Project SAVE

History of the Project SAVE: Founded in 1975 by Ruth Thomasian, Project SAVE Archives, located in Watertown, Massachusetts, currently has a growing collection of more than 45,000 photographs dating from 1860. Unique in its mission, Project SAVE preserves the fragmented heritage of the dispersed Armenian people through photographs and memories of life in historic Armenia. Project SAVE's collection of photographs chronicles the life and culture of the Armenian people during the Ottoman, Russian, and Persian empires,in the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia, as well as in today's Republic of Armenia, in the Armenian Diaspora created in the wake of the Genocide, with particular emphasis on the Armenian-American community. Each image is painstakingly documented and catalogued by founder and executive director, Ruth Thomasian, and her dedicated (mostly volunteer) staff. Thomasian often spends hours interviewing photo donors as they document their photographs with stories about their lives, ancestors, and cultural details. These interviews are tape recorded and become part of Project SAVE's oral history tape collection, currently in excess of 1000 hours from nearly 600 interviewees. In addition to promoting greater knowledge of the history and culture of Armenians and Armenian-Americans, Project SAVE also strives to document the lives and works of Armenian photographers. It is through their work that so many images of historic Armenian life and traditions were captured and preserved.

Donate online: Because Project SAVE is a nonprofit organization, donations are always welcome with instructions on how at the website.