Zanazan Sounds is a podcast project that aims to explore shared histories, learn about contemporary Armenian worlds and create new ones.
Our series Treasures from the Library follows AI librarian Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian delving deep to explore unique texts that we hold within our very own collection.
Oliver Baldwin's Six Prisons and Two Revolutions
In the second episode of Treasures From The Library, our librarian Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian explores the nuanced value in Oliver Baldwin’s Six Prisons and Two Revolutions, which lends itself as an account of Armenia at the turn of the 1920s. A newly independent and hopeful state still fearful of nearby powerful regimes, Baldwin’s eye-witness reports describe the socio-political context of the time and provide great insight that can be corroborated in Leon Surmelian’s memoir I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Hrachya Acharian's Etymological Dictionary
In our debut episode of Treasures From The Library, our very own librarian Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian details the history, contents and current relevance of Hrachia Acharian’s etymological dictionary, hand-written in the early twentieth century after decades of studying the roots of Armenian words and compiling an ever-growing list. Acharian is considered the father of Armenian linguistics and his work is continued today by etymologists in Armenia and abroad.