Collection context
Summary
- Abstract:
- Avedis Krikor Sanjian, Professor emeritus of UCLA's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, was a world-renowned scholar of Armenian studies who wrote ten books and authored more than 40 articles in English and Armenian. The collection consists of personal and professional correspondence, Armenian studies lectures and notes, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures faculty meeting minutes, UCLA Armenian studies minutes, brochures and student publications, his research files, publications, slides, microfilm, photos, audio and video tapes, curriculum vitae and biographies.
- Extent:
- 25.8 linear feet (24 record cartons, 4 document boxes, and 1 shoebox.)
- Language:
- Materials are in English and Armenian.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Avedis K. Sanjian papers (Collection 2187). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of personal and professional correspondence, Armenian studies lectures and notes, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures faculty meeting minutes, UCLA Armenian studies minutes, brochures and student publications, his research files, publications, slides, microfilm, photos, audio and video tapes, curriculum vitae and biographies.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Avedis K. Sanjian was born on February 24, 1921 in Marash, Turkey. After spending years in Armenian refugee camps in Syria and Lebanon, the Sanjians moved to Palestine in 1926, and three years later settled in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, where he grew up. Sanjian earned two degrees in English: a bachelor's degree from the American University of Beirut in 1949 and a master's degree from the University of Michigan in 1950. He married Helen Karaghuzian in 1950 and they had their son Gregory in 1952. Four years later he became the first graduate student at Michigan to receive a doctorate in Near Eastern Studies.
Sanjian's academic career began in 1957 with an appointment at Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies as a postdoctoral research fellow in Armenian studies. He was appointed assistant professor of Armenian studies at Harvard University in 1961, the first time full-time Armenian studies appointment in the United States. At Harvard, Sanjian developed the first curriculum of Armenological courses in the U.S. and compiled A Grammar of Classical Armenian to enable others to learn this language.
Sanjian left Harvard when the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) invited him to join its faculty in 1965 as associate professor of Armenian studies. Three years later he was promoted to the rank of full professor, and in 1969 he was appointed to the first ever endowed chair at UCLA, the Chair for Armenian Studies. At his suggestion in 1979, the Chair was named after medieval Armenian mystic poet Grigor Narekatsi. Also in 1969, he inaugurated UCLA's graduate program in Armenian studies.
From 1970 to 1974, Sanjian served as Chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, which had four undergraduate and seven graduate degree programs. During this time he was also working on his opus, A Catalogue of Medieval Armenian Manuscripts in the United States, a descriptive and analytical study of all Armenian manuscripts housed in the United States with the exception of the UCLA collection for which he prepared a separate catalogue, Medieval Armenian Manuscripts at the University of California, Los Angeles (Z6621.U65963 A76 1999). Sanjian finalized negotiations for UCLA's acquisition of this collection with Dr. Caro Minasian and hand-delivered its most valuable item, the manuscript of the Four Gospels executed at the Armenian monastery of Glajor.
Sanjian wrote ten books and authored more than 40 articles in English and Armenian. He is a founding member of the Society for Armenian Studies (SAS), served as its chairman on three occasions and as editor-in-chief of its publication, the Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies (JSAS). He also served as a board member for the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and provided testimony on the Armenian genocide before the United States Congress Subcommittee on Future Foreign Policy Research and Development on May 11, 1976.
Sanjian, UCLA Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Emeritus, died at the age of 74 on July 22, 1995.
- Acquisition information:
- Greg Sanjian, 1997.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Kelly Besser with assistance from Rebecca Bucher, 2013.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's Library Collections and Archives.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection has been arranged into the following series:
1. Correspondence. 2. UCLA files. 3. Research files. 4. Publications. 5. Audiovisual materials. 6. Curriculum vitae and biographies.
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Avedis K. Sanjian papers (Collection 2187). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Location of this collection:
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A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988