Heritage of Displacement: Oral Histories from the UK Armenian Communities (2023–2026)

The Armenian Institute is proud to be conducting a project funded by a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, thanks to National Lottery players, to document and preserve stories of Armenian diaspora heritage in the UK.

With this large-scale special project, the Institute aims to help British-Armenian communities take part in preserving their heritage of displacement, migration, and resettlement. This oral history project collects the memories of members of the Armenian diaspora settled in London and Manchester, the two largest Armenian communities in the UK. Family stories and personal relationships with cultural traditions are being recorded and preserved, with a desire to shed light on paths of migration, and how Armenians have recreated ‘home’. The project also documents tangible heritage through the digitisation of family photographs and the photogrammetry (3D rendering) of memorabilia and family heirloom objects. This new digital archive of recorded interviews, material heritage, and photographs are to be hosted on a new dedicated website that will remain available as a resource for the community and for academic research.

Throughout the process, the Armenian Institute hopes to further promote community engagement, through the organisation of workshops, trainings, digital outputs, and finally exhibitions showcasing the archive that this project will create.

This project addresses the urgent need to document and preserve Armenian diaspora heritage, in order to keep Armenian heritage accessible and relevant to new generations. It hopes to bring geographically distant UK Armenian communities closer together, allowing for new community perspectives, and for opportunities to engage with shared heritage. It also highlights the shared experiences of displacement and migration with other global communities.