NAASR's Mardigian Library Treasures

Saroyan, from the back of The Bicycle Rider in Beverly Hills dust jacket. William Saroyan (1908–81) was the most famous Armenian-American writer of his time and, arguably (and with all due respect to the many fine writers who have followed) may remain so to this day. Extraordinarily prolific and possessed of a larger-than-life personality, the Fresno-born author also had an on-again, off-again relationship with NAASR dating back to its early days. By the time NAASR was established in 1955, Saroyan had been a prominent figure in American literature for two decades, since he exploded on the scene in 1934 with...

In this feature, we present a small sampling of two distinct collections from our holdings. The first highlights an archival collection that provides valuable depth and insight into an important published memoir of the Armenian Genocide. The second brings together books, posters, and archival materials centered on a single figure who has come to be one of the most widely known survivors of the Armenian Genocide. These materials are preserved in NAASR’s Mardigian Library and stand as powerful evidence of the experiences of survivors of the Armenian Genocide and their enduring legacies, as well as the tenacity of the descendants...

This edition of Library Treasures will focus on a single item acquired in 2019: Inchpēs zardarel tōnatsaṙě = Ինչպէս զարդարել տօնածառը (How to decorate the Christmas tree), a 20-page booklet written by “Zaruhi” and published in Tiflis in 1910.

This is the story of the 300-year journey of a remarkable book to our library. 

This issue will cover the life and illustrative work of Nonny Hogrogian.

In this edition of Library Treasures, we will highlight publications from the Mardigian Library collection that focus on murals of the Armenian churches. 

It has long resided in a folder within the Avedis Derounian Archive, which has been at NAASR since the early 1990s, inside an envelope labeled “Dr. Kaloustian,” but until recently we did not realize its significance, let alone that this year marks the 200th anniversary of this interesting individual’s birth.

In conjunction with the celebratory event NAASR held on May 6, 2023, marking the appointment of Christina Maranci as the third holder of the Mashtots Chair in Armenian Studies at Harvard University, we are devoting this Library Treasures installment to materials from NAASR’s own organizational archives pertaining to this organization’s pioneering effort to establish the first chair in Armenian Studies in the U.S.—or, indeed, anywhere in the Armenian diaspora in North America—focusing on the years from 1954 to the appointment of the first chairholder in 1969.

This Library Treasures feature is part of NAASR’s 2022 focus on Armenian maps and cartography which has been supported by a grant from the Dadourian Foundation. Throughout the year we organized three lectures on this topic which can be viewed on our YouTube channel: Rouben Galichian, “The Ever-Changing Borders of Armenia in Ancient and Modern Times: The Cartographic Record”; Matthew Karanian, “Mapping the Armenian Highland”; and Khatchig Mouradian, “Gas Balloons, Emperors, and Armenian Mapmakers: A Cartographic Journey through the Library of Congress’s Collections.”

Wherever you are reading this, it is probably hot—perhaps very hot—so we thought a getaway to a cool, shady place with the chance of a swim might provide some relief, and it is in that spirit that we offer a Treasures of NAASR's Mardigian Library mini-feature on Armenian summer resorts in the Catskills of days gone by.