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AGMA: Boy Scouts Of America Help Preserve Future Site of AGMA

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  • AGMA: Boy Scouts Of America Help Preserve Future Site of AGMA

    PRESS RELEASE
    For Immediate Release
    October 2, 2009
    Contact: Press Office
    Email: [email protected]
    Phone: (202) 383-9009

    BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA HELP PRESERVE FUTURE SITE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
    MUSEUM OF AMERICA

    Washington, DC - As part of their community service program, a Boy
    Scouts of America troop from the Washington, DC, region is
    volunteering to help preserve the National Bank of Washington (NBW)
    building, which is a designated site on the National Register of
    Historic Buildings.

    As plans proceed to convert the 1920s structure into the Armenian
    Genocide Museum of America (AGMA), the preservation of the historic
    building has remained one of the priorities of the museum project. The
    renovation plans will restore the site to its original grandeur, as
    well as allow for the installation of full-scale exhibits on the
    tragic ordeal of the victims and the long struggle of the survivors.
    The NBW structure has historic designation for both the exterior and
    the interior main hall of the former bank space.

     "As we pull together the AGMA plans and exhibits, we also want this
    historic site to be presentable and available to the local community,"
    said Van Z. Krikorian, museum trustee and chairman of the project's
    building and operations committee. "We are honored by the offer of the
    Boy Scouts of America to pitch in with our efforts to improve the site
    for public use.  Their volunteer spirit exemplifies the best of our
    country's values and is especially appropriate since the Boy Scouts of
    America in the past honored Armenian Assembly of America chairman and
    AGMA board of trustees chairman Hirair Hovnanian with their
    Distinguished Service Award for serving on their National Board."

    The reviews and approvals of the District of Columbia Historic
    Preservation Review Board (HPRB) and the architectural plans developed
    according to HPRB specifications have clarified which portions and
    what details of the existing structure must be preserved and will be
    renovated.  The review also identified aspects to the interior of the
    building that were later additions or are features that do not
    constitute part of the original integrity of the historic building.

    Not by coincidence AGMA is located on The Extra Mile: Points of Light
    Volunteer Pathway, which is a new national monument dedicated to the
    spirit of service in America.  The Extra Mile honors heroes of the
    nation's service movement with a series of large bronze medallions,
    including William D. Boyce, founder of the Boy Scouts of America.
    Other honorees include suffragist Susan B. Anthony, abolitionist
    Frederick Douglas, advocate for the blind Helen Keller, civil rights
    leader Martin Luther King, Jr., Special Olympics founder Eunice
    Kennedy Shriver, and American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, who led
    American relief efforts in response to the 1896 Armenian massacres.
    The AGMA offices are also located across the street from the Church of
    the Epiphany, which is one of the starting points of the Civil War to
    Civil Rights: Downtown Heritage Trail.

    The Armenian Genocide Museum of America is an outgrowth of the
    Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian National Institute
    (ANI), catalyzed by the initial pledge of Anoush Mathevosian toward
    building such a museum in Washington, DC.

    ###

    NR#2009-04
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