George Washburn (1833-1915) was the second President of Robert College and was the son-in-law of Cyrus Hamlin (1811-1900), founder and first President of the College. The College was the first American missionary college in the Ottoman Empire and the Near East and the first American college founded outside the United States. Rooted in the Bebek Seminary of 1840 and patterned on the best colleges of New England, Robert College opened its doors, independent of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, on the site of the Seminary at Bebek on the European shore of Istanbul in 1863. It moved to its campus at Rumelihisari, overlooking the Bosphorus, in 1869 where it remained until 1971, when it was transferred to its current location and merged with the American College for Girls at Arnavutköy. Entering the American mission work in the Ottoman Empire in 1858 as a local treasurer of the American Board, Washburn continued his career as a professor in Robert College starting from 1869. He became the President of the College in 1877 upon the resignation of Hamlin and after a long confrontation due to their divergent opinions on the expansion and particularly on the political mission of the school; Washburn maintained an unreserved stance on both issues. Serving as President for 26 years, only to be surpassed by Caleb F. Gates (1857-1946), the succeeding President, Washburn’s memoir largely overlaps with the period of Abdülhamid II (1876-1909), when the rivalry between the fast-crumbling Ottoman Empire and the rapidly ascending American Empire was manifest. The memoir vividly describes major events and characters of Washburn’s long tenure, both in Istanbul and the College, and serves as an historical account of bilateral relations in the background as well as of Robert College.

• TABLE OF CONTENTS (page 3)
• INRODUCTION (page 5)
• FIFTY YEARS IN CONSTANTINOPLE AND RECOLLECTIONS OF ROBERT COLLEGE (page 37)
• PREFACE (page 41)
• CONTENTS (page 43)
• ILLUSTRATIONS (page 49)
• INTRODUCTION (page 51)
• FIFTY YEARS IN CONSTANTINOPLE CHAPTER I : THE FOUNDING OF ROBERT COLLEGE (page 69)
• CHAPTER II : THE OPENING OF THE COLLEGE AT BEBEC (page 82)
• CHAPTER III : LAST TWO YEARS AT BEBEC. 1869-1871 (page 103)
• CHAPTER IV : NINTH COLLEGE YEAR. 1871-1872 (page 121)
• CHAPTER V : DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLLEGE. 1872-1873 (page 136)
• CHAPTER VI : RELIGIOUS QUESTIONS. 1873-1874 (page 150)
• CAPTER VII : VISIT OF MR. ROBERT 1874-1875 (page 163)
• CHAPTER VIII : POLITICAL CRISIS IN TURKEY. 1875-1876 (page 174)
• CHAPTER IX : THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR.1876-1877 (page 191)
• CHAPTER X : THE RUSSIANS AT SAN STEFANO. 1877-1878 (page 205)
• CHAPTER XI : MR. ROBERT'S DEATH. 1878-1879 (page 215)
• CHAPTER XII : AFTER THE WAR. 1879-1880 (page 227)
• CHAPTER XIII : TWO YEARS IN AMERICA. 1880-1882 (page 236)
• CHAPTER XVI : THE COLLEGE AT THE END OF TWENTY YEARS. 1882-1884 (page 248)
• CHAPTER XV : THE GREAT CRISIS IN BULFGARIA. 1884-1886 (page 259)
• CHAPTER XVI : THE OVERTHROW OF PRINCE ALEXANDER. 1886-1888 (page 271)
• CHAPTER XVII : ARMENIAN AND BULGARIAN TROUBLES. 1888-1890 (page 281)
• CHAPTER XVIII : ANOTHER TWO YEARS IN AMERICA. 1889-1891 (page 290)
• CHAPTER XIX : IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COLLEGE. 1890-1892 (page 299)
• CHAPTER XX : TRYING TIMES IN TURKEY. 1892-1894 (page 308)
• CHAPTER XXI : REORGANIZATION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 1894-1896 (page 317)
• CHAPTER XXII : THE GREAT CONSTANTINOPLE MASSACRE. 1896-1897 (page 329)
• CHAPTER XXIII : FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLLEGE. 1897-1899 (page 338)
• CHAPTER XXIV : DEATH OF DR. HAMLIN. 1899-1901 (page 348)
• CHAPTER XXV : NEW PROFESSORS AND NEW BUILDINGS. 1901-1902 (page 359)
• CHAPTER XXVI : MY RESIGNATION OF THE PRESIDENCY. 1902-1903 (page 368)
• CHAPTER XXVII : THE WORK OF FORTY YEARS. 1863-1903 (page 377)
• APPENDIX (page 395)
• INDEX (page 405)