Yevnige Baghdasarian (nee Ganimian) collection – Beirut, Lebanon

Author: Yevnige Dokouzlian-Yakoubian, 26/02/24 (Last modified 26/02/24) - Translator: Simon Beugekian

Yevnige Ganimian (later Baghdasarian) was born in 1888, in Marash. Her father, Garabed Ganimian, had studied at the Theological Seminary of Marash, and had served as a preacher in Sis. Her mother, Maryam, was a homemaker. The couple were blessed with six children, two boys and four girls: Eflaton, Dikran, Tamitsa, Yevnige, Flora, and Beatrice.

After graduating in 1910 from the Girls’ College of Marash, Yevnige began a career as an educator, teaching English and related subjects.

From a young age, Yevnige showed an interest in and love for embroidery. Later in life, not only was she known as a skilled embroiderer, but she also taught the art of embroidery to others. She specialized in the Marash, Ourfa, Ayntab, Sivas, and Van styles, as well as lace and canvas.

Yevnige Ganimian married master rug weaver and carpet maker Sdepan Baghdasarian, about whom Scottish missionary Miss Agnes Salmond wrote in 1898: “… We found an expert rugmaker called Sdepan Baghdasarian. Then, we built a new building on one side of the orphanage and placed a few looms in it… Now, about 40 young women and widows work there…” [1]

The couple were blessed with two children, Jirayr-Wilson and Asdghig. The latter was born in 1923, after the final expulsion of Armenians from Cilicia, on the road to exile in Suedia (Syria). Sdepan wanted to name her Aksor (“exile” in Armenian) as a reference to the family’s tribulations, but consented to Asdghig.

The family moved from Syria to Beirut and settled in a camp of huts adjacent to the Armenian Evangelical Church in the city’s Achrafieh district. With their hard work, Sdepan and Yevnige were able to build a one-story house, with its own basement, in the Geitawi neighborhood. After the move to the new house, Yevnige transformed the basement of the house into an embroidery workshop. She enrolled about fifty widows and orphaned girls, whom she taught various styles of embroidery. The workshop soon became a business that produced commercial products. Its main client was the Near East Relief organization, which bought the embroidery, both ready-made and on order, and exported it to the United States, where it was sold in its centers and embroidery shops.

Yevnige also taught embroidery to her sisters, and later to her daughter. According to Yevnige’s sister Beatrice’s granddaughter, Hermine (USA), who personally knew Yevnige, “aunt” Yevnige had taught various styles of embroidery to her mother. These included the Marash style and canvas, which was worked on English “keten” by count. Thanks to this, Beatrice was able to earn a living and provide for her family.

When she wasn’t busy with embroidery, Yevnige Ganimian-Baghdasarian was actively involved in religious education and preaching. She was often invited to speak or lecture to women’s organizations. Throughout the years, she shared her knowledge and wisdom with many audiences.

Yevnige Ganimian-Baghdasarian passed away in 1955, at the age of 67, after a months-long battle against illness.

Yevnige’s daughter, Asdghig, married and raised three daughters – Grace, Yevnige, and Shoghig. Asdghig bequeathed the embroidery that she had inherited from her mother, a collection of more than 50 items, to her daughters. Almost all these items were embroidered at least a century ago.

[1] Hraztan Tokmadjian, Marashi Aseghnakordzoutyun [The Embroidery of Marash], published by the Marash Compatriotic Union and the Kermanig Vasbouragan Cultural Association, Aleppo, 2010.