Genocide scholar Roger Smith donates personal library to Armenian Genocide museum of America

PanARMENIAN.Net - Roger Smith, professor emeritus of government at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and a co-founder and past president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) has donated his personal library of books on the subject of genocide to the Armenian Genocide Museum of America (AGMA).



In making this gift, Dr. Smith shared the following thoughts: "I had long been involved with various Armenian scholarly organizations, had given talks about the Genocide, and especially denial, to many Armenian community groups, but I had also been deeply committed to educating a new generation of scholars who could carry on the work begun by some of us twenty-five years ago. I offered my collection of books to the Armenian Genocide Museum of America to provide materials that could help educate scholars and policy makers about the Genocide, but also as a kind of fulfillment, and continuation, of my association with a people whose cause I had come to care about deeply."



Trustee of the museum and chairman of its building and operations committee Van Z. Krikorian welcomed the gift as a valuable addition to the resources being assembled to create a state-of-the-art museum facility in the nation's capital.



"As an educator and as a human rights advocate, Dr. Smith has selflessly dedicated his time to speak on the Armenian Genocide at international conferences, in lecture halls and in the classroom," Krikorian said. "In 2000 he was invited by the House International Affairs Committee to testify in Congress about the Armenian Genocide resolution then under consideration, and all Armenians owe him our gratitude for that and so much more. We are so very grateful to him for his generosity and express our deep appreciation for his strong support."