American Board Memorial Book

In 1935, the Near East Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) undertook preparation of a memorial book to commemorate and honor those who had served the Board in Turkey, the Middle East, and the Balkans from the early 1800s through the early twentieth century. The initial three-volume work was compiled and edited by Charles Trowbridge Riggs, Near East Mission Secretary from 1910 to 1938, and contained biographical sketches of more than six hundred missionaries. Subsequent to Mr. Riggs’ death in 1953, a fourth volume was prepared to include those members of the Mission who died prior to 1970 but were not included in the earlier volumes. Volume five, the final in the series, contains the biographies of missionaries who have passed away since 1970.