Neatly piled stacks of books – many of them rare – sit atop several tables inside the Mardigian Library waiting to be sorted, cataloged, and, if need be, conserved. Their pages contain stories of Armenia’s 3,000-year history and culture that might otherwise be lost if not for generous donors and dedicated staff.
The titles are “the lifeblood of the library,” said Marc A. Mamigonian, director of academic affairs at the nonprofit National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) in Belmont. The library, located on the second floor of NAASR’s Vartan Gregorian Building on Concord Avenue, is the repository for an extensive collection of books and periodicals as well as audio and video recordings and more. The items are written or recorded in Armenian and other languages and are connected to the country, its history, and culture.
Currently, the 6-year-old facility “holds 38,823 cataloged materials. [But] this figure reflects the number of unique titles and does not account for the quantity of individual items,” said Ani Babaian, NAASR’s library curator. “For example, a periodical appears in the catalog as a single title, even though we may have hundreds of individual issues. Therefore, the actual number of physical items in the collection is considerably higher than the number of cataloged titles.”
The library, which is open to the public by appointment, is a rich resource for academics specializing in Armenian studies and people searching for information on their family’s background.
“This library is not just a museum … the library is alive,” said Babaian, who does the conservation work herself. “That feeling that you are able to help a person find a part of their identity … [saying you feel] happy is not enough.”
In addition to NAASR’s headquarters, Belmont is rich with other locations related to Armenia, including restaurants, bakeries, and churches, not to mention all the resources in nearby Watertown.
Armenian genocide
This year marks the 110th anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide, which began in 1915. Some of the Mardigian Library’s most precious holdings include first-person memorial books as well as videotaped recordings of survivors.
The memorial books, most in Armenian, line the shelves in a dedicated area of the library. Babaian and Mamigonian, a longtime Belmont resident, hope to continue receiving the one-of-a-kind records, because there are few, if any, survivors living today.
“These are very valuable resources for studying” about the Armenian Genocide, said Mamigonian who just returned from a conference in the country. It is “an area of great activity in terms of scholarship.”
In addition to memoirs, the facility owns publications on the genocide, including historical documentation about destroyed cultural monuments and entire towns that no longer exist, among other topics.
NAASR is also creating an online resource guide using the library’s collection to help teachers and students learn more about the tragedy.
In a viewing room near the memoirs, visitors can watch videotaped testimonies from survivors of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust.
“When you are watching a very, very short testimony of a survivor, then you are realizing that it was real – you can feel everything that you read,” said Babaian.
Creating a space for the future
Although NAASR’s Vartan Gregorian Building opened on Nov. 1, 2019, the nonprofit itself has existed since 1955 and previously was located in Boston and Cambridge before moving to Belmont.
In its new headquarters, created by the architecture firm SMMA, the organization offers even more than its impressive scholarly resources – it also sponsors lectures, educational programs, and children’s events throughout the year.
The building was created using “traditional aspects of [Armenian] culture — crafts, language, religious architecture — [that were] reinterpreted through a modern use of steel and glass, stone and wood, and ornament and pattern,” according to SMMA. “The result is a building that captures the forward-looking intent of NAASR’s mission, speaking to the community’s ability to adapt as well as preserve.”
Windows act as the edifice’s front wall, letting in light and creating a welcome, open environment.
Visitors who ascend from the second-floor library to the third floor will find social and educational spaces that include an auditorium as well as letters of the beautifully curved Armenian alphabet adorning the stairway wall.
SMMA took equal care with the outside of the building, which includes the bronze “Eternity” sculpture created by Armenian-American artist Michael Aram, and an intricately hand-carved front door, made in Armenia by Mels Yeghiazaryan.
The form and function of the building are helping NAASR to fulfill its ongoing mission to advance Armenian studies, support scholars, and build “a global community to preserve and enrich Armenian culture, history, and identity for future generations,” according to its website.
More information
- The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research’s (NAASR) Vartan Gregorian Building is located at 395 Concord Ave., in Belmont. The Mardigian Library, located on the second floor, is open by appointment. The bookstore is open Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit https://naasr.org/
- For more information about the SMMA’s architect vision for NAASR’s Vartan Gregorian Building, visit smma.com/project/naasr-vartan-gregorian-armenian-center/
- NAASR’s 70th Anniversary Gala will be held on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. For more information, visit naasr.org/blogs/news/naasr-s-70th-anniversary-gala
