Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Oct 31 2009
One family’s photographic history shared Nov. 3
By NAASR
Fri Oct 30, 2009, 05:16 PM EDT
Belmont, Mass. – The Boston offices of Anatolia College, Project SAVE
Armenian Photograph Archives, Inc., and the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) will present an illustrated
lecture by Prof. Armen T. Marsoobian entitled `At the Crossroads of
Family and Institutional Memory: Marsovan (Merzifon) and Anatolia
College, 1890-1922.’ The event will take place at the NAASR
headquarters at 395 Concord Ave. in Belmont at 8 p.m. on Thursday,
Nov. 3.
Marsoobian is professor and chairman of Philosophy at Southern
Connecticut State University in New Haven, Conn. This past spring
semester he was a Michael S. Dukakis Fellow at the American College of
Thessaloniki (ACT), a division of Anatolia.
Prof. Marsoobian will be drawing upon family memoirs, letters, and
missionary accounts to trace his family’s history from its early days
in Sivas to their relocation in Marsovan, where his grandfather Tsolag
and his great uncle Aram Dildilian opened a photography studio. His
grandfather became the official photographer for both the college and
the governor of the province. Marsoobian will chronicle his
grandfather and great uncle’s time with Anatolia by showcasing
photographs from the family archive.
The photographs extend over a period of time that illustrates the
growth and prosperity of the college and its tragic end, in the summer
months of 1915, when Armenian staff and students of the college, along
with most of the Armenian population of the city, were sent on the
death marches of the Genocide.
The lecture ends with the Dildilian family parting with Anatolia.
While they escaped to the lands of Greece, France, and the United
States, Anatolia College was reborn in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1922.
The photographs have helped Anatolia garner new insight into its
institutional history and its strong ties to the Armenian community,
and have also aided in preserving the image of a college that has
maintained its resolve in spite of the hardships of war and genocide.
Marsoobian has also shared his family’s photographs with Project SAVE.
Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The NAASR
Center is located opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the
U.S. Post Office. Ample parking is available around the building and
in adjacent areas. The lecture will begin promptly at 8 p.m.
More information about the lecture is available by calling
617-489-1610, faxing 617-484-1759, e-mailing [email protected], or writing
to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.
About NAASR
NAASR has grown from the vision of a group of 60 Armenian Americans
and professors who wished to advance Armenian Studies in the United
States into a nonprofit, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization that
has achieved far-reaching success in fostering Armenian studies,
research, and publication on a permanent, scholarly, and objective
basis. Its pioneering successes since its establishment in 1955 have
benefited scholars interested in Armenian Studies and related fields
throughout the academic world.
For further information, please visit, naasr.org.
About Project Save
Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, Inc., is a nonprofit,
tax-exempt organization whose mission is to collect, document,
preserve, and present the historic and modern photographic record of
Armenians and Armenian heritage. For additional information about
Project Save, visit projectsave.org.
About Anatolia
Anatolia’s United States headquarters is located next to the State
House on Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts. Anatolia College is a
K-12 American Private School and a four year Liberal Arts College, The
American College of Thessaloniki, located in the northern Greek city
of Thessaloniki, overlooking the Thermaic Gulf and Mount Olympus. The
Boston office supports all U.S. outreach, national events, marketing,
study abroad, and fundraising efforts as a 501(c)3 organization.
For more about Anatolia, visit anatolia.edu.gr or call 617-742-7992.
fun/entertainment/books/x23524071/One-family-s-pho tographic-history-shared-Nov-3
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
