Oral History Projects

The California History Through Armenian Experiences oral history project documents the diversity and history of the Armenian presence in California. The initiative, supported by the California State Library, is part of the Institute’s continued work in collecting primary source material for academic researchers and educators.

My Armenian Story is an oral history project that collects Armenian life stories across the United States through crowd-sourced interviews and serves as a resource base for researchers. The purpose of the project is to record, gather, and document individual stories and reconstitute them as part of Armenian history in the diaspora. 

Understanding Independence is an oral history project which aims to understand the experiences and processes that led to Armenia’s independence from the Soviet Union. Interviews from political leaders, intellectuals, students, teachers, and others who lived through the tumultuous period of 1988 to 1996 make up this growing collection, is an invaluable addition to studies in post-Soviet history, democratization, and other contemporary transition topics.

In line with its mission to explore and document the contemporary Armenian experience, the Institute of Armenian Studies has been recording oral histories and gathering documents on the unique history of the Armenian Displaced Persons (DP) community formed during and after World War II. The collection includes over one hundred hours of recorded footage (35 interviews) and over one thousand photographs, which serve as a primary source for researchers interested in World War II, post-Genocide Armenian history, and Diaspora Studies.