George Edward White was an American Congregationalist missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions for forty-three years. Stationed in the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian genocide as President of the Anatolia College in Merzifon, White attempted to save the lives of many Armenians, including "refused to tell" where Armenians were hiding so to save them from getting deported or killed. Thus he became an important witness to the Armenian Genocide.

The Anatolia College in Merzifon or American College of Mersovan was a 4-year college, high school, theological seminary, orphanage and hospital located in the town of Merzifon in the Sivas Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. Classes were offered to both male and female students. Established by American missionaries, the college existed from 1886 to 1924. The college was essentially destroyed by the Armenian genocide in 1915. Closed until 1919, it was subsequently relocated to Thessaloniki, Greece, and still operates as Anatolia College.