Probing the Photographic Record

United States Consul Leslie A. DavisÕs Photographs of Armenians Slaughtered at Lake Goeljuk, Summer of 1915 [A Groong posting here of a paper originally published in a Festschrift volume in honor of German Journalist and Scholar Wolfgang Gust on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday, 2015. The celebratory volume Festschrift Wolfgang zum 80. Geburtstag printed by Verlag Dinges & Frick, Wiesbaden was edited by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach and is presented here with her kind permission in the hope that it will give our contribution wider distribution and broader coverage....

Armenian Christmas, Theophany, Epiphany, “Little Christmas”, and especially “Le Petit Noël”: trying to make sense of a December 23, 1905 cartoon and its caption. Special to Groong by Abraham D. Krikorian and Eugene L. Taylor LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK The Gregorian calendar that we are all familiar with was promulgated during the reign of Roman Catholic Pope Gregory XIII. The order for change was issued as a Papal Bull in 1582....

**“All Saviour’s Armenian Cathedral, Isfahan, Iran” - a recent addition to our Conscience Films video site on YouTube.*This video will expand some of the imagery presented in the recently released 2017 calendar by the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern). ***Some relevant early 20th century photographs of the dreaded falaka or bastinado (foot torture) are presented as well and attested precisely. Special to Groong by Eugene L. Taylor and Abraham D....

A Scroll Photograph Taken on 16 August 1931 by K.S. Melikian at a Picnic for Körpetsis and Friends Shows Armenians Who Have Gotten on with their Lives Special to Groong by Abraham D. Krikorian and Eugene L. Taylor LONG ISLAND, NY We have made a point of emphasizing the great value of the K.S. Melikian Collection recently deposited in the Library of Congress Prints and Photograph Division. While many photographs go back as far as the Old Country in Eastern Asia Minor, others deal with the recovery of the Armenian communities that had been so devastated in the “Erghir” (the Land, the Earth) in Turkey as a result of the Turkish genocide against the Armenians....

A seemingly innocent photograph of a group of Worcester Armenians and a few of their children born in America could yield considerable information if one wanted to use it as a starting point for discovery, commentary and discussion. Sadly, one day in the not too distant future, someone might only see it as a “problem of perspective or interpretation”. Others might even disrespectfully see it as one of the many “noises of history....

Special to Groong by Eugene L. Taylor and Abraham D. Krikorian, LONG ISLAND, NY “In 1915 the Turkish government began, and ruthlessly carried out, the infamous general massacre and deportation of Armenians in Asia Minor… the clearance of the race from Asia Minor was about as complete an act, on a scale so great, could well be…There is no reasonable doubt that this crime was planned and executed for political reasons....

Special to Groong by Abraham D. Krikorian and Eugene L. Taylor LONG ISLAND, NY INTRODUCTION Normally we try to keep a low profile because it gives us time to do the things that we feel are most important to us. But today we do not hesitate to give ourselves a bit of credit for a job that we think deserves an accolade of Òwell done.Ó [Endnote 1] Over a dozen years ago we initiated a project that we named the ÒMelikian ProjectÓ — so designated because it entailed a substantial effort on our part — in fact, a very major endeavor....

Special to Groong by Abraham D. Krikorian and Eugene L. Taylor LONG ISLAND, NY Some of us recall growing up as first-generation American Armenians and being chided by non-Armenians about the very strange habits of ‘the Armenians.’ ‘They’ “wash” their bread [in reality, only dampening with tap water to render pliable a piece or portion of dry flat bread - referred to as chorr hahts, pahts hahts, *parag hahts [Endnote 1, at end of paper]; *‘they’ “eat sour milk” [madzoon or yogurt, pronounced yogh’ourrtt by Armenians who spoke Turkish, and has become widely used tho’ often ‘camouflaged’ with fruit] and what is ‘really’ weird is that ‘they’ “take bricks to bed in the winter” to keep warm!...

A February 1924 cover photograph of The New Near East magazine asks “Will you send a Valentine to a Near East child — A year of life for $60, or a month for $5?” Is anyone able to provide some precise information on this wonderful photograph? Special to Groong by Eugene L. Taylor and Abraham D. Krikorian LONG ISLAND, NY Last year on Valentine’s Day we had posted for us by Asbed Bedrossian a photograph from the back cover of a copy of The New Near East - volume 6 no....

­­­­­­Armenian News Network / Groong Fund-raising pleas on behalf of “Starving Armenians” at Christmastime: a dramatic word-picture from The Literary Digest for December, 1919; a sketch depicting “Christmas Day in Armenia” on the cover of *New Near East magazine *December, 1921 and a cover from a box of Safety Matches made at the Czech Solo Match Works — the purchase of which goes to the “Benefit of Armenian Orphans.” Special to Groong by Abraham D....