And once again, all you can do is weep for all that is lost...
It was that American mission where D.T. Stoddard wrote his Grammar of the Modern Syriac Language as spoken in Oroomiah, Persia, and in Koordistan published in Journal of the Amerian Oriental Society , Vol. 5 (1855-1856). In the introduction, he recounts the history of printing in Nestorian characters and gives a list of works in Modern Syriac the mission printed since the arrival of the press in 1840. Aside from translations of the Bible and various religious tracts, it also includes the aforementioned monthly The Rays of Light, textbooks of arithmetics and geography and a translation of Bun yan's Pilgrim's Progress. I wonder what happened to those books and if any still can be found somewhere...

What a wonderful post. Oddly enough, the thing it reminds me of is a chapter in Bill Bryson's Notes on a Small Island on working-class culture in, I think, Durham. A hundred years before BB wrote the book there had been a thriving culture of concerts, lectures, reading groups, all established by working-class men and women for an aim that has now been made to seem quaintly earnest -- self-improvement. A community of people with very little formal education and very little money and very little free time created this world for themselves. The buildings they used are for the most part still there.

I understand the identity of the "Assyrians" is rather controversial. The modern Assyrians apparently now believe they are descended from the ancient Assyrians. Even Wikipedia accepts this theory: "The Assyrians are believed to have descended from the ancient Akkadians, who, starting with Sargon of Akkad, emerged as the ruling class of Assyria."

Kelly Ross of www.friesian.com apparently tried to debunk this theory, and came in for a great deal of criticism. His description of the problems he encountered can be seen at this page http://www.friesian.com/notes/note-n.htm

More information on Kelly Ross's fight with modern Assyrian nationalists can be found here:

http://www.friesian.com/notes/assyrian.htm

I am saddened by reading this. The follies of war are like that.

And yet, I'm encouraged in my hope for man by learning of such ingenuity and earnest search for knowledge.

Thank you for putting this up. I'm not a regular commenter; I rarely have anything to add, and I'm always awed by the erudition of you and your audience. But while that does make me feel somewhat stupid very often, it nevertheless more often teaches me lots of things that are completely new to me - not least after having spent most of my (perhaps still short) life in pursuit of 'science' rather than the humanities.

Ms DeWitt's comment about Durham is interesting. I have only visited once and shortly so this is entirely new to me too. It makes me regret even more that I did not manage to go there for a post doc.