Boston Globe, MA
Aug 24 2005

Watertown museum preserves the history and culture of Armenia
By Mark Pratt, Associated Press Writer | August 24, 2005

WATERTOWN, Mass. –Armenia has been conquered by the Romans, Greeks,
Persians, Ottoman Turks and Russians.

“It is a rough and bloody history,” said Gary Lind-Sinanian, curator
of the Armenian Library and Museum of America in Watertown.

The largest Armenian museum in the U.S. preserves and promotes the
distinct and vibrant culture of the Armenian people, who have
survived and thrived despite their sad history.

It houses a collection of 20,000 artifacts, and continually changing
displays of ornate Bibles, Gospels and prayer books; colorful rugs,
clothing and textiles; antique musical instruments; ancient coins
from the time before Christ; dazzling jewelry and more.

“This museum is ethnic wealth and history accumulated in one place,”
executive director Berj Chekijian said.

Founded in 1971 in the basement of a church in Belmont, the museum
moved to its current location in busy Watertown Square in 1990. It
now draws about 7,000 visitors annually.

The Boston suburb has long been a center of Armenian immigration. Of
Watertown’s 34,000 residents, more than 20 percent can claim Armenian
descent, by Lind-Sinanian’s estimate.

In all, there are roughly 90,000 people of Armenian descent in
greater Boston, and about 1 million in the United States.

But it’s not necessary to have Armenian blood to appreciate the
museum. The sheer beauty of the jewelry, rugs and textiles have
universal appeal, and the museum also explains Armenians’
contributions to U.S. and world history.

In 301 A.D., Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as
its official state religion.

Through Oct. 30, it features an exhibit called “Monks, Merchants and
Missionaries: The Bible in the Armenian Tradition.” There are ornate
and colorful hand-transcribed and decorated Gospels and prayer books,
including one that dates to 1207 and was in the same family for 39
generations before being donated to the museum.

“The book was said to have healing properties,” Lind-Sinanian said.
“People with sick relatives would travel miles to rub bread on the
cover, then bring the bread back for their sick relatives to eat.”

The museum’s one permanent exhibit explores the genocide of Armenians
by the Turks. By some estimates, more than 1 million Armenians were
killed between 1915 and 1922. To this day, the Turkish government
denies the genocide.

But to those who would deny it, Lind-Sinanian waves his hand at the
photographs of emaciated children, of Armenian men dangling from
gallows as Turkish troops stand at attention, and says “Go read some
of the firsthand accounts, listen to the oral histories. I’ve
actually had Turkish visitors to the museum look at this exhibit and
say ‘I’m sorry.'”

The museum also highlights prominent Armenian-Americans, including
Dr. Jack Kevorkian, best known for being an advocate of
doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill. But Kevorkian,
currently serving a 10- to 25-year sentence in a Michigan prison for
giving a fatal injection to a terminally ill patient, is also a
writer, artist and composer, and the museum has samples of that work.

His paintings deal mainly with death — including an iris growing
through the eye socket of a human skull — which many visitors find
disturbing.

Moses Hadji Gulesian, a Boston coppersmith, is credited with saving
the USS Constitution. When the Navy wanted to haul the warship into
Boston Harbor to use for target practice, Gulesian recognized its
historical significance and offered to buy it. It’s now one of
Boston’s top tourist attractions.

“He essentially embarrassed the Navy into saving it,” Lind-Sinanian
said.

Doreen Adams of Duxbury grew up in Watertown and is three-quarters
Armenian, but she’d never been to the museum until earlier this
month.

“There is so much here, the beautiful jewelry, the art, but I was
particularly drawn to the exhibit about the Armenian genocide,
because my grandmother used to talk about that,” she said.

Adams also learned a possible explanation for her Armenian
grandmother’s marriage to a Turk. During the genocide, the young,
unmarried women of some Armenian villages would offer themselves to
the Turkish troops for marriage, and in exchange, the Turks would
spare the village.

“There is so much to learn here,” Adams said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress