Campaign for $30,000,000. American Committee for Relief in Armenia

 Campaign for $30,000,000. American Committee for Relief in Armenia –

The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief was established in 1915 with the cooperation of the United States Department of State, for the purpose of providing humanitarian relief to Armenians forcibly deported from Anatolia to other parts of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The Ottoman parliament passed a law by which privately collected funds from the United States could be distributed to displaced Armenians via the U.S. embassy in Constantinople.

This poster, showing a woman carrying a baby on her back surrounded by the rubble of destroyed buildings, was issued by the committee to solicit funds from the public. The poster identifies Armenia, Greece, Syria, and Persia as areas of need. After World War I, the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief was given a charter by the U.S. Congress and changed its name to the American Committee for Relief in the Near East. The organization was credited with caring for 132,000 Armenian orphans in Tbilisi, Constantinople, Beirut, Damascus, Jerusalem, and other locations in the Near East. This poster is by William Gunning King (1859–1940), a British painter, illustrator, and etcher known for his portraits and the use of rural themes.