Hillsdale College Students Conduct Historical Research in Istanbul
The students worked to digitize and archive historical records in collaboration with the American Research Institute in Turkey.
HILLSDALE, Mich. — Three Hillsdale College students conducted research in Istanbul this summer through Hillsdale’s Daas Fellowship. Alexandra Laird ’26, Madeleine Choe ’27, and Oliver Bieser ’26 worked to digitize and archive historical records in collaboration with the American Research Institute in Turkey.
“The efforts of our students will make these documents, which provide an unparalleled window into Turkish society, available for consultation to scholars all over the world,” said Professor of History Charles Yost, who had been managing the Daas Fellowship since 2023. “This opportunity also allows our students to have a cultural experience second to none, learning about the varied history of that region running back from the Ottoman period, through Byzantium, to the times of the ancient Greeks.”
“The efforts of our students will make these documents, which provide an unparalleled window into Turkish society, available for consultation to scholars all over the world.”
The students helped digitize and archive the records of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, an American Protestant missionary society working in the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They also helped map the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery, an international burial site in the city going back to the nineteenth century.
Made possible through the generosity of Steven Daas, the Daas Fellowship allows two to four Hillsdale undergraduate students to live in Istanbul for six to eight weeks during the summer and undertake research in collaboration with the American Research Institute in Turkey.
ARIT assists American and Canadian researchers and scholars conducting research in and about Turkey. The institute offers scholarly and educational activities in Istanbul, Ankara, and the United States, including fellowships for research and language study in Turkey.