The University Library at Stanislaus State unveiled the Francis Sarguis Modern Assyrian Heritage Collection, which includes 129 in-print books, 23 e-books and six journals, on Wednesday.
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By
Alysson Aredas, December 15, 2016
Surrounded
by a region that has one of the largest concentrations of Assyrians in the
United States, it was only fitting that Stanislaus State’s University Library
welcomed its very own Francis Sarguis Modern Assyrian Heritage Collection
Wednesday among faculty, staff and the greater community.
“It’s
a very important and significant moment for the university and for the
library,” said Stanislaus State President Ellen Junn. “It is certainly one of
the few universities in California that have assembled a collection of modern
Assyrian works and we are very pleased and honored to have it here.”
With
a $50,000 gift in August of last year, Francis Sarguis established the Francis
Sarguis Modern Assyrian Heritage Fund at Stanislaus State in memory of his
mother to allow the university to acquire books and materials about modern
Assyrian culture. On Wednesday, the university unveiled its collection of 129
in-print books, 23 e-books, six journals, and 85 books in cue to be ordered.
“I
can’t tell you how pleased I am by the positive reaction I’ve had from not only
the university, but also from people from my own Assyrian community whom I have
a great deal of respect,” said Sarguis. “It’s been a long time since I’ve
wanted to make a contribution to the advancement of Assyrian modern studies.”
University
Library Dean Ron Rodriguez said that the Modern Assyrian Heritage Collection at
Stanislaus State covers Assyrian history about individuals, events, religion,
migration, societal issues and cultural practices and customs from 300 AD to
present day.
“The
Modern Heritage Collection is highly significant because we foresee that the
library will become the west coast research destination for the history and
culture of the Assyrian people,” said Gonzalez. “In short, it includes all
manifestations of Assyrian experience in any geographical area since 300 AD.”
The
Modern American Heritage Collection is not the only new addition to Stanislaus
State as James Tuedio, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social
Sciences, announced that the university will also be granting the Sarguis
Student Award on an annual basis with the first recipient Katie Jaycox
announced Wednesday.
“The
award was a complete surprise,” said Jaycox, who is currently a master’s
student in history. “This is the perfect university to do this study at, so I
just feel immensely happy and honored.”
Jaycox
said that through her research, she hopes to help more people understand who
Assyrians are — including their culture and the role they play in the community
— by collecting oral histories of local Assyrians.
“The
idea at this point would be to do a social and cultural history of Assyrian
communities in the area starting with getting an understanding of how the
Assyrian communities became established in this area, as well as classic issues
all immigrants face about retaining a distinct cultural identity and connection
to a cultural heritage while at the same time assimilating to a different
environment and different community,” said Jaycox’s thesis supervisor and history
professor Brandon Wolfe-Hunnicutt.
“We
will be using a methodology that is largely going to be reconstructing this
history on the basis of oral histories, interviews, sort of ethnographic
approaches by getting some life stories and trying to construct a grand
narrative through the lens of particular individuals,” continued
Wolfe-Hunnicutt.
In
addition to announcing the first recipient of the Sarguis Student Award, Tuedio
spoke about Stanislaus State’s intent to hire a faculty member whose scholarly
focus will be on the modern Assyrian period.
“As
an academic program develops, the best person to have is a trained faculty
member who is in the position to establish not only their teaching excellence,
but also their scholarly excellence and their service to the campus and
community,” said Tuedio. “We look forward next fall to bring a faculty member
before you whose expertise is in this very area.”
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