Edwin Munsell Bliss papers

The Edwin M. Bliss Papers deal for the most part with experiences of Americans living and traveling in the Middle East in the mid and late 1800s. Approximately one third of the collection is made up of essays written by Bliss (included are manuscript and typed drafts and galley proofs; many of the essays were probably published) describing his travels in the Near East, as well as Near Eastern and Biblical history. More detailed accounts of his travels can be found in his journals and letters written during a trip from Constantinople to Mesopotamia, Georgia, and Persia in 1879 and an undated trip from Alexandria to Khanakhi (Al-Khanakah) in Egypt. The papers contain correspondence of Bliss with family members and fellow missionaries, and some correspondence of his parents, Isaac and Eunice (Day) Bliss. Included are a journal in the form of a letter from Eunice Bliss describing her voyage to Turkey in 1847, and letters from her husband describing his travels around Turkey in the summer of 1850. Most of the Edwin Bliss correspondence is contained in two letterbooks covering the period 1873-1883; many of these letters offer lengthy discussions of political and social conditions in Constantinople and of his missionary work in the Ottoman Empire. Finally, also in the collection are Edwin Bliss's passports and travel documents and a draft of the will of Marie Louise (Henderson) Bliss.