BY KYLA MERWIN

Colorado State University professor Leisl Carr Childers will present a talk exploring how one Armenian American family forged its identity through evangelical Christianity, immigration, and a multigenerational connection to Yosemite National Park this week at The Community Library.

Childers will present “We are a Mountain People” at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, at The Community Library in Ketchum.

Childers is a June Writer-in-Residence with The Library at the historic Ernest and Mary Hemingway House, where the library operates a year-round artist retreat.

“We are a Mountain People” is an ongoing project focusing on the Terzian family and their relocation from Worster, Mass., to Fresno, Calif., in the 1920’s. As survivors of the Armenian Genocide and recent immigrants to the United States, the family sought solace in their Christian faith and in Yosemite National Park.

Following the footsteps of John Muir, the Terzians crafted an American Identity. Through three subsequent generations, this combination of faith and sublime nature has become the family’s signature identity.

When asked about what drew Childers to the Terzian family and what she’s learned researching their story, Childers said: “The Terzians are my maternal great-grandparents. I grew up hearing stories of the Armenian Genocide and visiting Yosemite National Park.

“I had thought that these two frames of reference were unconnected, but as I have read more about the genocide and engaged in a career built on public lands research, I have realized that they are very much connected,” she added. “A decade ago, I started paying closer attention to how my parents and Armenian relatives talked about their family history, their life in Fresno and their time in Yosemite. For them, Yosemite is a generational anchor.”

Childers is an associate professor of history at Colorado State University whose research focuses on the American West, particularly the environmental history and management of public lands.

She is the author of “The Size of the Risk: Histories of Multiple Use in the Great Basin”  (University of Oklahoma Press, 2015), which received the Western Writers of America Spur Award for Contemporary Nonfiction. Her work has been featured in PBS  “Frontline” and “High Country News.”

In addition to her scholarship, Childers has led and collaborated on a range of public history and digital humanities projects, including the Nevada Test Site Oral History Project and My National Parks and the Art of Ranching.

“It’s significant for us to have an historian like Leisl here working on a story that – while not set in our immediate landscape – is grounded in family, human migration, and other themes that resonates around the American West,” said Martha Williams, the Library’s director of programs and education.”

Reserve your seat at https://thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/16567879. Or, watch the discussion online at https://vimeo.com/event/5969766.

The program will be recorded and available to watch later on The Library Archive.