An Armenian Library is closed: Personal libraries – 2/2 –

The attached is my continued translation of an article Dr. Armenag Yeghiayan penned a few years ago regarding the closure of Armenian libraries (see the link below). The first segment dealt with the closure of the New York Armenian Community Center’s library and is linked below. This segment pertains to personal libraries. Vaհe H Apelian

First row: Ardashes Der-Khachadourian personal library, Ardashes Der-Khachadourian.
Second Row: Hagop Iskenderian, Vahe-Vahian

Ardashes Der-Khachadourian’s library

The library of Ardashes Der-Khachadourian, most likely was the most magnificent personal Armenian library in the entire Diaspora rivaling the Matenadaran in Armenia, the library of the Cilician See and the library of Haigazian University in Beirut. It too suffered a fate similar to the library of the New York Armenian Community Center.

In the last years of his life, Ardashes Der-Khachadourian tried to sell it, but was unsuccessful. After his death, which came as a complete surprise, his heirs tried to sell it within Lebanon, but were also unsuccessful. In the end, the representative of the Armenian Department of the British Library in London bought the entire collection and took it to England. What fate awaits those books, which were the result of a teacher’s entire life’s work, struggle, and hardships, is difficult to guess. But it is also difficult to expect that there would be people waiting in line to read them. 

Hakob Iskenderian’s library

A slightly different fate befell on the library of Hakob Iskenderian, which, although did not have the numerical wealth of its predecessor Ardasher Der-Khachadourian’s library, was probably not less to it or any other library in terms of the quality of its books. Those books covered almost all the walls of the apartment. After his untimely death, the books began to oppress and haunt his widow as everyday reminders, to the point that she finally decided to get rid of them. Help came from Zaven Yegavian, the current director of the Armenian Department of the Gulbenkian Institute, who bought them all and gathered them in his apartment in Jal El Dib, which remains closed for almost twelve months of the year, and no one opens the pages of those books.

Vahe-Vahian’s Lbrary

More fortunate than the previous two was the Vahe-Vahian’s library, which also was a gem in its own right, assembled with the greatest taste, thanks to the long-term sacrifices of the teacher and poet Vahian. He was already 82 years old, and had very difficult vision problems. “My eyes are so weak that I have great difficulty reading, even with the help of a strong magnifying glass”, he had confided in a letter. And when at the suggestion of the buyer, a lecturer of Armenian language and literature in Michigan, Vahe-Vahian described the assembly of his library, he wrote: “my eyes began to water in a state of mind for writing an obituary”. In this case, an opposite movement took place. That magnificent and exquisite library went from Middle East to the United States to establish a site under the auspices of the American Armenology Department.  What exactly is its fate there, how much Armenians and Armenology benefit from it, we do not know ( see note 1). We only know that Vahe-Vahian replaced the light he lost in his eyes with something else. By bringing together all the money he had, he established a foundation that is still operates to this day, 20 years after his death, by allocating annually funds towards the publication of a worthy work on Armenology.

It is in such variegated ways that Diaspora Armenian libraries are fading away or disappearing before our helpless, sometimes indifferent eyes.

And now, here was the news of the closing of the doors of the New York Armenian community’s, a century old public library.

How can we not recall the poet’s well-known lament: "The language in which I wrote, a few on the face of the earth read, they too dwindled”.

Vahan Tekeyan had spent many difficult days. He had even had experienced the bitter taste of hunger. Contemporaries told the writer sometimes would come to the editorial office of "Zartonk" hungry, relying on Parounak Tovmasian, from whom he would borrow a meager sum, as a monthly stipend, for sustenance with a daily plate of ful (see note 2). But we find no hint of personal bitterness in his prose or verse. 

There are two things, however, towards which he could not remain indifferent. Tekeyan lamented the loss of one of his eyes (see note 3), and the loss of Armenian readership.

***

Note: 1           According to a reliable source, Vahe-Vahian’s personal library is at Harvard University.

Note 2: Ful (Foul) Medames—a Middle Eastern/North African dish of stewed fava beans—is an exceptionally cheap, healthy, and filling diet component. It is widely considered one of the most budget-friendly, nutrient-dense meals available.

Note 3:         “He (Vahan Tekeyan) closed his one and only eye to the world, his other eye having fallen victim to his political adversaries. He was an early casualty for the cause of freedom of speech as thugs beat him to death in 1916 for an editorial he had written. But he survived with one eye blinded. Later on, he composed one of the most disturbing and movingly tragic poems about his eye titled, “My Only One”. (Edmond Y. Azadian, 2010). 

Link 1:  An Armenian Library is Closed: New York Community Center: https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2024/01/an-armenian-library-is-closed.html

Link 2:       ԳՐԱԴԱՐԱՆ ՄԸՆ ԱԼ ԿԸ ՓԱԿՈՒԻ:                                                      http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2018/03/blog-post.html