Protestant School School :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Protestant School School

Iran / Western Atrpatakan / Salmast / Haftvan

Historical Introduction

Late in May 1884, a Presbyterian missionary, John Shed, founded a mission centre in Haftvan with the help of two young men who had received education in Urmia.

The Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church (New York, 1885), p. 72.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 183.

On 25 December 1884, Miss Van Duzee, who had quite a good command of Armenian, opened the first mission school for girls in Haftvan. At first it had only 2 pupils, but within several weeks, their number grew to 14.

The Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church (New York, 1885), p. 72.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 183.

In 1886 the Presbyterian missionaries still continued their activities in Haftvan: they had only a chapel with 70 or 80 followers.

The Forty-Ninth Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church (New York, 1886), p. 78.
The Fifty-Second Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church (New York, 1888), p. 88.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 183.

In 1888/1889 the girls’ school had 15 boarding pupils apart from several others who attended daytime classes.

The Fifty-Second Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church (New York, 1888), p. 88.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 184.

An article of 1888 reported that the American Protestant preachers had a mixed-sex school for about 200 children in Haftvan.

Մ. Փիրան, Սալմաստ [M. Piran, “Salmast”], «Արշալոյս» [Arshaluys], no. 18, 26 January 1906, p. 3.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 184.

Another press publication, dating from 1889, stated that “the Protestants of Havtvan also have a female school which is attended by a large number of Armenian and several Assyrian girls.”

A. T. Ye. “A Letter from Persia.” Mshak, no. 85, 1 August 1889, p. 3.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 184.

At the beginning of the academic year 1892/93, the mixed-sex school of the village had 84 pupils, including 80 girls and 4 boys.

Armenia, no. 42, 11 January 1893, p. 3.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 184.

It was also mentioned as functioning in 1893/94.

A. “The Armenians of Persia.” Armenia, no. 19, 22 November 1893, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 184.

An article of 1895 reported that the missionaries “have a female boarding-school in Haftvan which gives elementary education and lessons of Religion. The boarding girls, more than 25 in number, have come from the neighbouring villages and districts. From among the children of Haftvan, 25 girls attend the daytime lessons. Those who do not want, or cannot afford, to pay for textbooks and paper go to the mission school where they get unpaid education and are supplied with all this free of charge. This winter they were able to gather 30 boys in a warm hall and give them lessons of Religion.”

Ararat, no. 6 (1895), p. 219.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 184.

In 1896 “the Protestants have a school which is attended by a great number of Armenian children.”

Պալունի, Վիճակագրական տեղեկութիւն Սալմաստ գաւառի հայ ազգաբնակութեան [Palouny, “Statistical Data Regarding the Armenian Population in Salmast District”], «Նոր-Դար» [Nor-Dar], no. 216, 10 December 1896, p. 2.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 184.

A record of 1898 stated the following: “Apart from the national schools, there is an American mission school in Haftvan and a Catholic one belonging to the Mekhitarists in Savra. It should be noted that the conditions of these establishments are far more miserable and deplorable than those of ours.”

Ararat, no. 9 (1898), p. 404.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 184.

The French ambassador Eugène Aubin, who visited the village in the mid-1900s, later wrote the following: “While in Haftvan, I met some Swiss Protestant missionaries who were under the auspices of the French Government. This unique mission the centre of which is in Zurich, was founded in 1904 by an Armenian preacher named Piran. He is assisted by Miss Mary Bern Walter.”

Eugene Aubin, La Perse d’aujourd’hui: Iran, Mésopotamie, Paris, 1908, p. 62.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 184.

In 1909/1910 reference was made to a Sunday school functioning in Haftvan under the charge of Kasha Yohannan and Karapet Petrossian, who were the assistants of the Presbyterian missionaries.

The Seventy-Third Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church (New York, 1910), p. 340.
Karapetian. Samvel, History of Armenia, Salmast, vol. 2, Yerevan, 2019, p. 184.