This collection of materials documents the life of Reverend Hovhannes Eskijian (1882-1916). Eskijian was active in Syria during the Armenian genocide and helped many orphans and other refugees to survive prior to own death of typhus in 1916. His family -- Gulenia (wife, 1888-1946), John Emanuel (son, 1911-2010) and Luther (son, 1913-2007) -- emigrated to Pasadena, California in 1920. The History of The Eskijians provides further information about Hovhannes Eskijian and his family.

The documents gathered here were primarily intended as research material for a biography of Hovhannes Eskijian. Gulenia and Luther Eskijian amassed most of the documents, consisting mainly of correspondence, testimonials, articles, and photographs, which were ultimately scanned from originals and photocopies by Luther Eskijian. Much of the material is in Armenian or Turkish (Armenian script) and a few other languages (English, French, Arabic, Russian). There are English translations or English summaries of some of the documents, mostly made by Hovsep O. Janjikian.