Library of Congress spotlights Armenian memorial books.

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The literary genre of the hushamatean (memorial book) emerged as an enduring legacy of the Armenian effort to keep the memory of their ancestral towns alive in the minds of subsequent generations. The more than 200 memorial books and specialized periodicals published in the decades after the Armenian genocide offer a window into the history, demography, culture, customs, genealogy, trades and crafts in hundreds of towns and villages in the Ottoman Empire prior to WWI.

Today, memorial books continue to adorn bookshelves and bookmarks of Armenians around the world, and constitute a tremendous resource for those interested in history, genealogy, and family histories.

The literary genre of the hushamatean (memorial book) emerged as an enduring legacy of the Armenian effort to keep the memory of their ancestral towns alive in the minds of subsequent generations. The more than 200 memorial books and specialized periodicals published in the decades after the Armenian genocide offer a window into the history, demography, culture, customs, genealogy, trades and crafts in hundreds of towns and villages in the Ottoman Empire prior to WWI. Today, memorial books continue to adorn bookshelves and bookmarks of Armenians around the world, and constitute a tremendous resource for those interested in history, genealogy, and family histories. To learn more, check out the new blog post, “Reimagining Home: Armenian Memorial Books at the Library of Congress,” at https://go.usa.gov/xe5Gm