SCOTT FAMILY COLLECTION

Who is Scott Family?

Who is Eveline Thomson Scott?

Eveline T. Scott and Harold L. Scott lived in Istanbul for many years and served at the American Girls’ College and Robert College. Eveline T. Scott was born in 1889 in Rumelihisarı. Eveline Scott, who began her education in the United States, enrolled in the Üsküdar American Girls’ College after her mother, who had various connections in Istanbul, found a position there and graduated in 1909. After graduating, Eveline T. Scott went to Cambridge University in England to receive teacher training and returned to Istanbul in 1910, where she began teaching at a small school that provided education in the native language for English children. She taught English at the Üsküdar American Girls’ College between 1912 and 1914. In 1920, she married Harold L. Scott, who was teaching at Robert College, and their son David Alexander Scott was born in 1924. The Scott family lived in the building known as the “Huntington House” for many years, which is now used as the “Boğaziçi University Cultural Heritage Museum”. Eveline T. Scott, a passionate writer who wrote many essays, poems and articles, mostly wrote about the provincial towns of Anatolia or the neighborhoods of Istanbul that she loved. Eveline T. Scott, who passed away in 1976, donated all her documents and her book collection consisting of thousands of works to Boğaziçi University. Eveline Scott, who had a deep connection with Turkey and Istanbul, writes in one of her poems: “When passion is exhausted, when life is over; I will fall asleep, like all people; and no bed could be softer, than the shade of the willow trees in Üsküdar.”

Who is Harold Loran Scott?

Harold Loran Scott was born in Bedford Iowa, United States, in 1889. Harold L. Scott began his education in Osaka, Japan, where his father was a missionary, and graduated from Denison University in 1911. He applied to Japan to become a teacher. He could not find an open position and began working at Robert College in 1911. He studied History at Columbia University in 1915. He began his career as an instructor at Robert College, and later continued as a professor of History, Director of Robert Academy, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Vice President of Robert College for 41 years. In 1952, Denison University, from which he graduated, awarded him an honorary doctorate in law. In his doctorate presentation speech, his classmate Professor Karl Eschman said the following about Harold L. Scott: “Robert College Dean Harold L. Scott made many contributions to Turkey and played an important role in this country’s relations with the United States: as an ambassador to this cradle of civilization where East and West meet, as a citizen interested in international education, as a person serving a high mission.” Harold Scott, who meant much more than an educator to many who were students at Robert College, died of a heart attack in 1958.

Who is David Alexandre Scott?

Born in Istanbul in 1924, David Alexander Scott spent the first 15 years of his life in Turkey before attending Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts and then the Near East program at Princeton University. He joined the U.S. Army during his second year at Princeton. Shortly after being sent to Europe, he died on the front lines in France in December 1944.

What’s included in the archive?

This is a collection of letters, diaries, library, photo albums and correspondence belonging to the family of Harold L. Scott (1889-1958) and Eveline T. Scott (1889-1976), who served at Robert College for many years. The diaries kept by Eveline Scott, an extremely prolific writer, between 1910-1970, shed light on Robert College life and Turkey at the time. Daily life, college life and Anatolian travels are prominent in Eveline Scott's diaries, photographs and letters. Scott's works, where the perspective of an educator and a woman is prominent, provide rich material for a historical narrative that has been missing in both Ottoman history and modern Turkish history. Scott's dress drawings add color to this collection. In addition, the letters David A. Scott sent to his family and relatives during both his education and military service present daily life and the political atmosphere in Turkey and America through the eyes of a young person. Harold L. Scott’s administrative correspondence for the College is located in the Robert College section of the Columbia University Archives. The work to classify, catalog, and digitize this archive is ongoing.

To access the collection:

https://digitalarchive.library.bogazici.edu.tr/handle/123456789/8036