News — #NAASR
NAASR to Match Gifts Up to a Total of $121,100 to the Armenia Fund
The Board of Directors of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research has responded to the overwhelming need for humanitarian relief in Artsakh and Armenia by pledging $121,100 as a matching contribution for gifts to the Armenia Fund. We urge you to give whatever you can and double the impact with this match. The campaign will run through November 20, 2020.
Facing Nagorno-Karabakh: An Expert Interview with Marc Mamigonian
"A global pandemic, economic crises, protests for racial justice, wildfires and hurricanes forcing people to flee their homes and businesses, and an impending election in the US. These are just some of the events taking place right now. And, in the midst of this, a violent conflict is taking place between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. It is a humanitarian crisis. We know from history that mass violence does not take place when it is convenient, in peace, when we are prepared to act. It often happens when the world is distracted, when we are busy and exhausted."
In Support of Armenia and Artsakh
NAASR stands with Armenians across the globe in condemning Turkey and Azerbaijan’s all-out war against Armenia and Artsakh. In this time of crisis, we have received numerous inquiries about the best way to help and offer support.
Treasures of NAASR's Mardigian Library ~ Literature in Translation (1920-1946): Part III
Part III, the final part of Literature in Translation, takes us from 1920 up to 1946. The post-World War II era saw further developments in terms of translations which lie beyond the scope of this feature (but could form the basis for future ones). Click here to read the full feature.
Statement Regarding the Attack on Artsakh (Republic of Nagorno-Karabagh) and Armenia
The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) joins with all who are deeply concerned and condemn the attack by the Republic of Azerbaijan on Artsakh and Armenia, including the civilian population. The involvement of Turkey in fomenting this aggression is especially alarming. The confrontational rhetoric from Baku and the numerous serious flare-ups along the line of contact with Azerbaijan as well as the cross-border attack carried out by Azeri forces in July of this year were clear warning signs, and the current assault on Artsakh and on Armenia stands contrary to any acceptable international norm.
Literature in Translation (1845-1950): Part I
NAASR’s Mardigian Library contains innumerable works of literature translated into Armenian from many languages. The works translated span from ancient to contemporary writings, and the focus of this feature will be on the 19th and first half of the 20th century when tremendous efforts were made to make non-Armenian (mainly western) literary works accessible to the growing Armenian readership in Eastern Armenia, Western Armenia, and throughout the diaspora.
Part II ~ Vintage Armenian Textbooks, Grammars, and Readers
In this, the second part of our Treasures of NAASR's Mardigian Library feature on vintage Armenian textbooks, grammars, and readers, we present 9 publications spanning from the early 1920s through 1950, published in Lebanon, Turkey, France, the U.S., and Argentina.
Vintage Armenian Textbooks, Grammars, and Readers ~ Part I
Over the course of decades—indeed, centuries—innumerable Armenian textbooks have been published for the purpose of providing instruction in the Armenian language or more general topics to young readers. A substantial number of such books have made their way into NAASR’s Mardigian Library. Although no longer used for instruction, they are informative sources of information on past pedagogical practices, as well as frequently being charming and beautiful objects in their own right. Many, if not most, of these books show signs of being heavily used and are well worn. Far from diminishing their importance, this evidence of use, likely, in some cases, by multiple generations, has become part of the meaning conveyed to us today by these books.
May 28: Vratsian’s Hayastani Hanrapetutʻiwn and Hovannisian’s The Republic of Armenia
May 28 marks the establishment of the Republic of Armenia in 1918, providing us with the opportunity to look back on two monuments to the short-lived but historically important republic: Hayastani Hanrapetutʻiwn (Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն = The Republic of Armenia), by Simon Vrats‘ean (Սիմոն Վրացեան, also Vratsian or Vratzian; we will use the spelling Vratsian in this piece), published in 1928 in Paris, and the second revised edition published in 1958 in Beirut; and Richard G. Hovannisian’s 4-volume The Republic of Armenia (1971, 1982, 1996). We will also touch upon the very direct connection between these two landmark publications and their respective authors.
Book Stamps and What They Tell Us
NAASR's Mardigian Library has over 30,000 books published over the past three and a half centuries. This includes titles published almost everywhere Armenians have lived in any significant numbers, including major centers of Armenian life (and publishing) such as Yerevan, Etchmiadzin, Tiflis, St. Petersburg, Jerusalem, Constantinople, Smyrna, New Julfa, Beirut, Cairo, Sofia, Venice, Paris, Marseilles, New York, Boston, Fresno, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and many others. In a way, these books contain the story of the Armenian diaspora itself.