SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives founder and president Ruth Thomasian visited San Diego to speak at two Armenian Genocide Commemoration events: “Armenians Through the Camera’s Eye” at The Village Church in Rancho Santa Fe on Wednesday, April 24, and “Getting to Know Project SAVE” at the Joint Armenian Genocide Commemoration at St. John Garabed Armenian Apostolic Church, Sunday, April 28. Both events were very well attended.
From Project SAVE’s collections of more than 45,000 photographs, Thomasian shared rare, vintage photographs dating from 1860 to the 1980’s. These images were of people and places in various regions of the homeland and diaspora — along with the special family stories behind them. And just as importantly, Ruth shared many of the methods and clues that enable her to piece together the history of a photograph when all of the information is not available, leading the fascinated audiences to a greater understanding of how a social historian and archivist works.
During her visit to San Diego, she also met privately with individual families to receive donations of photos for the archives. (Interested families can contact Project SAVE to arrange donations of original photos (no digital): 617-923-4542 and archives@projectsave.org. Project SAVE’s staff will work directly with donors to gather as much information about their photos as possible.)
Thomasian’s visit to San Diego was organized by Ani Zadikian Oney. She received support from the San Diego chapters of Triple X Fraternity, and Knights and Daughters of Vartan.
To have a look at many Project SAVE photos, visit www.projectsave.org.
