Sources and Repositories
Here are presented some of the main repositories containing material related to the Asia Minor Refugees of 1922.
- Digital Archive of E. Venizelos’ Foundation
The Digital Archive of the E. Venizelos’ Foundation comprises 80.000 digital items, freely accessible on the web, covering aspects of the biography and activity of Eleftherios Venizelos; the testimonials cover a period spreading from the mid-19th century to the end of the 1960s and consist of manuscripts and printed material, postcards, lithographs, photographs and maps.
- Greek Literary and Historic Archive -Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece
The Greek Literary and Historic Archive (ELIA) is a vast archive containing testimonials, photographs and documents regarding the history of Modern Greece; the refugees’ arrival and settlement occupies a considerable part of it. Large segments of the archive are digitized and accessible. A few years back ELIA became annexed to the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece (MIET)
- Collective web-based work “Refugees in Greece”
The Work “Refugees in Greece” is the result of the collaboration of the Foundation of the Hellenic Parliament Foundation with the Centre for the Research of Modern History of the Panteion University and the Institute for Historic Research of the National Research Foundation. It comprises and presents, digitally, historic testimonials for refugee mobility towards Greece in the 19th and 20th centuries, in order to contribute to a more integral comprehension of the demographic formation of Greece as well as to the apprehension of the modern refugee waves.
- Center of Asia Minor Studies
Τhe Center for Asia Minor Studies is a real treasury for Asia Minor Greeks, as it comprises many books, recordings, interviews regarding refugees from Asia Minor as well as results of (ongoing) research activities and projects.
- Music Ethnographic Archive of Melpo Merile
The Music Ethnographic Archive of Melpo Merile comprises recordings of musical themes and compositions that the refugees brought along from their old homeland, as well as information on musical instruments and old vinyl recordings.
- ERT Archive, Digital Collections
The Digital Archive of the National Radio and TV Broadcast (ΕΡΤ) comprises photographic material from the time of the 1922 refugee arrival and settlement as well as some recorded testimonies by refugees, broadcasted on radio or TV in the past decades.
- Hestia of Nea Smyrni - Asia Minor Campaign Museum
The collection of the Museum of the Asia Minor Campaign, hosted within the cultural foundation Hestia of Nea Smyrni, comprises relics, garments as well as personal belongings of important personalities of the 1920s, such as the Martyr Archbishop of Smyrna Chrysostomos, Eleftherios Venizelos and the General Anastasios Papoulas.
- “Philio Chaidemenou” Museum
The Global Cultural Foundation of Expat Greeks, named after “Philo Chaidemenou”, author of books and collector of Asia Minor crafted works of art, comprises a large collection of Asia Minor mementoes and offer the possibility of a virtual tour to its exhibits.
- Digital Museum of Nea Smyrni
The Digital Museum of Nea Smyrni possesses a rich collection of items and testimonials digitally presented along with recordings of refugee memories of people who settled in Nea Smyrni.
- Photographic Archive of the Benaki Museum -Modern Greek Historic Collection of Constantine Tripos.
The photographic archive of the Benaki Museum and, in particular, the K. Tripos’ collection, comprises photographic material by well-known professional or amateur photographers, recording Greece up to 1955.
- Newspapers’ and periodicals’ archive of the Hellenic Parliament
The Library of the Hellenic Parliament offers free digital access to its newspapers’ archive of the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Digital Portal of Archives for 1922- General State Archives
The General State Archives, in order to participate to the commemoration of the centenary from the Asia Minor Catastrophe, have issued the Digital Portal of Archives for 1922, mapping and offering to the general public the available archival material of Greece related to the Asia Minor Catastrophe and the effort of the Greek state to restitute and assimilate the refugees. The project is of a dynamic character, as the Portal will continue to be enriched with Asia Minor memory agents, archival material and digital testimonies even after the commemoration year, 20222.
- Culture and Genealogy Digital Collection of the Foundation of the Hellenic World. Ελληνισμού
The department of Genealogy and Oral History of the FHW carried out a long (1997-2012) project of recording oral testimonies from first-, second- and third-generation refugees. This material is now included in the culture and genealogy collections for Macedonia and Attica.
- Εικονικό Μουσείο Αρχείου Κουνάδη
Το Αρχείο Κουνάδη αποτελεί το πλέον εμπεριστατωμένο και οργανωμένο Κέντρο Έρευνας & Μελέτης της Ελληνικής Δισκογραφίας των 78 στροφών. Έχει ως στόχο τη συλλογή, ταξινόμηση, έρευνα, καταγραφή, μελέτη, διάσωση και διάδοση των τραγουδιών και της μουσικής των Ελλήνων, καθώς και οποιασδήποτε σχετικής πληροφορίας. Αποτελείται από υλικό που καταγράφει ποικιλοτρόπως και σε διαφορετικά πεδία κυρίως την περίοδο 1900-1960 με κεντρικό άξονα τη μουσική.
- The Anonymous’ Archive
The not-for-profit association “The Anonymous’ Archive of amateur audiovisual material” was founded in Athens in 2002, in order to preserve, enhance and study the Greek amateur cinematography.
- German Archaeological Institute, Photographic Archive
The “Phototek” is an integral part of the German Archaeological Institute, annex of Athens. Although it contains mainly archaeological material, some of its pictures reflect moments of refugees’ settlements.
- National Archaeological Museum, the “Invisible Museum”
Τhe “Invisible Museum” is a very successful activity of the National Archaeological Museum (NAM), presenting to the public selected antiquities from the subterranean world of the Museum’s storage rooms.
- Historic Archive of the Municipality of Piraeus
The Historic Archive contains a rich archival material consisting of photographs, postcards, engravings, local newspapers, magazines, foundation acts, books etc. It constitutes the main historical resource of many academic outputs and studies.
- Library of Congress
The Library of Congress in Washington possesses a vast variety of collections including modern books, manuscripts, rare books, governmental publications of the USA, newspapers from all over the world, microfilms, musical scores, photographs depicting art objects and architectural blueprints.
- ETH Zurich
Τhe “Swiss Federal Technological Institute of Zurich” has created ETHeritage, which is a collection including the most important items from the collections and the archives of the Library of this academic institution.
- Near East Relief Digital Museum
The Foundation Near East Relief was originally founded to support and rescue Armenian refugees during their persecution by the Ottomans in 1915. Its creation was prompted by the American ambassador Henry Morgenthau. Its activity spread to Greece and the Asia Minor Refugees. Nowadays it continues its work in areas of the Middle East and Africa. Part of the material it possesses is now accessible through the digital museum.
- Centre for the Asia Minor Culture
The Centre for the Asia Minor Culture (ΚΕ.ΜΙ.ΠΟ) is the collection, preservation, conservation and transmission of elements of the history and culture of the Asia Minor Greeks, along with those of Pontos, Eastern Thrace, Constantinople. It also aims at collecting, classifying, studying and enhancing the archival material related to Nea Ionia. Another aspect of the ΚΕ.ΜΙ.ΠΟ. activity is the foundation and function of the Historic Archive of Nea Ionia. In this archive are gathered documents, acts, pictures etc, referring to important aspects of the history of Nea Ionia from its foundation to this day.
- Museum of Asia Minor Culture in Aegaleo
The Museum aims at making clear to the visitor the historic framework of the extstence of Greeks in Asia Minor, the Asia Minor Catastrophe and the settlement of refugees in mainland Greece. The museum focuses mainly on the former settlement “ News Kydonies” in present-day Aegaleo, through the relics that the refugees brought along, in order to help them maintain the memory of what they left behind.
- Artistic Association of Folk Music “Domna Samiou”
The Museum aims at making clear to the visitor the historic framework of the extstence of Greeks in Asia Minor, the Asia Minor Catastrophe and the settlement of refugees in mainland Greece. The museum focuses mainly on the former settlement “ News Kydonies” in present-day Aegaleo, through the relics that the refugees brought along, in order to help them maintain the memory of what they left behind.
- Agiou Georgiou Mills
The Mills Agiou Georgiou were founded by an Asia Minor Entrepreneur. Nowadays, their factory on the port of Keratsini hosts a museum of the history of the factory.