A precious piece of Armenian history has landed in Watertown. A rare first edition of an 18th-century landmark work that survived eras of turbulence and destruction, and was preserved lovingly by a prominent Armenian family, is now in the collection at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research.

“History of the Armenians,” or “Patmut’iwn Hayots’, by Father Mikayel Chamchian, was published in Venice from 1784 to 1786, and was described by scholar Razmik Panossian as “the definitive Armenian history text in this formative period of mass national identity.”

The three-volume work was preserved by the Simsarian family of Worcester for more than a century, said Marc Mamigonian, the NAASR director of academic affairs.

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