“Ottoman Armenians” – The Houshamadyan Book Project

“Ottoman Armenians, Vol. 1” is the introductory publication of a series of volumes that seek to reconstruct the Armenian communities of the Ottoman Empire. Based on scholarly analysis, documentation, and reproduction of historical images, this series will be a significant work that discovers the daily life, traditions, and cuisine of the Armenian communities of the Ottoman Empire.

The first volume of the “Ottoman Armenians” series explores Armenian communities of Marash, Palu, Van, Erzurum/Garin, Zeytun, and Kharpert/Harput. In particular, it explores such traditions of these regions as practices for births, baptisms, burials, weddings, the role of school and education, food culture, and more. The life of those towns was planned to be primarily reconstructed through Armenian-language sources that have long been ignored by Ottoman scholars. Additionally, the first volume will comprise 256 and will contain about 200 photographs and illustrations.

Later volumes of the “Ottoman Armenians” series will focus on such areas as Urfa, Malatya, Kayseri, Aleppo, Sivas, Bitlis, Adana, and Diyarbekir. This series will be a part of a larger project named “Houshamadyan”, which intends to publish the volumes in English, Armenian, and Turkish.