ALMA, NAASR to Screen ‘Armenians of Hood Rubber’ Film

WATERTOWN, Mass.—On Thurs., March 11, the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) and National Association of American Studies and Research (NAASR) will screen “Destination Watertown: The Armenians of Hood Rubber,” a documentary film by Roger Hagopian at the NAASR Center. Hagopian will be on hand to discuss the creation of this unique record of an important slice of Armenian American history.

“Destination Watertown: The Armenians of Hood Rubber” documents the Hood Rubber Company of Watertown, Mass., which employed many immigrants, including many Armenians, whose community evolved in the shadow of the factory’s giant smokestack. Indeed, the plant provided the impetus for the formation of the Armenian community of Watertown. The plant opened in 1896, attracting Armenian immigrants newly arrived from the Ottoman Empire, including refugees from the Hamidian Massacres of the mid-1890’s.

Hood Rubber became a subsidiary of B. F. Goodrich in 1929, and the factory survived the great Depression and thrived during World War II. It closed in 1969.

Hagopian conducted extensive research and carried out numerous interviews with former factory employees of Armenian descent, as well as other East Watertown residents and descendants of the Hood family. The documentary combines interview footage with historic photographs, maps, documents, artifacts, and images of the remnants of the old factory, once one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Workers recount life on the conveyor belt and other harsh working conditions, yet many remember their time at the plant with gratitude, affection, and humor. Others fondly remember the famous “sneaker” test whereby the durability of the product was demonstrated through daily activities of local kids.

Award-winning filmmaker Roger Hagopian’s other videos include “Memory Fragments of the Armenian Genocide” (2007), “Our Boys: Armenian American World War II Veterans” (2006), “Journey of an Armenian Family” (1999) and “Memories of Marash: Legacy of a Lost Armenian Community” (2002), which received the Comcast Regional Award for Best Documentary Film.

The event is free and open to the public. It begins at 7:30 p.m. at the NAASR Center, 395 Concord Ave. in Belmont, Mass. For more information, visit ALMA’s website www.almainc.org or email NAASR at hq@naasr.org.