Collections : [University of Michigan Special Collections Research Center]

The Leo and Mary Sarkisian Personal Papers series includes personal scrapbooks, an unpublished memoir by Mary Sarkisian, The Last Three Feet, photographic slides of African men and women used by Sarkisian as inspirations for his paintings, and miscellaneous photographs and personal documents. Two of the scrapbooks are digital surrogates (the originals were lost or destroyed), one of which corresponds to the narrative in the memoir. The scrapbooks include original sketches and copies of sketches by Leo Sarkisian. The series also includes 754 color positive slides (1966-1985) used by Sarkisian as inspirations for his paintings. The paintings were featured in a gallery catalog, Faces of Africa; a copy is included in the VOA Music Library Documents series. Sarkisian's original paintings are not part of this collection, however, thumbnail images of them may be seen in the MTIA archive. The original paintings are held by a gallery in Atlanta, Georgia. Lists of the slides and paintings with information about the date and country in which the image was taken are available in the inventory.

The Leo and Mary Sarkisian Artifacts series contains 86 objects collected by Leo and Mary Sarkisian during their travels in Africa between circa 1959 and 1984. The artifacts are mostly wooden carvings, some are constructed of mixed materials. A few of the items may be of museum quality, most being artisan goods made for tourist markets. A partial inventory includes supplementary information from Leo Sarkisian about where or who made the gift.