/ The Samokov Schools
Since Bulgaria finally went behind the Iron Curtain in 1948, and particularly since the closing of the American Legation in Sofia on February 24, 1950, very little information about conditions in that country has come to the American public. Bulgaria has been blacked out in the news, and the little news that does come through is all unfavorable. But for many years preceding the Second World War both official and unofficial relations between the United States and Bulgaria were cordial and friendly, being based more upon cultural interests and contacts than upon commercial relations. Bulgarians and Americans had come to know each other principally through American educational institutions and work both in Bulgaria and at the American Colleges in Istanbul—Robert College and the American College for Girls—in which so many Bulgarians had received an important part of their education. In the period between the two world wars it came about that these cultural interests and contacts centered mainly in the American College of Sofia, a new institution founded and maintained by Sofia American Schools, Inc., an educational foundation, or corporation, chartered in 1926 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, The fortunes of this unique and interesting institution are recorded in the following pages.
Although chartered in 1926, and in this sense new, the work of the schools which were incorporated in the new College had its origin far back in the nineteenth century; for, like so many other American colleges abroad, the College at Sofia was the direct offspring of the work of American missionaries who had established one or more stations in Bulgaria, then a province of the Ottoman Empire, as early as 1859. Their activities included preaching, publication of religious literature and education. Time and space here do not permit any reference to the first two of these activities, but a brief review of the educational work of the missionaries is necessary to the story of Sofia American Schools, Inc., for which that work was the foundation.
The missionaries needed well trained native assistants and colleagues in their work—preachers, religions teachers, Bible Women, interpreters and translators—and for their training two Schools of high school grade were founded: one for boys at Philipoppolis opened on October 22, 1860, and one for girls opened in the town of Stara Zagora l863. Both immediately attracted Bulgarian young people, as did the Colleges in Istanbul founded at about the same date. In 1871 these Schools were removed to the town of Samokov, at that time a flourishing business and educational center, in which the Balkan Mission of the American Board was establishing its principal headquarters. At that date there was no railroad in Bulgaria other than the short line connecting the town of Rustchuk on the Danube with the small seaport of Varna on the Black Sea, a line opened in 1868. Samokov was charmingly situated in a small plain at the foot of the Rilla Mountains, a range of grand peaks rising to a height of more than. eight thousand feet, their slopes covered with magnificent forests of pine and beech. Although extremely cold in winter, the climate was invigorating and in. summer delightful. After the railroad was extended through Bulgaria in the eighties, leaving Samokov isolated from the main line of transportation, the town lost much of its commercial importance, being reduced to the position of a local market center for the nearby peasant villages, but as a place to live it lost none of its natural charm.
Relocated in this environment, the two Schools, which occupied the same plot of land near the middle of the town, grew and flourished. Buildings, good for that era and place, were constructed, the teaching staffs comprising both Americans and Bulgarians got together. While at that date in Bulgaria coeducation was not to be thought of, the two small institutions formed one community, and by the end of the century were provided with a modest but effective school equipment sufficient for their needs. A clientele was built up and Samokov became the inspirational center of the growing Protestant movement in Bulgaria. A large percentage of the graduates of both Schools became preachers, teachers or Bible Women, the latter term being roughly equivalent to the present day term social worker. Many graduates, both men and women, came to the United States or went to some European university to complete their education. The Schools became well and favorably known throughout Bulgaria.
A number of able men and women, all missionaries of the American Board of Boston, carried on the educational work of the mission.
The founder of the school for boys, then bearing the name: The Collegiate and Theological Institute, was the Reverend James F. Clarke, a graduate of Amherst College in the class of 1854 and of Andover Theological Seminary in 1858, a man of original ability and personality, a man comparable to Cyrus Hamlin, the founder of Robert College, and other New England pioneers of the nineteenth century who founded institutions in many parts of the world. He and his wife arrived in Philipoppolis in the late summer of 1859, where
his first important task was the founding of the school for boys and young men, of which he became the Principal, a position he continued to fill until 1880. The first gift of money used in founding the school was a sum of three hundred pounds sterling given by a certain Mrs. Marsten of London to Cyrus Hamlin designated for the education of Bulgarian boys, and he turned it over to the Bulgarian Mission for this purpose. Besides carrying the work of administration, not heavy in so small a school, Dr. Clarke also taught various subjects. His scholarly avocation was the study of geology, and the cabinet of geological specimens collected by him was still in use in 1942 when the Fascist Government took over the College, which had inherited the collection. Dr. Clarke was also the founder of the temperance movement in Bulgaria, a movement which continued vigorously active down to the Second World War. Dr. Clarke died in Sofia on July 2, 1916, aged 84.
The founder of the school for girls was the Reverend Theodore L. Byington, born March 15, 1831, graduated from Princeton College in 1849 and from Union Theological Seminary in 1857. He arrived in Bulgaria in 1859 and four years later opened the school for girls in Stara Zagora. The first Principal of the new school was Miss Mary E. Reynolds, a missionary of the American Board, who arrived in Bulgaria in 1863. Theodore Byington was most noted as a diligent writer, and for twelve years was editor of the religious newspaper Zornitsa, a publication founded by Dr. Albert L. Long, later to become a professor in Robert College. Zornitsa was widely read and influential throughout Bulgaria, and especially in Macedonia. When closed by the Fascist Government in 1940 it was the oldest newspaper in Bulgaria.
The person to whom the Girls' School was most indebted in its early period was Miss Esther T. Maitbie, who was the Principal from 1870 to 1908. Born in Ohio in 1836, she graduated from Oberlin College in 1862 and eight years later went to Bulgaria as a missionary and on her arrival took charge of the School. For thirty-eight years she gave all her strength of body, mind and heart to the girls who came to her for their education) and having gained complete fluency in the language she became almost as a native of the country, knowing the habits) customs, national qualities and aspirations of the people among whom she lived, who received her as one of themselves. She died in 1917.
One of the ablest men connected with the early history of the Schools was John Henry House, who in the course of his long life performed distinguished service both in Bulgaria and in Greece. Born in Ohio on May 29, 1845, he graduated from Western Reserve University in 1869 and from Union Theological Seminary in 1872. In this same year he joined the American Board and was sent out to Istanbul, or Constantinople as it was then called, as a member of the Turkey Mission. In the summer of 1874 he went to Samokov to become a teacher in the Collegiate and Theological Institute. Soon gaining remarkable fluency in the language, speaking and writing it accurately, he prepared textbooks and other works in Bulgarian, besides writing many articles for the religious publications of the Mission press. Under his direction the first new building of the Boys' School was erected in 1879, a building containing offices, classrooms and dormitories. In 1885 a second building was erected and a third in 1890. From 1880 to 1890 Dr. House was Principal of the School. In order to give work to poor boys to earn their board and keep he set up a printing press and carpenter shops in which job work was done, both of which continued in operation until 1928. In 1891 Dr. House was transferred by the Mission to Istanbul for editorial work on Zornitsa, the Mission paper published in Bulgarian. Transferred to Salonika, in 1902 he, together with Edward B. Haskell, founded an agricultural school for Macedonian boys. This institution, called the Farm School, developed by Dr. House and later carried on by his son, Charles S. House, became, and continues to be, a notable institution for the study and promotion of agriculture in northern Greece. Dr. House continued to live at the school until his death on April 13,1936.
The two Schools were always closely connected with the life of the country and community, seeming to be as much indigenous as foreign institutions. All the Americans working in them were bilingual, constantly using both English and Bulgarian, and most of their Bulgarian colleagues spoke English. All students studied English as also Bulgarian, their native tongue. The two Schools were the oldest boarding schools in Bulgaria. Founded in Turkish times, they had shared in all the experiences of the revolution of 1876-1877, and in the labors and hazards of the period of reconstruction that followed. After the uprising in Macedonia they served as centers of relief for the refugees who fled to Bulgaria from that distressed area. Literature printed on the school press circulated in all parts of Bulgaria. The pastors of nearly all the Protestant churches in southern Bulgaria and Macedonia were graduates of the Collegiate and Theological Institute. Many graduates, both men and women, taught in the state schools established throughout the country after Bulgaria gained independence in 1878. When the Schools were founded Bulgaria was a remote province in a far away corner of the Balkan Peninsula totally unknown to the American public. Through the work and publicity of the American Schools in Samokov and in Istanbul, and particularly
by the widely publicized events of the Russo-Turkish war of 18771878, as a result of which Bulgaria gained her independence, the country and its people were brought to public attention in the United States, and still more in Great Britain. In the period from 1878 to 1912 the rise of Bulgaria in orderly progress both economically and politically was phenomenal. The country was well governed and prosperous in a quiet but substantial way and had the best record in public education of all the countries in southeastern Europe. Then came the Balkan wars and the First World War in which Bulgaria, by the lack of wisdom on the part of her statesmen, was defeated and reduced to a state of economic collapse, and at the same time was brought very near to political chaos.
As reconstruction slowly got under way after peace had been re-established, the persons then responsible for the Mission Schools at Samokov came to the conviction that the time had come to discontinue the Schools together with other forms of missionary activity. They were persuaded that Bulgaria was no longer a field for missionary activity. As for the Schools, they believed that in view of the rapidly developing system of national education schools of the mission type were no longer needed, although attendance in them had never been so large. One thing was certain, and this was that if the Schools were to continue they must be reorganized, new buildings built and equipped, and the teaching staff improved so that the American schools would not be outclassed by local national institutions. Could this be done?
At this juncture the Bulgarian supporters and friends of the Schools stepped in to assist in trying to find a way to keep the American schools with their undisputed values by reorganizing them into some form of American college) the model in many Bulgarian minds being Robert College and the American College for Girls in Istanbul, in which by this date one thousand Bulgarian boys and girls had studied. Others, including some of the most forward looking Americans in the Mission, desired a new type of agricultural and industrial institution working principally for the village population. Whatever the type of the new institution, it was agreed that it should be located near Sofia. A committee representing the Mission was appointed to plan the new institution and to secure a suitable site in the vicinity of the capital. Prominent Bulgarian citizens and members of the Government at that date took an interest in the project assisting effectively with their influence. Dr. Alexander T. Tsankoff, Prime Minister and Minister of Education, wrote the committee an encouraging letter dated May 31, 1924, in which he said: "Our high estimation of American culture and education, as imbedded in the aspirations and ideals of us Bulgarians from the epoch of our national renaissance, furnish me a basis to welcome with the warmest sympathy the initiative for establishing American educational institutions in Sofia."
The President of the National Assembly, Dr. I. Kuleff, wrote to the committee on May 14, 1924: "Gentlemen: It is with great joy that I have learned of your initiative to establish in our capital institutions of the American type. Such institutions, supported by foreign generosity, besides being a favor to the country, would have a special scientific and educational significance. We have been long accustomed to value highly the American schools) in which so many of our countrymen have received their education."
The Metropolitan of Sofia, Archbishop Stefan, wrote: "The establishment of American educational institutions in Sofia is of the deepest interest to us, and of the highest interest and need for our rising generation. We welcome the idea with joy) and feel that it will serve to strengthen and ennoble our national character."
Besides these, many other letters of encouragement were received by the committee justifying their conviction that rather than give up educational work in Bulgaria the time had come for them to move forward boldly to establish a new institution. In the autumn of 1923 Mr. Albert W, Staub, then American Director of the Near Hast College Association, an organization comprising at that time Robert College, The American College for Girls in Istanbul, and The American University of Beirut, had visited Sofia and Samokov, and as a result of this visit was influential both in stimulating the establishment of the new institution near Sofia and in making it a member of the Near East College Association.
Encouraged by all the interest thus shown in the enterprise the committee pushed forward with its work in finding and developing a suitable plot of ground on which to build. The Bulgarian Government, as an indication of its public interest in the project, offered to give the new institution a plot of ground in the Sofia suburb called Gorna Banya situated about five miles from the city. But the plot, which contained 190 dekars, or about 45 acres, was regarded as too small for the needs of the institution, and it being impossible to enlarge it by purchase of additional land, this attractive offer had to be refused. Since the plans at that time included instruction in Agriculture, at least one hundred acres of land was thought essential. Eventually two plots of good land located near each other, including 114 acres in. one plot and 52 acres in the other, were bought, the transaction being finally completed in 1926. The new property had an excellent location near the foot of Mt. Vitosha, the mountain 7500 feet high which dominates the Sofia plain) and was only five miles from the center of the city. One serious drawback was that the site was a
mile distant from the nearest good public road, thus necessitating the construction of a new road at the expense of the school. The altitude at the highest point on the site was 640 meters (2102 feet). The land in both plots, while not fertile because of long continued cultivation without adequate fertilization, was suitable for agriculture) in case an agricultural school should be established.
The persons principally responsible for the purchase of the land were H. B. King, the business manager of the Mission with an office in Sofia, Reuben H. Markham—a member of the Mission since 1912 and closely connected with the Schools in various capacities—L. D. Woodruff, a member of the Mission living in Sofia, and George Sarjov, a man of parts who assisted ably with the purchase of the land and later lived on the site in a small house erected for the purpose with responsibility for the first steps in the development of the property.
An immediate problem was that of finding an adequate supply of water, a problem finally solved in a wonderful way. At the very foot of Mt. Vitosha, and less than a mile from the new property, there was a fine spring of excellent drinking water which belonged to the village of Simeonovo. A petition was laid before the village council requesting that the spring be given to the new Schools soon to be built on the plain below. After due consideration the village council voted to give the spring for the use of the Schools under the following reasonable conditions: 1. A drinking fountain with a trough at which to water the village sheep and cattle should be built at a designated point near the main road to the village. 2. The new road connecting the school site with the road to Sofia—then under construction— should be connected with the road leading to the village of Simeonovo. 3. The school property would be considered as lying within the limits of Simeonovo and under its legal jurisdiction.
These modest conditions were immediately accepted and quickly complied with to the satisfaction of the villagers. Eventually the village profited considerably by employment at the Schools, the sale of farm and garden products to the school kitchens, and also from a small sum in taxes.
In the spring of 1926 a line of water pipe was laid from the spring to the site of the projected buildings providing an ample supply of water for years to come. The spring was about six hundred feet higher than the school property and the flow of water 1800 gallons an hour with practically no variation winter and summer. The successful petition to the village and the laying of the water pipe through neighboring fields was a diplomatic as well as an economic triumph for George Sarjov, the local manager, who showed both patience and skill in his dealings with the hard-headed Shope villagers who lived in that vicinity.
Meanwhile the local Board of Managers, which controlled the schools in Samokov, had gone forward with the project of turning over the two Schools to the care of a new Board of Trustees which was being organized in Boston under the wise direction of James L. Barton, then the Foreign Secretary of the American Board at 14 Beacon Street.
For many years the two Schools had been directed by two devoted, able and wise administrators and educators: Inez L. Abbott, Principal of the Girls' School, and Leroy F. Ostrander, Principal of the Boys' School. Miss Abbott had come to Samokov in 1907 to succeed Miss Esther T. Maitbie, who had reached the age of retirement. Miss Abbott was appointed by the Women's Board of the Interior of the Congregational Church with offices in Chicago. Born at Fairfield, Michigan on July 7, 1870, Miss Abbott had received her early education in the public schools) graduated from the Lansing High School and later from the University of Michigan. She then spent a year in Europe studying in Germany and Rome. Her subjects were Latin and history. On returning to the United States she became a teacher of Latin in the High School of Oak Park, Illinois, from where she went to Samokov in 1907. Well equipped by study and school experience for her new duties, in 1908 she assumed full responsibility for the Girls' School, a position she filled with skill and understanding for eighteen years, that is, until her untimely death on May 1) 1926. In addition to her school duties, she took an active part in social and philanthropic work, assisted in founding the Nurses' Training School in connection with the Red Cross Hospital in Sofia, worked for the League of Nations idea and for the Fellowship of Reconciliation. But her chief monument is still to be found in the lives of the many students who looked to her both for instruction and moral guidance. She was one of those most active in working for the removal of the Schools to Sofia and in planning their reorganization in accordance with the demands of public opinion. She died at the moment when plans long thought out were just beginning to be fulfilled.
The Principal of the Boys' School, Leroy F. Ostrander, was one of those men born to be teachers and guides of boys and young men. Born in Dubuque) Iowa, on August 20, 1872, he graduated from Hamilton College in 1894 and from Auburn Theological Seminary in 1901. After graduating from college he served a term of three years as instructor in Robert College, as his father had done before him. Appointed a missionary of the American Board on April 2, 1901, he, together with his wife, Mary Roys Ostrander, arrived in Samokov on January 13, 1902, where he was immediately associated with the Boys' School of which he became the Principal in
1904, a position he filled with distinction until forced by ill health he retired in 1925. Both he and Mrs. Ostrander lived wholly for the School and its students. They continued to live in Samokov on the school grounds until August 1926, when the state of Mr. 0strander's health compelled their return to the United States. The day of their departure from Samokov was a day of grief for the town. Mr. Ostrander died at Clifton Springs, New York, on December 12, 1926. New leaders had to be found to take their places and this became the first business of the Board of Trustees in Boston.
Thus at the moment when the removal and reorganization of the Schools, for which they had been chiefly instrumental in preparing the way, both Miss Abbott and Mr. Ostrander were compelled to leave in other hands the tasks they had carried for so many years.
At a meeting of the local trustees, or Board of Managers, of the two Schools held on March 10) 1926) resolutions with regard to the past and future of the Schools were adopted from which the following quotations are made: "Through all vicissitudes their founders and nourishers, the A.B.C.F.M. (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions) and the W.B.M.I. (Woman's Board of Missions of the Interior), never wavered in their support and backing of the Schools) but have wisely led them on and developed them to the point where they are fitted to take a larger place in the life of the country.
"The housing and equipment of the present Schools at Samokov was due pre-eminently to the efforts of the A.B.C.F.M. In plans for the removal of the Schools to Sofia the W.B.M.I. has taken the lead. Its generous willingness to advance money enough for securing a site adequate for the needs of both Schools, and for equipping it with the indispensables necessary for building operations, such as roads, water, etc., has put our enterprise several years ahead of where the new Trustee Board otherwise would have found it. We acknowledge this farsighted generosity with heartfelt thanks.
"Now that 'the old order changeth, yielding place to new') and our Schools pass under another control we wish to express our undying gratitude to the A.B.C.F.M. and the W.B.M.I. for all that they have done for them in the past, and through them for Bulgarian youth and the Bulgarian nation. We trust that the Boards will continue their interest and aid through the period of transition, and will not cease at any future time to regard the Schools as parents regard their children even after they have left the parental roof. On our side we never can forget to whom our Schools owe their existence nor our debt of obligation to them. By Bulgarian historians of their country's educational renaissance of the 19th and early 20th centuries 'The American Mission' and Mission Boards surely win be given honorable mention."
Chairman, W. P. Clarke
Secretaries, Edith Douglass
J. F. Steams
These resolutions were the last official statement issued by the representatives of the Mission on the transfer of the Samokov Schools to the new Corporation and Board of Trustees already legally set up in Boston.