Armenians on the Titanic and A Blood-Stained Bible from Urfa

Ararat-Eskijian Museum and National Association for Armenian Studies and Research

Present

Armenians on the Titanic nd A Blood-Stained Bible from Urfa
An Illustrated Lecture by
Dr. Gregory Ketabgian

Armenians on the Titanic

News of a couple getting married at a Milwaukee museum where "Titanic Relics" were exhibited sounded unusual. The fact that the great-grandfather of the
bride was one of the survivors and that he was an Armenian running away fromTurkish persecution aroused even more interest on the subject.
Further research uncovered additional Armenian sojourners who were on the same journey.


Dr. Ketabgian's talk will describe the living conditions in these travelers'homeland villages in the Keghi region at the time and discuss why they were
trying to get away. Numerous difficulties were encountered on their trip overland and at sea to get to their port of embarkation. There will be some
quotations from William Saroyan's writings about his family's travel along similar routes. Ketabgian will also discuss their humble accommodations on the
Titanic as well as how they were rescued.
These Armenians were coming to the New World to work in industrial jobs thatwere readily available and planned to send the money they earned back home to
help their family members.
After 1915 their objectives changed, however, and they tried to create new lives in their adopted country.

A Blood-Stained Bible from Urfa There also will be a short vignette of a "Blood-Stained Bible" from Urfa and its connection to the State Department's denial of the Armenian Genocide.

Dr. Gregory Ketabgian is retired specialist in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology in Pasadena, California. He is an emeritus staff member at Huntington Memorial Hospital and served as Medical Director of Student HealthServices and on the faculty at California Institute of Technology, 1969-1984.
He was elected to the NAASR Board of Directors for Southern California in May
2011.

NAASR