Vardanants Day Armenian Lecture Series

Sponsored by the Near East Section

The Vardanants Day Armenian Lecture series was created soon after Mrs. Dadian's bequest (1991) to the Library for the health and maintenance of the Armenian collections and the subsequent employment of a new Armenian area specialist in 1993. The Near East Section planned the series to highlight all aspects of Armenian life and culture and the role of the Library of Congress' collections in the study of all things Armenian.

The series itself is named after the Armenian holiday that commemorates the battle of Avarayr (AD 451) which was waged by the Armenian commander- in- chief Vardan Mamikonian and his compatriots against Persian troops, which had been sent by the King of Kings in an attempt to reimpose Zoroastrianism on the Christian state. Although primarily a religious holiday, it also celebrates as well Armenia's success in its millennia-long struggles against various forces of assimilation.

For additional information on Vardanants Day, please click here.

13th.: September 27, 2007
United States-Armenian Relations, 1991-2006:
A Conversation with Our First Five Ambassadors

12th.: April 28, 2005
Edward Alexander, retired Foreign Service officer and author, delivered the
Twelfth Annual Vardanants Day Armenian Lecture,
"Diplomacy and the Armenian Factor."

11th.: May 21, 2003
Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D, NJ) Co-chair, Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues
" The U.S. Congress and Armenia Today"

10th.: April 22, 2002
Michael C. Lemmon, Dean, School of Language Studies (FSI)
" Reflections on Armenia's Place in the Region and in The World."

9th.: April 16, 2001
Sahan Arzruni
" The Sharakan: Crown Jewel of the Armenian Liturgy"

8th.: April 19, 2000
Ambassador Harry J. Gilmore (Retired)
" Twenty-Six Months in the Reborn Republic of Armenia: My Mission as the First U.S. Ambassador to Armenia"
(Click here for text of lecture)

7th.: April 7, 1999
Professor Richard G. Hovannisian UCLA
" The First (1918-1921) and Present (1991-) Republics of Armenia: Does History Repeat Itself?"

6th.: April 23, 1998
Professor Robert H. Hewsen Rowan University
" The Meliks of Karabagh: An Armenian History"

5th.: June 3, 1997
The Very Reverend Father Krikor H. Maksoudian Director, Krikor and Clara Zohrab Armenian Information Center New York, NY
" Religion in the Republic of Armenia"

4th.: May 1, 1996
Professor Ronald G. Suny University of Chicago
" Nation-making, Nation-breaking, and the End of Empire: A New Perspective on the Events of 1915"

3rd.: April 7, 1995
Dr. Nina G. Garsoïan Professor emerita, Columbia University
" Iranian Elements in Early Armenian Christianity"

2nd: February 11, 1994
The Very Reverend Father Krikor H. Maksoudian Director,
Krikor and Clara Zohrab Armenian Information Center New York, NY
" Religion in the Republic of Armenia"

[NB: Lecture canceled after all government buildings were closed due to a severe snow storm. Father Krikor's lecture became Vardanants Lecture number 5]

1st: February 12, 1993
Professor Lucy Der Manuelian Tufts University
" Armenian Manuscripts, Monasteries and Miracles in the Middle Ages"