sara sohigian magarian collection
When Sara Sohigian Magarian (1909–1993) passed away, the family’s collection of textiles came to rest in her granddaughter Deborah Valoma’s hands. A cedar chest and numerous boxes were packed full of heirloom textiles; the most precious were crafted in the ancestral villages of the Ottoman Empire and miraculously rescued from the chaos of the early 1895 massacres and later 1915 genocide. Others, including those stitched by her grandmother, great grandmother, aunties, and cousins, were made in the Armenian-American diaspora.
The collection includes knitting, crocheting, tatting, bobbin lace, drawnwork, cutwork, embroidery, and most importantly, Armenian needlelace. As Deborah asserts: “The fact that my foremothers carefully protected their handwork and passed them to my grandmother for safekeeping underscores the importance they placed on textiles as holders of personal memories and cultural histories.”
After washing, cataloging, photographing, and properly storing each piece in archival tissue and boxes, Deborah began creating a database. Some of the makers' names were written down by her grandmother, but the provenance of other pieces remains a mystery even after careful research. Using photographs, her grandmother’s occasional notations, and official records (ship manifests, naturalization papers, marriage licenses, and death certificates) she was able to match some of the textiles to seven women on her family tree—mapping a kind of familial network of shared materiality.
To see more of the collection—including other techniques—go to Deborah Valoma’s website.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Satinig Chopoorian, four needlelace-trimmed collars, Kharpert, Armenian Highlands, present-day Turkey, early 1910s. Deborah Valoma found these four collars in her grandmother's collection tucked into a handkerchief with a note describing their origins. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Satinig Chopoorian, four needlelace-trimmed collars, Kharpert, Armenian Highlands, present-day Turkey, early 1910s. These finely made lace-trimmed collars were sent to Sara Sohigian when she was a small child in Fresno by her first cousin Satinig Chopoorian while she was still a student at Euphrates College and right before she died on the death march to Aleppo. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Satinig Chopoorian, four needlelace-trimmed collars with paper note stitched to one (detail), Kharpert, Armenian Highlands, present-day Turkey, early 1910s. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara's mother Margrit Varteresian Sohigian (attributed), twin needlelace pillowcase trims, Kenosha, Wisconsin or Fresno, California, early twentieth century. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2023.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara's mother Margrit Varteresian Sohigian, (attributed), two needlelace-trimmed silk handkerchiefs, Kenosha, Wisconsin or Fresno, California, early twentieth century. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Unknown maker, twin needlelace doilies, unknown provenance, ca. twentieth century. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2026.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara Sohigian Magarian, child's cotton apron with needlelace trim, Fresno, California, ca. 1916–1918. Sara's note states: "My hand work as a child. Apron and edging when 7 or 8 or 9." Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Unknown maker, needlelace doily, ca. early- to mid-twentieth century. Sara Sohigian Magarian's note states: "Someone from the old country gave it to Mrs. Mulkigian and she gave it to me." Tourvanda Magarian Mulkigian, who lived in Lowell, Massachusetts, was the sister of Sara's father-in-law Garabed Magarian. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2026.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara Sohigian Magarian, needlelace-trimmed linen handkerchiefs (pink handkerchief trimmed with tatted edging), Fresno, California, ca. twentieth century. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara Sohigian Magarian, twin needlelace doilies, Fresno, California, ca. mid-twentieth century. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara Sohigian Magarian, needlelace doily, Fresno, California, ca. mid-twentieth century. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara Sohigian Magarian, needlelace doily, Fresno, California, ca. mid-twentieth century. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara Sohigian Magarian, needlelace doily, Fresno, California, dated 8-23-88. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara Sohigian Magarian, needlelace doily, Fresno, California, dated 9-17-88. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara Sohigian Magarian, needlelace doily, 1988. Note stitched to doily reads: "This one I did in mid June 1988." Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara Sohigian Magarian, needlelace medallions, Fresno, California, ca. mid- to late-twentieth century. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.
Sara Sohigian Magarian Collection. Sara Sohigian Magarian, needlelace medallions, Fresno, California, made towards the end of her life in the 1980s. Photo credit: © Deborah Valoma 2018.