On March 11, the Department of the “History of Armenian Colonies and Diaspora” of the Institute of History hosted a presentation of the recently published work in Russian “From the History of Armenian Charity in Tiflis (Second Half of the 19th Century)” by Ruzan Gagik Sargsyan of blessed memory – an employee of the department. Employees of the Institute of History and Ruzan Sargsyan’s relatives and friends were present.

    

In 1981 Candidate of Historical Sciences Ruzan Sargsyan (1959-2014) graduated from the History Department of Yerevan State University. After working for some time in the Armenian Encyclopedia, all her activities were connected with the NAS RA Institute of History, initially having the Armenian Diaspora as a subject of scientific research. Her first detailed scientific study was dedicated to the schools of the Armenian community in Lebanon. Sargsyan collected, elaborated and systematized a unique and large amount of factual material, which became the basis of her dissertation “The Schools of the Armenian Community of Lebanon (1920-1980)”, which she successfully defended in 1991. In the same year it was published in a separate book.

During the presentation, the speakers – Director of the Institute of History, Academician Ashot Melkonyan, Head of Department, D.Sc., Prof. Gevorg Stepanyan, CSc. Seda Muradyan, CSc. Artsvi Bakhchinyan and researcher Elizabeth Tajiryan assessed Ruzan Sargsyan’s work in their speeches. They also assessed her personality as a researcher and person, mentioned the scientific and artistic atmosphere where her personality grew and developed, thanks to her parents – prominent archaeologist, academician Gagik Sargsyan and musicologist Karine Khudabashyan. The speakers mentioned as well that being a diplomat’s wife and accompanying her husband during his business trips, Ruzan Sargsyan tirelessly collected materials on local Armenian communities in Moscow, Almaty, Tbilisi and Warsaw, and published a series of articles on Armenian community schools, charitable and national non-governmental organizations.

Ruzan Sargsyan’s posthumous publication “History of Armenian Charity in Tiflis (Second Half of the 19th Century)” based on Armenian and Russian sources sheds light on one of the typical aspects of the public life of Tiflis Armenian in the 19th century – the charitable activities, highlights the significant role of Armenian individuals and organizations in the environments of Armenians and other nations. The speakers mentioned that being written in Russian, the book should be spread outside Armenia, first of all, in Georgia, where a tendency is observed to ignore the important role of Armenians in the history of Tiflis.