While the Genocide of 1915-1923 is relatively well-known to the public today given its place in on the world stage of World War I, it was not the first time the Ottoman Empire had tried to eradicate the Armenian population from their ancestral lands. Between 1894 and 1896 an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 Armenians were murdered in what became known as the Hamidian Massacres. As in the Armenian Genocide, many children were left orphaned by this tragedy and orphanages had to find a means by which to raise money to care for the influx of children. Like the orphanages in the early 20th century, these institutions taught the children a skill and had them produce wares sold to the public. This rug from an Agin orphanage is one of these items but particularly interesting because it is not made of wool like most rugs – it is made of silk and has an inscription from the Bible in English that reads: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the my brethren then these least ye did it unto me" (Matthew 25:40). Click on the image to hear Collections Curator Gary Lind-Sinanian tell the fascinating tale of why this rug came to be and how it came to the Museum.