Skip to main content

University of Michigan School of Information

Menu

Media Center

UMSI welcomes media inquiries

Archival silences and the role of Armenian women as memory-keepers in Southeast Michigan

An archival World Turns: Armenian women's archives in Southeast Michigan. Nazelie Doghramadjian, UMSI PhD student. Patricia Garcia, associate professor of information. Ricky Punzalan, associate professor of information.

Wednesday, 01/15/2025

By Noor Hindi

Southeast Michigan is home to one of the largest Armenian diasporas in the United States. It also houses invaluable Armenian archival institutions like the Mardigian Library in Southfield and the Armenian Research Center in Dearborn. 

A new paper by University of Michigan School of Information PhD student Nazelie Doghramadjian and associate professors Patricia Garcia and Ricky Punzalan reveals that despite shaping Armenian culture, religion and history, Armenian women’s voices are minimally represented in cultural institutions. 

An archival world turns: Armenian women’s archives in Southeast Michigan,” published by Archival Science asks: What are the personal recordkeeping practices of Armenian women and what is the significance of these personal recordkeeping practices for preserving collective memory?

“The institution is an important resource, but these women see their children as the ultimate keepers of their records,” Doghramadjian says. “This is their generational wealth after the genocide, and everything they do is centered around ensuring these records are not forgotten.” 

Doghramadjian’s paper highlights how women in the Armenian community preserve a variety of records—such as oral histories, family stories, recipes, and letters—through intentional and culturally meaningful practices conducted within their homes.

From “letters, books, journals, and pamphlets, to film reels, photos, stories, and memories, passed down from family members, community members, and Genocide survivors” these records “are at odds with archival silences that confine Armenian women to the periphery of history,” the paper states. 

Doghramadjian, a third year PhD student at UMSI, researches how communities create and preserve information and create new archival worlds outside of formal institutions. Her advisers are Ricky Punzalan and Patricia Garcia. 

Doghramadjian hopes to more closely study the archival stewardship of Armenian women who both choose to donate their records to institutions or keep them preserved in their homes. Through further interrogating archival silences, she hopes to better pinpoint these less obvious forms of archival labor, therefore reframing what archival silences look like. 

Read “An archival world turns: Armenian women’s archives in Southeast Michigan” at Archival Science: International Journal on Recorded Information. 

RELATED 

Check out UMSI’s PhD in Information program and apply today! 

Learn more about UMSI PhD student Nazelie Doghramadjian and associate professors Patricia Garcia and Ricky Punzalan by visiting their UMSI profiles.