Robert College 1913-1923 100 yard dash silver medal

Robert College 1913-1923 100 yard dash silver medal
Robert College, the first American- sponsored college founded outside the United States, opened its doors in Bebek, Turkey, in 1863 with four students. The following year the American trustees obtained papers of incorporation in the State of New York allowing the institution to raise funds in support of the experiment. The College was an outgrowth of American missionary efforts within the Ottoman Empire, but had no formal connection with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Under the leadership of the Reverend Cyrus Hamlin, a Congregational minister, who had spent many years in Turkey, and with the support of Christopher R. Robert, a prosperous New York merchant, the college gradually became recognized as an important institution for educating the Christian minorities within the Ottoman Empire.