From 1911 on, the AGBU relied on the United Association (Miatsyal) to help it carry out its educational mission. Miatsyal agreed to shoulder responsibility for the twenty-six elementary schools that had been newly founded or were then being built in Sghert and the Sasun region—in Deh, Hazro, Redvan, Zok, Kubin, Hop, Malafan, Grasera, Kerik, Gundejane, Isa-Punar, Hashter, Helin, and Bashnik—as well as in Albistan, Gaban, Vahka, and Kebusiye. The Union also decided to establish a teacher-training institute in Van, working in this case, too, with Miatsyal, which sent a representative, Prof. H. Hagopian, to Cairo to conduct preliminary discussions. It soon transpired that, as was only to be expected, “good schoolteachers were few and far between,” so that the AGBU “was hard pressed to find people qualified to teach in the schools [it] was building.”34
In this eight-month period, the Union’s revenues totaled 5,094 E.P., while its standing capital came to 15,109 E.P. In the same period, its expenditures on various programs totaled 1,795 E.P., 1,150 of which were spent on education. The remainder of its outlays went for the livestock and seed that it provided to indigent farmers in Mush and Najarlu, Cilicia, and for the anvils and other tools needed in Dalvorik, a village in the Sasun district.
In 1910, new chapters were opened in Van, Banderma, Afion-Karahisar, Beirut, Dörtyol, Jerusalem, Tokat, Alexandretta, Trebizond, Samsun, Salonika, Sis, Adana, Kesaria, Vienna, Marseille, Antwerp, Geneva, Leminster, Paterson, and Middleboro, as well as in Khartum, Aintab, London, Brussels, West Hoboken, Troy, and Hartford. Read all
The AGBU and its Mission, 1909-1912
Dikran Khan Kelegian (1868-1951), a native of Cesarea, Persian consul in New York, Paris antique dealer, and philanthropist (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
AGBU branches founded in fiscal year 1909-1910 [cont.]
United States
* New York: Dr. A. Ayvazian, M. Karagueuzian, Dr. S. Kaprielian, V. Kurkjian, B. Kaftanian, K. Benneyan, H. Hurmuz, L. Gosdikian.
* Boston: K. Ekserjian, K. Manugian, A. B. Selian, K. Krikorian, M. Mardigian, H. Kalemkiarian, N. Tufenkjian.