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$2 M GIFT TO UCLA COTSEN INST. ESTABLISHES PROGRAM IN ARMENIAN ARCHAEOLOGY, ETHNOGRAPHY
12:27, 11 June, 2013
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS: The UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
has received a $2 million gift from UCLA alumna Zaruhy Sara Chitjian to
establish the first permanent research program in Armenian archaeology
and ethnography at a major American university, rports Armenpress.
Chitjian also donated a significant collection of artifacts, documents
and books related to the history and material culture of Armenia and
to the Armenian diaspora after the Armenian genocide of 1915~V23.
The Hampartzoum and Ovsanna Chitjian Collection and Archive of Armenian
Ethnographic Artifacts and Documents, named in honor of Chitjian's
parents, will be housed at the Cotsen Institute and digitized, giving
scholars around the world access to this important resource.
Gregory E. Areshian, assistant director of the Cotsen Institute,
has been appointed director of the new Chitjian Collection and
Research Program.
The gift will enable an expansion of research projects in Armenian
archaeology and ethnography, the establishment of a public lecture
series, and the publication of scholarly works on the Web and in print.
It will also fund seminars and graduate-student conferences devoted to
topics in Armenian archaeology, anthropology, ethnography and history
and to the preservation of the cultural heritage of historic Armenia
and the Armenian diaspora.
"The collection represents a set of objects and letters that will
provide an invaluable insight into the Armenian diaspora," said Charles
Stanish, director of the Cotsen Institute. "Each acquisition not only
provides insight into a small portion of this tragic but heroic drama
but also provides a window into dozens of new questions and areas of
inquiry. We hope that the Hampartzoum and Ovsanna Chitjian Collection
will be a model for others to emulate."
A retired schoolteacher, Chitjian earned her bachelor's degree in child
psychology and her teaching credential from UCLA. She has received
numerous awards and honors for her work and for her dedication to
Armenian issues, past and present.
She continues to fund research and student scholarships throughout the
world. In 2003, she published a memoir of her father's experiences
as an Armenian genocide survivor and his journey to safety on foot
through eastern Turkey.
More than 1 million Armenians are estimated to have been killed
during and after World War I, when the Ottoman Empire systematically
exterminated and removed Armenian subjects from their historic homeland
in territory that constitutes part of the present-day Republic of
Turkey. The majority of Armenian diaspora communities were founded
as a result of this genocide.
Chitjian also funded the establishment of Aramazd, The Armenian Journal
of Near Eastern Studies, the first Armenia-based, Englishlanguage,
peer-reviewed international journal on the archaeology, ancient and
medieval history, and linguistics of Armenia, the Caucasus, Iran,
Turkey and the broader Near East. "With the work at the Cotsen
Institute of Archaeology, the Armenian identity and Armenian people
~W past and present ~W can be respected and appreciated for the
contributions of their 3,000 year history," Chitjian said. "Studying
the ethnographic artifacts of recent age is an important means of
understanding the past of this still thriving culture."
From: A. Papazian
12:27, 11 June, 2013
YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS: The UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
has received a $2 million gift from UCLA alumna Zaruhy Sara Chitjian to
establish the first permanent research program in Armenian archaeology
and ethnography at a major American university, rports Armenpress.
Chitjian also donated a significant collection of artifacts, documents
and books related to the history and material culture of Armenia and
to the Armenian diaspora after the Armenian genocide of 1915~V23.
The Hampartzoum and Ovsanna Chitjian Collection and Archive of Armenian
Ethnographic Artifacts and Documents, named in honor of Chitjian's
parents, will be housed at the Cotsen Institute and digitized, giving
scholars around the world access to this important resource.
Gregory E. Areshian, assistant director of the Cotsen Institute,
has been appointed director of the new Chitjian Collection and
Research Program.
The gift will enable an expansion of research projects in Armenian
archaeology and ethnography, the establishment of a public lecture
series, and the publication of scholarly works on the Web and in print.
It will also fund seminars and graduate-student conferences devoted to
topics in Armenian archaeology, anthropology, ethnography and history
and to the preservation of the cultural heritage of historic Armenia
and the Armenian diaspora.
"The collection represents a set of objects and letters that will
provide an invaluable insight into the Armenian diaspora," said Charles
Stanish, director of the Cotsen Institute. "Each acquisition not only
provides insight into a small portion of this tragic but heroic drama
but also provides a window into dozens of new questions and areas of
inquiry. We hope that the Hampartzoum and Ovsanna Chitjian Collection
will be a model for others to emulate."
A retired schoolteacher, Chitjian earned her bachelor's degree in child
psychology and her teaching credential from UCLA. She has received
numerous awards and honors for her work and for her dedication to
Armenian issues, past and present.
She continues to fund research and student scholarships throughout the
world. In 2003, she published a memoir of her father's experiences
as an Armenian genocide survivor and his journey to safety on foot
through eastern Turkey.
More than 1 million Armenians are estimated to have been killed
during and after World War I, when the Ottoman Empire systematically
exterminated and removed Armenian subjects from their historic homeland
in territory that constitutes part of the present-day Republic of
Turkey. The majority of Armenian diaspora communities were founded
as a result of this genocide.
Chitjian also funded the establishment of Aramazd, The Armenian Journal
of Near Eastern Studies, the first Armenia-based, Englishlanguage,
peer-reviewed international journal on the archaeology, ancient and
medieval history, and linguistics of Armenia, the Caucasus, Iran,
Turkey and the broader Near East. "With the work at the Cotsen
Institute of Archaeology, the Armenian identity and Armenian people
~W past and present ~W can be respected and appreciated for the
contributions of their 3,000 year history," Chitjian said. "Studying
the ethnographic artifacts of recent age is an important means of
understanding the past of this still thriving culture."
From: A. Papazian