Vera Marion Beaudin Saeedpour (pronounced sah-EED-por; ''née'' Fine; March 27, 1930 – May 30, 2010) was an American researcher and scholar who specialized in the study of

Kurdish people ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

. She founded the

Kurdish Heritage Foundation of America Kurdish Heritage Foundation of America, also known as Kurdish Library and Museum, was a cultural organization based in Brooklyn, New York. It collected items related to Kurdish culture, literature and history. Its library contained around 3,000 v ...

, the first library and museum in the United States dedicated to the subject. The foundation was located in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Early life

Saeedpour was born Vera Marion Fine in

Barre, Vermont Barre, Vermont may refer to: *Barre (city), Vermont *Barre (town), Vermont Barre ( ) is a New England town, town in Washington County, Vermont, Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 7,923 at the 2020 census, making it the 3r ...

on March 27, 1930, to Jewish immigrants from Russia. Her father sold scrap metal and rags for a living. She grew up in the only Jewish family in the town. At age 17, she eloped with Marcel Beaudin and moved to

, where she worked at a bakery. She later spent eight years working as an assistant to

real estate developer

Seymour Durst Seymour Bernard Durst (September 7, 1913 – May 15, 1995) was an American real estate investor and developer. He was the creator of the National Debt Clock. Early life and education Durst was born in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Ne ...

. The couple had four sons, Marc, Paul, Adam and Jeb, and one daughter, Rebecca. Their marriage ended in divorce. At age 40 she enrolled at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

, where she earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

. After her divorce from Beaudin, she enrolled at

Teachers College, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served as one of the official faculties and ...

, where she earned a Ph.D. in 1976. While at Columbia, she moved to an apartment in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

. When her home was robbed, she called out to a man in an apartment across the street to ask if he had witnessed the

burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...

. That man, Homayoun Saeedpour, a 26-year-old Kurd from

Sanandaj Sanandaj (Persian: سنندج, ; ku, سنە, Sine, often romanized as Senneh, is the capital of Kurdistan Province in Iran. With a population of 414,069, Sanandaj is the twenty third largest city in Iran and the second largest Kurdish city. San ...

, later rang her doorbell and offered cake and flowers. They married soon after.

Kurdish interest

After her marriage to Saeedpour, Vera developed an interest in the plight of the Kurdish people. She was unfamiliar with the Kurds and their history when she first met her husband, but a decade later she felt she got to "know the Kurds better than any Westerner living". At one point, in need of a bone marrow transplant to treat his

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

, her husband's doctor refused to treat him, believing that he was

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. They were married 5 years. Following her husband's death, in 1986, Saeedpour opened the

with a library in her Prospect Heights, Brooklyn brownstone. The museum, opened in 1988, was the first museum with a focus on the Kurds in the United States. The library contained more than 3,000 texts in

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

and other languages, as well as Kurdish artifacts, art, costumes and maps. After her death the collection was donated to the

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

by her children. For 15 years Saeedpour published a comprehensive and insightful quarterly on the middle east called Kurdish Life and edited the ''

International Journal of Kurdish Studies The ''International Journal of Kurdish Studies'' () is an academic journal published by the Kurdish Library, and was edited by Vera Beaudin Saeedpour. It publishes scholarly articles about Kurdish culture, literature, and history History (d ...

'' as part of the Kurdish Program she established together with anthropologists at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and

Cultural Survival Cultural Survival (founded 1972) is a nonprofit group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, which is dedicated to defending the human rights of indigenous peoples. History Cultural Survival was founded by anthropologist David Maybur ...

. Before the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, she organized a speaking tour for Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani, later to become

President of Iraq The president of Iraq is the head of state of Iraq and "safeguards the commitment to the Constitution and the preservation of Iraq's independence, sovereignty, unity, the security of its territories in accordance with the provisions of the Con ...

Death

A resident of

Fort Plain, New York Fort Plain is a village in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village population was 2,322. The village is named after a fort built during the American Revolution at the junction of the Mohawk River and its tr ...

, Saeedpour died at age 80 of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on May 30, 2010, in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

. She is survived by her five children and two grandchildren.

References

External links

Vera Beaudin Saeedpour Kurdish Library Museum Collection, Binghamton University Libraries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saeedpour, Vera Beaudin 1930 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American Jews Teachers College, Columbia University alumni Kurdish culture People from Barre, Vermont Academics from Brooklyn People from Fort Plain, New York University of Vermont alumni 21st-century American Jews Jews from Vermont