News

Microhistories of Armenian Early Modernity: A UCLA Workshop on Diaspora, Print Culture, Confession Building, and Governmentality, c. 1512/1598-1789 Organized by the UCLA Richard Hovannisian Chair of Modern Armenian History Co-sponsored by the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Department of History, UCLA Narekatsi Chair in Armenian Studies, the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA Promise Armenian Institute May 29-30, 2026 UCLA, YRL Main Conference Room 11360 Scholars of early modern Armenian history—a period during which Armenians emerged as significant agents in global developments—debate the era’s chronological boundaries. Proposed starting points include the advent...

The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) is pleased to announce the 2025 Dr. Sona Aronian Book Prizes for Excellence in Armenian Studies, awarded to Dr. Boris Adjemian for The Brass Band of the King: Armenians in Ethiopia (I.B. Tauris) and Drs. Sergio La Porta and Alison M. Vacca for An Armenian Futūḥ Narrative: Łewond's Eighth-Century History of the Caliphate (Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago). The 2025 awards are for books with a 2024 publication date. Boris Adjemian is the Director of the AGBU Nubar Library, France. He holds a PhD in history from École des Hautes Études en Sciences...

Scholars are invited to submit abstracts for an international conference, History Embodied: Biography and Armenian American Studies, which will convene at NAASR on October 22–23, 2026, to examine how biographical and prosopographic approaches can deepen the study of Armenian American history.

NAASR Receives Huge Collection of Records The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) recently received a huge collection of records for its Mardigian Library from Jasper Kezerian of Waltham, MA, from the collection of his late father Thomas Kezerian (1921-2011). The collection consists of more than 1,200 discs, of which the vast majority are 78 rpm records, dating from the early 1900s through the 1950s. Originating in the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Egypt, Soviet Armenia, Europe, North America, and other places, these recordings include instrumental and vocal music in Armenian, Turkish, Greek, Arabic, and other languages of the region, performed...

NAASR Celebrates 70th Anniversary with Successful Endowment Launch On Saturday, October 4, the National Association of Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) held its 70th Anniversary Gala, “Building the Future of Armenian Studies,” at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston.  An enthusiastic crowd of over 350 attendees came to celebrate the organization’s decades of work to shape the academic landscape of Armenian Studies in the United States and abroad.  The distinguished audience included supporters and academic leaders from across the country as well as students and special guests. The John Baboian Trio entertained the guests with their lovely Armenian melodies during...