Museum Trustee Levon Saryan Wins Two Awards at Florida United Numismatists Coin Show

ORLANDO, FL--Museum Trustee and renowned collector Levon Saryan was awarded not one, but two prizes at the Florida United Numismatists coin show. This is one of the largest coin shows in the country.

Dr. Saryan was one of five numismatists chosen nationwide to receive the Numismatic Ambassador Award. The award recognizes more than 20 years of service to the numismatic hobby including writing, lecturing, coordinating a scout merit badge clinic, and serving in responsible positions for various organizations.

“For many years Levon has been curating Armenian coin and money displays and winning awards at prestigious coin shows,” explains fellow Trustee Charles Hajinian. “He has given talks and presented Armenian history to the world at these events, and we thank and congratulate him.”

At the same convention, Saryan mounted a competitive display of Armenian medals struck by the Mekhitarist congregations of Venice and Vienna commemorating significant events and personages in Armenian history. The display consisted of medals and related items, some over 100 years old, along with descriptions of their historical and cultural significance. Exhibits are judged on technical accuracy, rarity, and visual appeal. Saryan’s display received a second-place award in the category of medals and tokens.

Dr. Saryan is a retired biochemist and toxicologist. He is an overseas member of Armenia’s National Academy of Sciences, a co-founder of the Armenian Numismatic and Antiquities Society, and a prolific researcher and writer for the Armenian Numismatic Journal and other publications. He has curated virtual exhibitions on stamps and currency of the First Republic of Armenia (click here) and on ancient Armenian coinage (click here).

Looking Ahead to A Brand New Year

As we look ahead to the New Year, we wish to express our sincere gratitude for your commitment to our Mission to preserve and share Armenian art, history, and culture with the world. The Museum is open, and we could not be more pleased to see our members and friends back in our galleries.

Here’s a few milestones we managed to achieve:

• We hosted more than 1,000 visitors in our three floors of gallery space since re-opening in June.

• New objects are on display including Armenian jewelry, folk instruments, and contemporary art.

• Commercial grade HEPA air filters are installed in all of our galleries.

We are honored to be featured in the January issue of Harvard Magazine, where they write: "The Museum is a powerful experience for visitors, no matter how familiar they are with Armenian culture and history. It’s a testament not only to the layered ancient world, but to a peoples’ resilient drive to survive and flourish.”

Membership is at an all-time high, which will propel us into the coming year when we rotate objects on display, expand our interactive content, re-introduce youth programming, and host events celebrating our 50th anniversary.

Please join us with a tax-deductible end-of-year gift. With Armenians facing ethnic cleansing and cultural erasure in Artsakh, our Mission is more important now than ever.

We look forward to seeing you soon and will continue to update you on our plans for this momentous milestone year. In the meantime, we wish you a happy and a healthy New Year.

Creativity, Culture and Survival: Museum Reflects Ancient Civilization and Modern Global Diaspora

By Nell Porter Brown

Harvard Magazine
January 2022

In 1207 an elderly scribe in the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia completed the Garabed Gospel. Although blinded by the 11-year undertaking, he completed the 250 inked, goat-skin pages at a monastery near what is now southern Turkey. For the next 700 years, the manuscript was passed down through that family lineage of priests, serving as a sacred object, according to the Armenian Museum of America where the volume is now on display. “If one became sick, one would ask the family for ‘the blessing of the book’ to cure their disease,” a plaque explains. 

It is the museum’s oldest book, says Executive Director Jason Sohigian, and survived the looting and destruction of other texts, art, cultural objects, and whole villages. The museum’s collection of more than 25,000 objects elucidates some 3,000 years of Armenian history and culture, from the early days of Christianity to the contemporary global diaspora. 

More contemporary are the museum’s famous portraits by Yousuf Karsh, underground works from the Soviet era and, surprisingly, a handful of oil paintings by the American pathologist, and pioneering right-to-die with dignity proponent, Jack Kevorkian, whose mother escaped the Genocide.

“Many of the objects in our collection and on display are survivors of history,” says Sohigian. “Armenians have inhabited those lands for thousands of years, and our cultural heritage has been under threat especially in recent centuries. Our museum is unique in that it preserves and displays many of these artifacts that tell the story of Armenian resilience, creativity, culture, and survival.”

Click here to read the full article:

https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2022/01/h2-armenian-culture

A Tribute to Haig Der Manuelian

Haig Der Manuelian with his beloved wife Adele

This week we remember the five-year anniversary of the passing of Haig Der Manuelian, the larger-than-life Chairman and Co-Founder of the Armenian Museum of America. 

Born in Watertown, he attended Boston Latin School and graduated summa cum laude from Tufts University at the age of 17 and graduated from Harvard Law School before turning 21, having passed the bar exam six months earlier.  

He was a founding member of the Armenian Museum of America, the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, the Armenian Assembly of America, the Council of Armenian Executives, and the AYF’s Camp Haiastan. His parents were survivors of the Armenian Genocide, and he was passionate that all genocides throughout the world be recognized and never forgotten. 

“Haig was a true renaissance man in every way. A visionary, he had a great sense of history and its impact on the future,” recalled Museum President Michele Kolligian. “He was proud of his Armenian heritage and recognized the benefit of being born in this country and the advantages it afforded him throughout his life. The flip side of this high achiever was the sweet and humble boy who never forgot his Armenian roots and family traditions.” 

Fifty years ago, Haig and the late Reverend Vartan Hartunian, a Genocide Survivor and the pastor of the First Armenian Church in Belmont, along with a number of other hard-working founding members, filled the basement of the Church with countless Armenian books and artifacts. This nascent collection of objects became the foundation for what would become the Armenian Museum of America. 

Today that collection has grown and relocated to Watertown, MA, and because of Haig, as he so often stated proudly, it is the largest Armenian museum in the world outside of Armenia. 

“Haig was a man of strength who excelled in every aspect of his life. His devotion and passion for the betterment of the Armenian Museum of America was unwavering. He worked diligently, selflessly, and with great integrity,” continued Kolligian. “Haig demonstrated a deep passion and dedication that made it possible for this institution to thrive and grow into the world-class Museum it is today.”  

This devotion was shared by his loving wife Adele who also volunteered endless hours of her time to the Museum. They donated over a million dollars towards the renovation of the third floor Contemporary Gallery. The Adele and Haig Der Manuelian Galleries are a reminder of their incredible generosity and commitment to the Armenian Museum.  

“Haig was multifaceted in many areas, whether practicing law, reciting Latin, playing tennis, or sailing. He never did things halfway. He was brilliant, intuitive, fearless, passionate, and always determined to do what was correct,” concluded Kolligian. “His commitment and perseverance were the driving force behind all of us who worked alongside him, and his example will guide us to continue his legacy.” 

Armenian Museum of America Partners with TUMO Center for Online Concert

The Armenian Museum of America re-opened in June with three floors of updated exhibitions including ancient and medieval artifacts, displays on folk instruments, and two contemporary art exhibits. At the same time, the Museum is continuing to offer virtual programs for members and supporters around the world.

The next Online Concert hosted by the Museum will feature young vocalists and musicians from the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies. TUMO is a free education center for teens in Armenia specializing in technology and design. The TUMO Band is led by Arik Grigoryan, a member of the popular rock band Bambir. The group met during his music workshop at TUMO and they perform genres from rock to classical, fusing the traditional with the modern.

“Our goal is to return to hosting cultural events such as this in our gallery, but we are happy to host the performances online and to partner with musicians in Yerevan and other cities for our local, national, and international members and friends,” explains Executive Director Jason Sohigian.

“This exciting concert was recorded exclusively for the Armenian Museum, and it is free to attend thanks to a generous grant from the Dadourian Foundation, whose mission is to promote Armenian cultural identity,” adds Sohigian. “We do hope that viewers join the Museum as members, though, as it supports our mission to preserve and share Armenian heritage and culture. We’ve had an impressive response to our 50th anniversary membership drive and would like to continue the momentum.”

TUMO Center for Creative Technologies is made up of self-learning activities, workshops, and project labs that cover technology and design including computer programming, animation, game development, robotics, 3D modeling, filmmaking, and graphic design. More than 20,000 students currently attend TUMO centers in Armenia on a regular basis. In recent years, TUMO centers have opened in Paris, Moscow, Tirana, Berlin, and Beirut.

TUMO’s music program explores many genres and instruments, as well as songwriting, composing, and the use of digital audio software.

The 19 members of the band range in age from 14 to 23, and they go to TUMO twice a week for the afterschool music program. Ten of the group members are vocalists, and others play instruments such as cello, guitar, violin, and flute. This concert will include original songs by the band, as well as music written to accompany stories by Hovhannes Tumanyan, Mesrop Mashtots, and Rumi.

The Armenian Museum of America is the largest Armenian museum in the Diaspora. It has grown into a major repository for all forms of Armenian material culture that illustrate the creative endeavors of the Armenian people over the centuries. Today, the Museum’s collections hold more than 25,000 artifacts including 5,000 ancient and medieval Armenian coins, 1,000 stamps and maps, 3,000 textiles, and 180 Armenian inscribed rugs. In addition to more than 30,000 books in the Research Library, there is an extensive collection of Urartian and religious artifacts, ceramics, medieval illuminations, and various other objects. The collection includes historically significant objects, including five of the Armenian Bibles printed in Amsterdam in 1666.

The Armenian Museum of America is currently open Friday through Sunday from 12:00 noon to 6:00 pm. The concert will stream online on Sunday, October 24 at 2:00 pm EST (11:00 am PST) via the Museum’s Facebook page, YouTube Channel, and website www.ArmenianMuseum.org, and it will be available online for later viewing.