part of his remaining property, and to his sons William andJames – ¼ pieces, which indicates that the Missionary has not been deprived of qualities of a businessman and could have succeeded in this event if he would be chosen. 58
James Clark has great merits for the „discovery“ of the Bulgarians in BulgariaNorth America. Before and after the Liberation, he wrote letters to the ASMCHM Missionary Herald Authority, articles and brochures about the Missionarycenter. 59 His feelings and sympathies for the Bulgarians – a „capable and promising people, „never changed. 60
From the very beginning the missionaries discovered that the Bulgarians, counting at their discretion 6 million souls, inhabit not only „real“ Bulgaria, the lands north of Balkan, but are a predominant element in Thrace and Macedonia. In brochures, Clark’s applause of the decisions of the Berlin Congress split upthe Bulgarians at „approximately equal parts between Bulgaria and Bulgaria the rule of a prince paying only to the Sultan, Eastern Rumelia,governor appointed by the Sultan, but with a liberal constitution, and Macedonia under the full control of the Turkish government. “ 61 The Missionaries have a critical attitude to the „tyranny of the Greek church,over a thousand years (Bulgarians) has incorporated into its organization
57 Archive Clark, C, II, 13, l. 48-55.
58 Again, A, I, 1, l. 4.
59 See: Shashko, F., Grinberg, B., Genov, R. American Travel Writings for Bulgaria (Constitution and Order) (Sofia, 1999, p.); American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The Bulgarians:Mission Work Among the Bulgarians (1883) – Archives, F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. No443, C, II, 13; American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Bulgaria and Salonika inMacedonia (1895) – two inscriptions – for Bulgaria – by J. F. Clark (3-6) and for Thessaloniki – by J.Henry House – CDA, Archive J. F. Clark, KMF 19, Inv. No 443, C, II, 13.
60 Archive Clark, C, II, 13, Item 2.
61 Again, l. 1.
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has destroyed their literacy and completely neglected the native languagein their offices „and, accordingly, sympathy for the aspirations of the Bulgarians towards“National awakening“. 62 Naturally they Clark including toemphasize the important role of the Bible and its translations of the „sweet“native language“.
James Clark can also be cited as an example of the degreeidentifying missionaries with the Bulgarian national cause andengaging with the protection of just aspirations of Bulgarians. ThenThe Unfortunate Bucharest Peace of 1913 Clark, John W. Bower and RobertThomson, an English Missionary working in Samokov School, is sending a memorandum to British Foreign Minister Sir Edward Gray, dated 5August 1913, in which they insist on the fair treatment of Bulgaria andindicate the Bulgarian character of the predominant part of the populationMacedonia. „Having known Macedonia for years, either as a result ofstaying or traveling, or both together, mixing with people andliving in their homes, we are fully convinced that the big one the majority of the population of the area we call the Macedonian Field ofour activity is Bulgarian in origin, language and customs and constitutes an inseparable part of the Bulgarian nation „. 63 Clark’s grandson, the famous American historian James F. Clark confirms that: „The American missionaries Have never talked about the Slavs in Macedonia as somethingother than Bulgarians. “ 64
Over the time, the missionaries and their children, born in Bulgaria, are attached to the country and its people, become „Bulgarian Americans. “ After living for a long time in the country and getting used to the relative peace and natural relations of the patriarchal
62 Again there
63 Tsanoff, Vladimir A. Reports and Letters of American Missionaries Referring to
Distribution of Nationalities in the Former Provinces of Ottoman Turkey, 1858-1918. Chosen andedited by Vladimir A. Tsanoff (Sofia, 1919), pp. 71-73; oundev, M. Cultural reorientationof Bulgaria after 1878 – In: Bulgaria, America, Russia, p. 101.
64 Clark, James F. Americans Discover Bulgarians in Macedonia. – In: First International
Congress on Bulgarian Studies. Reports. T. 1. Sofia, 1983, pp. 526-537.
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environment, they then have problems with the rhythm and tension of life in the United States. 65
The thesis of the American Missionary presence and activity in the Bulgarian lands as a manifestation of „cultural imperialism“ and the eradication of the road to economic and political expansion is unlikely to be a justified case. Of course, the missionaries were motivated by the belief of the superiority of their faith, the mission of spreading the Bible,the unalloyed word of God. But neither is it possible to conver there is a significant part of the Bulgarians in „good Protestants“, nor to the penetration of some serious American corporationsvor strategic interests.
From the third generation, Clark most closely connected with Bulgaria is the grandson,who bears the name of the old Missionary. James Franklin Clark born on 5thJune 1906 in Bitola, where his father, Pastor William Clark, heads the mission station. He does not become a Missionary, but in a way continues the work of his grandfather and father by dedicating himself to the study of the history of American Missionary activity in the Bulgarian lands,as well as problems of Bulgarian history.
William Clark ‘s family lived in Bitola during The Balkan Wars and the First World War, and in 1919 moved to American Agricultural School in Thessaloniki. Martha Clark leads their sons in Switzerland and England where they get start education. From England the family goes to the United States and there, the young James graduates from Boston High School. Like his grandfather,his father and his older brother before him, James Clark is acting in 1924 in Amherst College, one of the small but quality universities in Massachusetts (founder of college is the big one American lexicographer Noah Webster, in Amherst has spent her wholelife most famous American poet Emily Dickinson, there it is taught another great poet, Robert Frost). He graduated in 1928, but
65 Woodruff, Elizabeth A. Where the Heart Is: A Journey of a Lifetime. Alexandria, VA, 1996, pp.12, 49.
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instead of becoming a Missionary as the family tradition requires his enthusiasm for history and his academic career.
In 1928, James Clark earned a scholarship for Harvard University, where he earns a master’s degree, and a year later starts a Ph.D. under the guidance of the famous specialist in Modern European History William Langer (William Leonard Langer,1896-1977). At Harvard University, Clark realizes the meaning of his own life as a work in the field of science for presentation to the American society history, language and traditions of Bulgarians. 66
Within his doctoral program, under the leadership of Prof.Langer, Clark proposes to conduct a study on the activity of the Protestant missionaries. Moreover, this is a problem on which hattention is paid to the first participants in the American-Bulgarian scientific dialogue of the late nineteenth century, Professors Leo Wiener and Ivan Shishmanov. In three years (1931-1933), Clark worked in archives, attending places related to the topic, meeting with scientists and attending as an unofficial observer of II (Bucharest 1931) and III (Istanbul 1932) Balkan conferences. For fifty years he would carry in his heart the feeling of gratitude and gratitude to Bulgarian scholars with whom he communicated through this period and which determine his fate as a Bulgarian. In his last interview with the Bulgarian media in 1981, he names them in the same way, as do the preface to his doctoral dissertation: Michael Arnaudov, Vasil Zlatarski, Yordan Ivanov, Petar Nikov, Stefan Bobchev.
Again in the preface to his doctoral dissertation, Clark explains tha this research comes in response to Professor Shishmanov’s appeal examine the archives of the Protestant missionaries in view of this examines the role of America in the Bulgarian revival. In the process of the scientific director Clark explores both the archives of the American Council of the United States proxies for foreign missions, as well as archives of the British and a foreign biblical society in parallel with the Bulgarian sources from
66 See p. Angelova, Penka, Prof. Dr. James Franklin Clark: „Biblical Societies,
American Missionaries and the National Revival of Bulgaria, Harvard, 1938 „- In:Bulgarian-American cultural and political ties in XIX – the first half of XXcentury. Race. Ivan Ilchev, Plamen Mitev), Sofia, 2004, pp. 100-107).
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the Revival Age. In the course of the exhibition he proves that the workof the Protestants among the Bulgarians is part of a large scale projectChristianization and Reformation that began in the early 1900s and includedmissionaries from the British and foreign biblical society andUS Council of Attorneys for Foreign Missions and Exchangesfor the ultimate result, the translation of the Bible into spoken Bulgarian.
Since 1931, James Clark has been working alone for three years in London, Bulgarian archives and libraries, visits numerous settlements connected withhis research. Valuable help and advice gets from the most authoritativeBulgarian historians and philologists, Vasil Zlatarski, Aleksandar Teodorov-Balan, Yordan Ivanov, Petar Nikov, Mihail Arnaudov. The young scientistmakes extensive use of the US Council of Commissioners’foreign missions (now stored in the Huffton Library ofHarvard University), as well as his publications, the archive of the British and Foreign Biblical Society, French and Austrianarchives, and also his grandfather’s large personal archive. It is also wide-ranginga series of historical studies, including by Bulgarian authors,the latter very rarely made by the then Western authors.
James Clark is not inclined to accept overcrowded momentsself-assessments of some of the American missionaries for their definingcultural and political role and influence in the fate of Bulgaria during the epochof the Revival, for the formation of the Bulgarian political elite. Himselfhe sets a rather modest goal – to reveal the reasons for the interestthe American missionaries to Bulgaria and the reflection of the prolongedwork on the translation of the Bible on the Bulgarian Revival.
Indeed, in his work, Clark concentrated on the complex road ofrealizing this epoch, but revealed it to the backgroundmajor cultural and national processes. 67
67 See p. Genov, R. James Franklin Clark – Founder of the Historical Bulgarian Studies in Bulgaria
America. – In: Clark, James F. The Bible and the Bulgarian Revival. Прев. from English.Sofia, 2006, pp. 230-238.
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After defending the dissertation, Clark has been working for some time as a history assistant at Harvard University in Massachusetts Technological Institute, before acting as a History and LecturerPolitical Science at Idaho College in 1939. When in 1941 the United States enters the war, American missionaries and their children who know like no other distant countries are suddenly becoming valuable cadres. Clark enters one of The Library of the Congress departments and performs tasks of the Strategic Services Management(Office of Strategic Services), an emerging intelligence and analyticalan agency such that the United States had not had before. (Indeed, boss of their department of research and analysis became the famous historian William Langer, Clark’s scientific supervisor as a PhD student; in the Management are attracted and other missionaries and their sons, such as Floyd Black and his son Cyril E. Black, later also a well-known historian). Then it goes to the Military Intelligence Service (1945-46) In 1946, he was an attaché on the Sealculture in the United States political mission in Sofia. In 1949Clark’s name is involved in the espionage charges of the assembled“Trial against Traicho Kostov and his criminal gang“. Before you canreturning to the academic career Clark has been working for several yearsin the Department of Research and Analyzes of the State DepartmentIntelligence Service, part of the disbanded CSD). It was from 1951 to 1954 Professor of History at the University of Indiana, where he became founder and director of the First Institute for Eastern Europe in the United Statesresearch. The rest of his career until his retirementin 1976, it was linked to the University of Pittsburgh, one of the Centers of Art, Eastern European research in the United States. Thanks to Clark, it’s enough until the signing of the first scientific cooperation and exchange agreementlecturers between American and Bulgarian institutions – the university of Pittsburgh and the Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski „.
James Clark has been a member of various authoritative scientist organizations such as the American Historical Association, the American Association for the Progress of Slavic Studies, American Association for Southeast European Studies and others. A special place in
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its activity has the creation of the Association for Bulgarian Studiesresearch in 1979, where he was the first president (until 1982). He isamong the founders of the American-Bulgarian MacGahan Foundation.
In addition, Clark was a visiting lecturer at various universities – Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, Wayne StateUniversities, University of Dukeen, Carnegie-Mellon University,Universities of Vermont, Illinois and others. Great merit JamesClark has for the development of Bulgarian-American scientific ties – heparticipated in the symposiums of American and Bulgarian historians conductedin the two countries, in the congresses of the Bulgarian Historical Society,conferences devoted to important anniversaries of Bulgarian history. Aboutlast time Clark came to Bulgaria to participate in the first internationalSymposium on University Readings and Bulgarian Studieshistory, initiated by his colleague and friend Prof. Nikolay Genchev in the past1981 and at the international conference dedicated to 1300th anniversary ofBulgarian State. His merits for studying and teachingBulgarian history are marked with the Cyril and Methodius I degree (1976)y) and the medal „St. Kliment Ohridski „(1981) In 1982, James Clarkrests at his home in Pittsburgh. In his memory, the Association for Bulgarian StudiesResearch establishes a scholarship for young scientists.
He left the scientific work of over 40 books, studies and articles,most of them related to a problem of Bulgarian history (theirstudies and articles have been published in a separate book compiled by his discipleDennis Hupchik under the title The Pen and the Sword: Studies in EnglishHistory , as a volume of the East European Monographs series in 1988). Best of all,the important ones are devoted to the problems of the Bulgarian Revival(the role of Russia and Serbia), the Bulgarian historiography (the place ofPaisii Hilendarski in it), the activity of the American missionaries (underthe time of the April uprising and the public opinion ofits suppression), the „discovery“ of Bulgaria by the Americans, of the coverage of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78 by the American
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observers (JA McGahan, FW Greene). 68 Furthermore, Clark is the author ofarticles about Bulgaria in various encyclopedic editions.
Throughout his life, he, as well as other descendants of missionaries,keeps a warm feeling of the country where he spends his early childhoodsympathy for her people. His academic studies and hisorganizational science makes it a leading figure in acquainting with the American society with the history and contemporary problems of Bulgaria.
His contributions in this respect assigned him the place of founder of the academic history of Bulgarian studies in the United States.
James Clark does not hesitate to take a look at the stinkissues and political-philological disputes of the modern Balkans. As welland his predecessors-missionaries who were immediateobservers on the Balkan historical scene, Clark adheres to the perception of the Bulgarian belonging to the Slav population of BulgariaMacedonia. Without denying the right of this population to self-sing as wellfinds himself well, he defines „Macedonian literary language“ as a myth,popping up with his American colleagues like Horace Lance and StephenFischer-Galati (see his speech at the 58th Congress of the Union of the United States of America)Macedonian patriotic organizations in the United States and Canada (MAP). 69
James Clark’s work is relatively small in volume,but is almost entirely focused on the Bulgarian issues of whichhe remains faithful. Throughout his life, he, like other children ofmissionaries, keeps a warm feeling to the country where he spends his early yearschildhood and sympathy for her people. His academic studies andhis organizational research activity makes him a leading figure in thefamiliarizing American society with history and contemporaryproblems of Bulgaria. His contributions in this regard are given to him
68 For a full list of his works, see: Tsanka Slavcheva. Historical Bulgarian Studies
abroad 1944-1980. Bibliographic Guide. Sofia: Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1983 andHistorical Bulgarian Studies abroad 1980-1985. Bio-bibliographic reference book. Sofia:Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1987.
69 The Macedonian Tribune (Macedonian Tribune), Indianapolis, Indiana, 53, pp. 2701,
27.7.1979, (also published as a separate brochure).
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the place of founder of the academic historical bulgarian studiesUnited States.
The work of the American Protestant missionaries is notas much as proselytism as in the field of enlightenmentthe dissemination of the Scripture in the New Bulgarian language. Although it isoften claims that this activity as a whole can not be defined asparticularly effective, since she left Protestant after eight decadesa community of only a few thousand people, it has its successes – the wholetranslation of the Bible, creation of modern schools, the longestpublished in the Bulgarian language newspaper, placing the beginning ofpre-school education, abstinence. The effect of thisactivity is positive for Bulgarian society as far as it becomes oneof the factors for its modernization, the creation of cultural and cultural heritagepolitical language, for the formation of the literary Bulgarian language, for theacquainting Bulgarians with the cultural and political values of themodern democracy.
In a sense, the positive nature of the reaction is non-acceptancethe Missionary zeal – the so-called „defense through mimicry“ (the influence of“The new Liberal-Protestant perceptions“ on the democraticdecrees in the Statute of the newly established Bulgarian Exarchate, according toManiu Stoyanov, or the creation of the Bulgarian municipality in Stara Zagora through1863 of a girls’ school for teacher training in response to the Protestant, or the female society in the same city, the opening of thean Orthodox spiritual seminary in Samokov against the American onecollege and theological institute). 70
We can not disagree with some general conclusions of Diana Mishkova,that the Protestant (American) presence and activity in the Bulgarian landsis one of the factors contributing to the formation of the Bulgarian society for „the West“, „Europe“, „America“, „the West““European“, „American“, and the contributions of this presence
70 Reeves-Ellington, V. A Vision of Mount Holyoke in the Ottoman Balkans: American Cultural
Transfer, Bulgarian Nation-Building and Women’s Educational Reform, 1858-1870. Gender &History, 16 (1), April 2004, pp. 165-166.
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and activity for the development of education (including the female), ofliterature, publishing and translation, and that, in that sense, they joina catalyst for the modernization process and a positive reception of bothof the major western cultures – English and American. 71
When we evaluate the results of the American businessProtestant missionaries, and in particular those from ASMCHM,the Bulgarian lands, as efficiency and achievement of their goals, mustput them in a broader context. The missionaries’ activity is notcentered, nor limited in Bulgaria, nor in the Ottoman Empire.
The activity of the ASCCHM, which initiated the Missionary activity ofside of the Americans, managed to reach in the nineteenth century, indeedglobal dimensions – missionaries actually extend their ownactivity in all parts (in North America – within the United States itselfamong the Indians, in Mexico; in Africa – South and Central; in Asia and AsiaFar East – India, Ceylon, China; in the Pacific – fromHawaii to Micronesia, the Levant and the Ottoman Empire). The missionariesthey also operate in Europe, in old Christian lands they call you“Nominally Christian“ – in the Catholic countries as different parts of theAustro-Hungary, Spain. So their appearance and activity in Bulgarianlands, no matter how perplexed and indignant among certainenvironments, is not unprecedented.Imagine the scope of the Missionaryactivity is the anniversary edition of the 100th Anniversary of ASKCHM -William Elsworth Strong’s book „The Story of the American Council:A Story for the First Century of the American Council of Commissioners for theForeign Missions „(issued in 1910, reprinted twice),though her tone is too enthusiastic and triumphant. 72
As for the Ottoman Empire, in which the missionaries beginactivity at the time when Bulgarian lands are still parts of itthe results of the educational activity (on which it is necessarily71Mishkova,Diana.INSearching foronthe BalkanOccidentalism. -http://www.anamnesis.info/broi 1 / mishkova.php.
72 Strong, William Ellsworth. The Story of the American Board: An Account of the First Hundred
Years of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Boston: Pilgrim Press,1910; New York: Arno Press, 1969; General Books LLC, 2009 .
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emphasizes), the results of 1901 seem quite impressive – therethere are 370 ordinary schools functioning, 44 – at secondary level, 8college, 5 theological colleges. 73 In that regard, their achievements are significant, including in the „Bulgarian field“, which is globalthere is a modest place. But the missionaries are delighted and proud of their activity in Bulgaria, declared in celebration of their half-centuryactivity – their contribution to the development of the Bulgarian literary language andliterature, their sympathy for the Bulgarian cause in the national-churchmovement, the preparation of a part of the political and intellectualfree Bulgaria. 74 It should be noted that along with proselytism and the enlightened a x, so the Sofia Kindergarten of MissClark is rather a private case. Kindergartens also act on many of themother schools. 75
The missionaries’ activity is not exclusively motivated by the religious enthusiasm periodically blown away by the so-called „revival“(Revivals) in American society in the 18th-19th centuries. Broadlythey set a civilian mission, and in the Americans’ notions ofIn the nineteenth century, civilization was inseparable from Christianity and in its ownProtestants variant. There is also another ideological moment,impressively presented in the book by Andrew Carnegie (Andrew Carnegie,1835-1919), one of the founders of the American super-economy, butalso professing the conviction of social responsibility of capital,eventually become perhaps the most famous philanthropist in modern history,
73 Strong, WE The Story of the American Board: An Account of the First Hundred Years of the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1910, p.404.
74 Ibid., P. 408 .
75 Ibid., P. 503.
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very distinctively titled „The Triumphant Democracy“ (1886) 76
Leaving aside the entrepreneur’s tremendous pathos in the big onedegree contributed to the transformation of the United States into an industrial onegiant, Carnegie emphasizes the superiority of the Americanpolitical model, republicanism, American civilization.These are ideas shared, extended and validated by andAmerican missionaries in sermons, publications, and visually – withtechnological innovations („boyfriends“). Another is the question that Carnegie, who isseeks to maintain a neutral attitude towards religion and defines itselfas a „positivist“, does not respond to the missionaries’ appeals (in particular to theJames Clark) and has no testimony to loose his purse tosupported their efforts (as, for example, made the English aristocratLord Shaftsbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, 1801-1885)who assumes the support of two missionaries in the Bulgarian lands). 77
Finally, the missionaries are also committed to a rather large-scale activity ina broad humanitarian plan – helping those affected by natural disasters and droughtsthose created by the human factor, in particular the victims ofpolitical repression, ethnic cleansing, mass slaughter, wars (suchassistance was given to the Bulgarians after the April Uprising, after the Ilinden-Transfiguration, after the Balkan wars, as well as the Armeniansin the 90s of the 19th century, the First World War). In this caseAmerican Protestant missionaries can be considered aspredecessors of international humanitarian organizations in XXcentury.
It can be said with sufficient reason that the Americanpresence and activity in the Bulgarian lands, in the person of the missionaries and their followers contribute to the cultural changes in the Bulgariansociety and its adaptation to modernity in the 19th-20th centuries.
76 Triumphant Democracy; or, Fifty Years’ March of the Republic (London, 1886)
77 Ilchev, I., Pl. Mitev. Touching America. pp. 234-235.
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MEETING AND INTERACTION OF CULTURES: THE CLARKS
FAMILY
OF AMERICAN MISSIONARIES AND THE BULGARIAN SOCIETY
IN THE 19THAND 20THCENTURY
(Summary)
Roumen Genov
The activities of the American Protestant Missionaries in the Bulgarianlands (then still under Ottoman domination) started in the mid- 19 th century. Thisis case study of the family of the oldest and longest residing one of them, JamesFranklin Clark(1832-1916). Not only Clark, the patriarch of the family (whobelonged to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, andmainly Presbyterian points, served in Bulgaria for 57 years, but also the nexttwo generations of Clarks were directly or indirectly involved in thecountry’s social and cultural history. His son William, and daughter Elizabeth,They were both missionaries and educators, and grandson of the same name, as scholar anddiplomat, and founder of Bulgarian studies in the United States as an academicdisciplines.
From the very beginning, the missionaries, and Clarkin particular, formeda momentous, though ambivalent, relationship with the Bulgarian leaders andsociety in general. The proselytizing efforts of the missionaries were of modest successdue to the resistance of the Orthodox Church and the nationalist leaders whosaw the spread of Protestantism and factor eroding national identity and cohesion atthe decisive period of the nation’s history. That’s why the missionaries focused oneducational activities, establishing and running for comparatively longinstitutions, from colleges and girls’ schools to kindergartens. At those institutionsalongside Bible studies they have taught English and modern subjects. In thatrespect their efforts brought significant result, the missionaries were proud with the fact that a number of political leaders and administrators of free Bulgaria hadcome out of these institutions. The publication by the missionaries after longthe efforts of the translation of the Bible in modern Bulgarian left an impact on itsdevelopment as a literary, normative language.
At the same time, the missionaries were engaged at crucial moments ofBulgarian history with humanitarian activities, taking care of victims of massacresand wars, for the refugees, etc. In this respect, the American Protestant missionaries were precursors of today’s human rights organizations. Theyalso contributed to the cultural interaction between Bulgaria and America, byteaching and publishing books and periodicals (journals and newspapers), and byinforming the American public about the remote country and itsproblems.
On the whole, though the number of the missionaries was small and fundsat their disposal modest, their work has become a factor contributing to the culturaltransformation of the Bulgarian society and its adaptation to modernity.ctivity of missionaries unfolds on a global scale and widea spectrum of charitable and social institutions (orphanages, homes for hunger and epidemics, schools for the blind, homes for the formerprisoners, for „marauding deeds“, for juvenile offenders,for children in factories and so on). By the way, kindergartens created and maintained by the missionaries are in Mexico, India, Japan,The Ottoman Empire.
[1]Clark, James F. The Pen and the Sword: Studies in Bulgarian History. Ed. By Dennis P.Hupchick, (Boulder: East European Monographs No. 252, 1988, p. 312.
[2]Laurie, T. The Ely Volume: or the Contribution of Our Foreign Missions to Science and Well-being. Boston, 1881, p. 228 – cit. Genov, George. The American Contribution About the Revival of the Bulgarians, with a special view of the personality of Elias Riggs. – Historical archive, y.III, vv. 9-10, November 2000-May 2001, p. 2.
[3]Stoyanov, M. Start of Protestant Propaganda in Bulgaria. – Notifications from the Institute for History, Vol. XIV-XV, 1964; Shopov, Peter. Propaganda and Education Activities the American Protestant missionaries in the Bulgarian lands in the 19th century Inst. for History, 23, 1974; Traikov, C. Protestant missionaries and the struggle of the the Bulgarian people for church independence. In: Bulgaria in the world from antiquity to ours days. T. I (Sofia, 1979); Pantevev, A. Historical Bulgarian Studies in the UK and USA (1856-1919) (Sofia, 1979); Petkov, PM The American Protestant Missionaries in Bulgaria, 1917-1918. – Historical review, 1982, vol. 3; Христов, Хр. Protestant missions in Bulgaria in the 19th century. Sofia, 1982; Genov, George. The American Contribution to the revival of the Bulgarian nation, with a special view of the personality of Elias Riggs. – Historical archive, year III, vol. 9-10, November 2000-May 2001, pp. 2-121; Ilchev, I., Pl.Mitev.Touches to America (19th-early twentieth century). Sofia, 2003.
[4]Hall, William W. Puritans in the Balkans: The American Council of Missions in Bulgaria, 1878-1918. Sofia, 1938; Hall, William Webster. Puritans in the Balkans. Прев. from Sofia, 2008; Nestorova, T. American missionaries among the Bulgarians. Sofia, 1979; Pundev, M. Bulgaria, America, Russia (Sofia: Eds. Vessela Lutskanova, 1996); Clark, James F. Bible Societies, American Missionaries and the Revival of Bulgaria (New York: Arno Press, NY Times, 1971; Clark, James F. Americans and the April Uprising. (East European Quarterly, Vol. 11, # 4; Clark, James F. The Pen and the Sword: Studies in Bulgarian History. Ed. By Dennis P. Hupchick, (Boulder: East European Monographs No. 252, 1988); Shashko, Ph. A Recent Discovery: Elias
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