David B. Perley
Memorial Assyrian Fund



 (picture of David B. Perley) 
1898-1979

 

Terms of the Fund

 

The purpose of the David B. Perley Memorial Assyrian Fund is to promote the development of research materials on the history, culture, literature and language of the Assyrians since the 17th century.  Specifically, the Fund will use income from the endowment to subsidize the publication of works devoted primarily to the Assyrians and Second for the acquisition of archival materials, collections and other rare historical materials.

Decisions regarding expenditures are undertaken by a three member ex-officio committee composed of the head of the Middle East Division of Harvard Libraries, a member of the faculty from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and a member of the Assyrian community.

This endowment was established by the family and friends of David B. Perley to honor an active and devoted member of the Assyrian-American community.  The man for whom the fund is named was born in Harput, now in Turkey. He came from an educated family of town priests belonging to the Syrian Apostolic Church (Jacobite). As the persecution and massacre of the Assyrians during World War I drove the Assyrians subject to Ottoman rule into refugee status, David Perley found himself in New England.  He studied, worked and lived in Massachusetts and New York but took much time from his law practice to serve the Assyrian organizations established to help a community in Diaspora preserves its heritage.  He also wrote widely on the history of his people. This fund is intended to serve the causes David Perley respected: The Assyrian Heritage, Its Preservation And Dis- Semination Of Information About Assyrians.

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Assyrians and friends of Assyrians are encouraged to support this fund through donations. All donations are fully tax-deductible.  Donations may be made to Harvard University and send to: 

NELC - Harvard University
6 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge, Ma. 02138

 (To make donations in appreciated securities etc. Please write first.)

 

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The results of the establishment of this Fund have allowed Harvard University to build and maintain the best collection of publications in the languages of the Middle East pertaining to modern Assyrians.  This material ranges from serials to books, from slides to videotapes. Added to the large collection of Syriac manuscripts, missionary archives, and incomparable Western language collections, the continued support of this Fund will assure that the study of the Assyrian heritage will find a place at a premier research institution.  

The Fund is also capable of subventing the publication of books as it has in the past.  For guidelines about the kinds of manuscripts that may be subsidized, please write.

 

 

The Mishael & Lillie Naby
Assyrian Lecture Fund
(third lecture program)

 

        This program is made possible by the endowment established in 1997 by the daughter and son of the Rev. Mishael Naby (1898 1980) and Rabi Lillie (Yohannan) (1906-1991), two Assyrians from the Urmiyah region of Iran whose lives were disrupted, but not destroyed, by the massacre of the Assyrians during World War I.

         Born at a time when the small Assyrian Christian community had begun to regain education and elevate their position, both young people witnessed the destruction of their families and educational aspirations by invasion and war.  Through sheer perseverance, they completed their education at the American colleges for men and women located in Urmiyah, and became teachers.  Mishael was also a poet and Lillie a musician.

         Later, Mishael became a Presbyterian pastor of Assyrians in Gulpashan, Urmiyah, and finally, after 1953 when they emigrated, in Philadelphia.  This endowment is intended to honor their memory and the high esteem in which they held education and scholarship.

         Naby became adopted as a family name when Iranian law demanded last names. The equivalent of Naby in Assyrian is Enviya, which was the Christian name of Mishael’s grandfather. 

         Settled in mountain refuges around ancient Assyria, since the massacres of World War I, the Assyrians have increasingly emigrated outside the Middle East.  Their minority position in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon and Iran has posed continued problems for the preservation of their material culture and their physical safety.  The preservation of the culture of this people who have made major contributions to world culture remains the goal of the living Assyrian community in Diaspora and in the Middle East.
 

Two endowments have also been established by the name of Ninos Aho Assyrian Poetry Fund and the Kamishli Assyrian Book Fund, both seeded by Mr. Elias Hanna.  In addition, Dr. Naby encouraged the establishment of the Assyrian Foundation of America Book Fund at UC Berkeley and the Naum Faik Assyrian Memorial Fund at Columbia University.  The latter was funded largely by Mr. And Mrs. Afram Koumi.


 

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