My Life and Times

"My Life and Times" is a biographical account of Cyrus Hamlin's life (1811-1900) during the period he spent in Istanbul. After completing his theological education in the United States, Hamlin came to the Ottoman Empire as a Protestant missionary. Working as an administrator and teacher at Bebek Seminary, which he founded to train Bible preachers, for a while, he left the organization due to differences of opinion with the American Board and started working on establishing Robert College in 1860. His memories of the construction of the college building are one of the most interesting parts of the book. The college project aimed to provide secular education. This school, which was handed over to the Turkish government in mid-1970s and has transformed into Böaziçi University today, is still one of the most important educational institutions in Turkey. He served as rector of the school until 1876. He then returned to the U.S. to serve as a professor of dogmatic theology at Bangor Theological Seminary. In 1880, he became president of Middlebury College in Vermont. He continued this duty until 1885. During his rectorship, female students began to be admitted to the school for the first time in 1883. His memories in this book contain many interesting social and political information about nineteenth-century Istanbul, where he spent his 35 years, and witnessed a period during which Ottoman Empire was approaching its demise.