Collecting the Seeds

Folklore is an oral creation transmitted from generation to generation from ancient times, an inseparable companion to man’s and woman’s everyday life and customs. Being simultaneously a testimony of everyday life, a collective manifestation, and an artistic expression or production, the diverse anonymous oral lore contain the stories, the traditions, the particularities of the inner world and the artistic perception of the preceding generations. Woven together, they form a rich tapestry of the human experience.

Mihran Toumajan devoted his entire life to collecting and transcribing folklore. He continued his mentor Komitas Vardapet’s mission and collected countless folklore pieces from Western Armenian informants deported from their homeland as a result of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, who resettled in Diaspora communities, hence preserving the remnants of oral literature still living in their memory. The exhibition “Collecting the Seeds: Mihran Toumajan (1890-1973)” aims to showcase the life and activities of the prominent folklorist, the period, as well as the fields from which he collected the thousand seeds.
The exhibition includes documentation held in archives in Armenia and the United States. Among the exhibits are personal belongings, photographs, letters, documents, manuscripts, printed materials, and archival and new recordings, which are presented to the public for the first time.

Curated by Nairi Khatchadourian