The Loss of the Greek Literary Society in Constantinople: The Dismantling of an Institution, Displacement of a Library, and Dissolution of an Intellectual Hub

Abstract

The conditions that paved the way for the population exchange, the unrest created by rising nationalism in Turkey and Greece, and the subsequent search for a homogeneous population on both sides of the Aegean had a direct impact on Istanbul’s intellectual environment, its artistic and literary production, and its architecture, in which Greeks had played a significant role. This article examines the main physical and intellectual properties of the Greek Literary Society in Constantinople, its headquarters in Pera, its library and archive, and their afterlives following their confiscation by Turkish officials. By focusing on the effects of the departure of renowned scholars from Istanbul, particularly those who had conducted archeological research, it discusses the extent of the knowledge and property accumulated within the Greek Literary Society’s circles and evaluates their loss, transportation, and transformation as “cultural (material and human) and social capital” and “brain drain.”