Columbia Armenian Oral History Archive, 1968-1977

Summary Information

At a Glance

Call No.:
MS#1480
Bib ID:
5321412 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
Parsegian, V. L. (Vazken L.); Parsegian, V. L. (Vazken L.)
Repository:
Oral History Archives at Columbia
Physical Description:
6 Linear Feet (6 record cartons)
Language(s):
English , Turkish , Armenian .
Access:
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

All interviews are fully open on the web. Access to these interviews is provided only via the digital links below. Physical media are closed and will not be served in the reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Description

Summary

The Columbia Armenian Oral History Archive is an important collection of audio and video recordings of first-person accounts of the early and recent experiences of Armenians, recorded after they had immigrated to the United States. The collection consists of 138 interviews in Armenian, English, and Turkish languages with immigrants conducted by Vazken L. Parsegian during the 1950s and 1960s, focusing largely on the survivors' memories of their personal experiences of the abduction, deportation, imporisonment and massacre of Armenians and the destruction of Armenian communities under the Ottoman Empire in the first decades of the Twentieth century. The testimonies also recount the early formation of Armenian communities in various cities of United States and socio-economic conditions. The collection is comprised of 210 hours of sound recordings in the following formats: magnetic tape reels, compact cassettes, and WAV files and compact disks representing the content of the original tapes.

  • Alphabetical List of Interviewees

    This series is comprised of audio for each interviewee listed, including links to online digital content and boxed compact disks. The audio, whether found on digital file or compact disk, was transferred from the collection's original reels and cassettes from the 1960s-1970s.

Arrangement

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

All interviews are fully open on the web. Access to these interviews is provided only via the digital links below. Physical media are closed and will not be served in the reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Copyright by The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, and the Armenian Education Council, 2004.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Columbia Armenian Oral History Archive; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Source of acquisition--Gift of Adrian Parsegian and the Armenian Educational Council.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Oral History Archives at Columbia

Revision Description

2009-07-07 File created.

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

2019-11-21 Finding aid updated to reflect the following changes: addition of URLs to digital content in CUL Digital Library Collections portal; addition of URLs to CLIO records for interviews; description of additional tapes and interviewees; formatting changes and corrections; removal of interviewee names for whom archives does not hold recordings or transcripts

Biographical / Historical

Vazken L. Parsegian was born in Van, Turkish Armenia in 1908. His father Sahag has immigrated to the United States in the year 1912 while mother served as a cook in the hospital ran by Dr. Clarence Usher. In the summer of 1915 joining the hundred and thousands of refugees fleeing Turkey from the massacres, arrived Yerevan (capital of Armenia) and in October 15, 1916 settled in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

As with many emigrants filled with enthusiasm and eagerness to succeed, he began to work as mechanic in a car repair shop. Later, following to an advice from a teacher who had brought his car, he attended the Lowell Institute School. Upon graduation he applied for study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

MIT (B.S., 1933) was followed by studies in nuclear physics at New York University (Ph.D., 1948). His first twelve years were in industrial research and engineering departments. Then for nearly five years he was Director of Research with the New York Operations Office on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. In 1954 he joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as Dean of the School of Engineering, and in 1961 was appointed to the distinguished Chair of Rensselaer Professor to develop interdisciplinary educational programs.

Dr. Parsegian was closely involved with national nuclear policy issues, including a debate with Admiral Lewis L. Strauss, head o f the Atomic Energy Commission, on the harmful effect of secrecy ("The New York Times Sunday Magazine" of October 14, 1956). He served nine years with the nuclear and science committees of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of formulation of national policy on atomic energy, with appearances before the joint Committee on Atomic Energy of the Congress. He as been Consultant to the colleges of the State University of New York, and to the General Electric Company's project on nuclear power for aircraft. On invitation from President Victor Hambartsumian of the Academy of Sciences of Armenian, in 1962 he was an Exchange Scientist of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. He Served with the Visiting Committee of the Department of Psychology of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was a member of the Central Committee of the Armenian General Benevolent Union of America for many years. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Howard Karagheusian Commemorative Corporation. In 1967 he and his friends founded the Friends of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, with which he has served as President and Honorary President to the present time. Dr. Parsegian has published many articles and books. He was Consulting Editor for an Academic Press series on Nuclear Science and Technology, and for the Journal of College Science Teaching. He directed a large project which produced textbooks that integrated the physical and life sciences in two volumes (Introduction to Natural Science, Academic Press, 1968, 1970). He is the author of "Industrial Management in the Atomic Age" (Addison Wesley, 1965), and "This Cybernetic World" (Doubleday, 1972) which was translated into German and Japanese editions. He is listed in the marquis Who's Who in the World, World Who's Who in Science from Antiquity to the Present, and others. He became Rensselaer Professor Emeritus in 1975, but continued at RPI on various Armenian Projects.

In 1966 with Friends he had organized the Armenian Educational Council inc., and has served as its Chairman to the present time. The Council initiated an Oral History project with individuals who had survived the massacres. When in 1970 he met Dr. Armen Haghnazarian of the Germany group called Research on Armenian Architecture the two organizations initiated a twenty year international project to assemble and archival collection on Armenian Architecture. Centered at the School of Architecture of RPI, the project is now completed, with the collection holding 42,999 photographs and documentation in microfiche, on some941 sites and monuments in Armenia, Turkey, Karabagh, Nakhichevan, Azerbaijan, Iran Georgia, and the Crimea. Its seven volumes are resource for research in over 100 major research libraries of Europe in the United States. The Council is currently engaged in seeking international protection for the monuments that remain in Turkey, and in aiding the scientific and industrial development of Armenia. In his Human Rights & Genocide, 1975: the Hope, the Reality and Still the Hope book he discusses Human Rights violations against Armenian nation.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form
Interviews CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Oral histories (literary works) CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Name
Achcheian, Hairabed, 1893- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Afrikian, Vahan, 1886- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Ajemian, Alice, 1902- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Ajemian, Hagop, 1892- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Alabilikian, Avedis CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Alexandrian, Carnig CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Alexian, Charles, 1903- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Andonian, Haigaz, 1903- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Andreassian, John, 1897- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Anonymous CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Antoyan, Haiganoush, 1909- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Atamian, Hagop, 1907- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Avedisian, Armenig, 1900- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Babigian, Charles, 1909- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Bablouzian, Armenouhi, 1916- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Boole, Helen, 1907- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Bozian, Charles, 1884- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Cachoian, Mihran, 1892- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Cachoian, Vartouhie, 1903- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Chammasian, Martha, 1898- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Charkoudian, Haroutiun, 1900- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Chinian, Harry, 1894- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Cosac, Alexander, 1896- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Dalalian, Mihran, 1887- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Der Hagopian, Aram, 1897- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Der Krikorian, Gulvart, 1909- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Der Krikorian, Krikor, 1909- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Dildilian, Ara, 1907- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Donigian, Siranoush, 1903- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Doudoukjian, Mary, 1893- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Evlian, Harry, 1892- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Garabedian, Garbes, 1904- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Garabedian, Kaizer, 1891- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Geldadian, Adrine CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Geldadian, John, 1902- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Gochigian, Salame, 1897- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Goodian, Pauline, 1900- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Gregory, Lousaper, 1920- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Guerigian, Nevart, Reverend CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Gulesian, Alice, 1903- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Haigaz, Aram CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Hajinlian, Dikranouhi, 1901- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Hamparsumian, Surpuhi, 1890- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Haratunian, Alice, 1899- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Harrian, Yervant, 1890- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Herrian, Aretmis, 1905- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Hovagimian, Hagop, 1900- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Hovannesian, Osanna, 1898- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Hovsepian, Aghavni, 1888- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Israelian, Agnes, 1888- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Israelian, Terezia, 1904- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Javian, Shanar, 1905- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Jehanian, Mardiros, 1896- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Jehanian, Nevart, 1908- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Jelilian, Kegham, 1877- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Jismejian, Corina, 1898- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Kamberian, Haigoohi, 1901- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Kanian, Araxie, 1895- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Kapikian, Zareh, 1898- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Karakashian, Ephronia, 1910- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Kasarjian, John, 1899- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Kazanjian, Oscar, 1909- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Kemberian, Charles, 1901- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Keoleian, Lucig CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Keoroghlian, Hagop CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Khatchadorian, Nevart, 1909- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Khatchadourian, Vava, 1905- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Khetishian, Diruhi, 1906- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Koobatian, Sahag, 1891- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Koomrian, Makrouhi, 1893- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Koumrian, Nathan, 1886- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Kouzoujian, Vartouhi, 1898- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Mahjoubian, Charles, (Doctor), 1909- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Malkasian, Vahan, 1897- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Manasian, Zabelle, 1889- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Manukean, Sion, 1906-1991 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Megerdichian, Mary, 1895- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Mendikian, Aram, 1891- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Mesrobian, Vartuhie, 1903- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Michigan, Siranoush, 1902- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Minetian, Makrouhi, 1904- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Mirak, John, 1907-2000 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Mkhitarian, Atlas, 1892- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Mooseghian, Hrant, 1904- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Mugar, Anna, 1889- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Mugar, Stephen, 1901- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Nalbandian, Sarkis, 1903- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Nargesian, Victoria, 1900- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Nazarian, George, 1899- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Nishanian, Ankine CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Orchanian, Hagop, 1895- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Orchanian, Menase, 1908- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Orfaly, Louis, 1903- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Ourfalian, Verkin, 1895- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Pahigian, Armenouhi, 1894- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Parikian, Hamaspur, 1905- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Pehlvanian, Rose, 1913- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Pilibosian, Khachadoor, 1904-1989 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Riggs, Alice, 1916- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Sahagian, Leon, 1894- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Santikian, Ovsanna, 1910- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Sevanian, Paris, 1895- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Shahinian, Hanum, 1893- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Shahinian, Paul, 1905- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Shakarjian, Avedis, 1906- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Sharikian, Mary, 1896- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Simonian, Pergouhie, 1900- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Soukiasian, Onneg, 1896- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Sulakian, Gulenie, 1905- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Takoushian, Hadji, 1884- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Takoushian, Mary, 1893- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Tarpinian, Tanya, 1895- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Tarzian, Baidzar, 1892- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Tatarian, Keghani, 1887- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Tateosian, Souren, 1903- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Tegnazian, Anna, 1881- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Terzian, Hrant, 1886- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Terzian, Satenig CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Tufankjian, Levon, 1888- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Vezirian, John, 1903- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Vezirian, Osanna, 1907- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Yaghsizian, Ephronia, 1913- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Yaghsizlian, Hagop, 1901- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Yervant, Hratch, 1885- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Yesaian, Edward, 1903- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Zoornajian, Kaspar, 1892- CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Subject
Armenian Americans -- Biography CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Armenian massacres, 1915-1923 -- Personal narratives CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Armenians -- History -- 20th century CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID