1980_04 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper April 1980

              April, 1980
Hye Sharzhoom
Page 7
CSUF to house Armenian National Museum
The Armenian National Museum
and Cultural Center project is gaining
momentum with the decision to begin
a major effort starting this spring to
bring the proposed building to CSUF.
The project, a substantial architectural complex, will house an Armenian
museum, the Center for Armenian
Studies and Research, elaborate document archives, a library, a meeting
hall and conference rooms, photography storage and film archives,
conservation laboratory and restoration
facilities, a small auditorium, and projection rooms.
The multi-million dollar project was
conceived shortly after the death of Dr.
Louise Nalbandian, Professor of Armenian History at CSUF, in late 1973.
A group of individuals close to Prof.
Nalbandian initiated a plan to build
a museum and center partly in her
memory. Among those most active
in the project was brother Al Nalbandian, the famous art collector of San
Francisco. Mr. Nalbandian promised
the organizers of the project and Dr.
Norman Baxter, former president of
CSUF, that if a suitable museum building was erected on the CSUF campus
he would donate his collection of Armenian painting, drawings, books,
manuscripts and art objects. In addition to works by Arshile Gorky,
Sarkis Khachadourian, Pushman
and others, Mr. Nalbandian owns
more than 100 works of the famous
turn-of-the-century French artist of
Armenian     origin,     Edgar     Chahine.
The university, under Dr. Baxter's
direction, accepted in principle the
Armenian museum idea and even
suggested as a possible site the area
near the corner of Maple and Shaw.
A series of proposed designs were
executed by the San Francisco architectural firm of Albert Seyranian and
Associates. One of the most popular
of the designs is a modern four-level
structure owing a clear debt to traditional Armenian church architecture.
This building would have approximately 60,000 square feet of usable
space and would include, in addition
to a series of galleries, a sculpture
garden, a museum bookshop, administrative offices and study areas.
CSUF's new President, Dr. Harold
H. Haak, is solidly behind the project,
a unique enterprise by and for one
of the unique ethnic groups of the
multi-culture San Joaquin Valley.
One proposal now being investigated is
the establishment of a separate foundation to oversee the raising of funds
for the building and to administer
it once it has been realized. The foundation would lease university land at
an agreed nominal price for a definite
time period, but would retain control
of the decision on the use of the building
within limits acceptable to the Board
of Trustees and the Chancellor's Office
of the California State University and
College system.
With the support of Dr. Haak and Dr.
Joseph Satin, Dean of the School of
Humanities and an early supporter
of the project, Dr. Dickran Kouymjian,
director of Armenian Studies at CSUF,
is currently forming an Armenian
Studies Advisory Board as well as
a Museum Foundation Board to put
the machinery in order for a massive
local and national fund-raising drive.
Mr.  Leon Peters  has  also been very
close to the development of the project
The Armenian Museum will be a
unique structure, comparable only to
the Matenadran, the Museum of Man-
scripts, in Yerevan, Armenia. It will
be the most important general Armenian
museum, research, and cultural complex
in the world. Already various individuals have pledged significant collections of Armenian art and archive
documentation for preservation, safe
keeping, and study in the proposed
museum.
The large Armenian community
of Fresno and the Valley will benefit
by having in its midst the outstanding
Armenian cultural center in the Western
World. Many observers feel that this
important project is just what Fresno
Armenians need to rally around and use
as a creative vehicle for the exposure
of Armenia' s rich 3000-year-old culture
-\/TS/
to fellow Fresnans and the rest of the
world.
An open letter regarding
Armenian scholarships
Dear Fellow Armenians:
Each year more than a million dollars is given to Armenian university
students in the form of scholarships.
You and your organizations are to be
commended for having placed a priority on the higher education of Armenian youth by establishing a vast and
generous network of scholarships
and aids to enable outstanding students
with financial need to attend college
with greater ease. Rarely has Armenian money been better invested.
I would like to ask each of you to consider adopting a plan in the awarding
of all your scholarships to Armenian
students. The provisions will directly
aid the students and institutions where
the instruction is provided. Under
the plan, students given awards
would be required to enroll in at least
one course in Armenian
studies during the academic year that the scholarship is in effect, providing that the college or
university offered such
a course. Any area would
be acceptable: Armenian
history, language, art
literature, or other related
disciplines.
Since there are now
so many academic institutions in the United
States which offer either
Armenian studies or
occasional courses — W
Harvard, Columbia,
Pennsylvania, UCLA,
CSUF, Michigan, Berkeley, Wayne State, Ob-
erlin, Boston U., etc. —
Such a plan would be
more than just theore
tical.
With such a system,
the following would be
accomplished. Armenians who provide scholarships would take comfort in knowing that part
of their funds are being
used to increase aware
ness of recipients in the language or
culture of Armenia's rich past. At the
same time, Armenian studies programs
which are for the most part funded
~ and generously so - by many of the
same individuals and organizations
providing scholarship money, would
benefit by increased enrollments and a
more dynamic curriculum.
The system, if properly adhered
to, would provide a totally new impetus
for Armenian studies in this country,
exposing students to courses they
normally would not have taken, and
teachers to students they could not
have reached before. *\irther, it would
assure also that the hundreds, perhaps,
thousands, of Armenian college students
currently benefiting from Armenian
scholarship money would leave college
with some exposure to Armenian culture
taught on a high-academic level.
I have already proposed this idea
informally to many of you and  your
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In recent months all those who have
been informed of the project have
responded with overwhelming enthusiasm. It is felt that the multi-
million dollar project, though ambitious, will succeed through a combination of major local donations, national
and international Armenian contributions, and matching grants from the
United States government agencies
such as the National Endowment for
the Humanities.
Those seeking more information
on the Armenian Museum project
or wishing to work on various committees, including fund raising, may
write to Dr. Dickran Kouymjian, Armenian National Museum Project, c/o
Armenian Studies Program, CSUF,
Fresno, CA 93740, or call (209) 487-
2832.
organizations. Through this open letter
I would ask you to take up the matter
formally and if possible initiate action
before the coming 1980-81 academic
year. At Fresno State, two of our scholarship funds, the annual Knights
of Vartan Scholarship and the Charles
Patigian Scholarship, already contain
this restriction and in no way has the
qualifications of taking one course
in Armenian studies hampered the
awarding of grants.
I would hope that by this relatively
simple step we would embark on a new
era where interests in Armenian studies
would be automatically built into the
funding system. D _ _
Respectfully yours,
Prof. Dickran Kouymjian
Director, Armenian Studies Program
An Open Letter to:
Calouste       Gulbenkian       Foundation
Armenian   General   Benevolent   Union
Armenian Relief Society
Armenian Missionary Assoc, of America
Armenian   American   Citizens   League
Armenian Students Association
All Armenian Organizations and
Individuals     Awarding      Scholarships
Armenian Newspapers and Periodicals
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