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ASBAREZ ARMENIAN NEWSPAPER. Published Weekly, Every Friday, in FRESNO, CALIFORNIA. Entirely in ARMENIAN (with a bit of English titling on the First Page Publisher's Banner), FULL RUN FOR THE YEARS 1938, 1939, 1940, bound together. Approximately 156 weekly issues, beginning with the January 7, 1938 issue and ending with the December 27, 1940 issue. Please Note: I have not counted every issue, but this is a weekly and unless a few are missing (which I haven't noticed but certainly is possible) that would mean there are 156 issues. The issues are LARGE BROADSHEET FORMAT, with the pages measuring approximately 18x24 inches (46x61 cm). The issues have 4 pages. Therefore this bound set has over 600 large format pages. In the early 20th century, the FRESNO ARMENIAN community was the largest such community in California, and perhaps the entire U.S. It was often referred to as Little Armenia. These papers report on numerous issues of importance to Armenians, including International and California matters. CONDITION: The issues are bound in plain paper covers. The plain paper covers are made of very cheap paper and are in poor condition, with lots of tears, holes, pieces missing, shedding and general wear. The newspapers are printed on fragile paper. The first page of the first issue has a large piece missing, a number of issues have large tears across their center folds but are still complete, there are edge tears, chips, and wear here and there throughout, and the issues have the expected age toning; nonetheless the bound in NEWSPAPERS are in generally good and complete condition, especially given the fragile nature of the paper. The pages need to be opened and handled with care, even so expect some shedding. These newspaper issues were presumably bound together by the CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY. There is a Bookplate of the California State Library on the inside front cover, and there are California State Library stamps here and there throughout. About the ASBAREZ ARMENIAN NEWSPAPER (from Wikipedia): ******The ASBAREZ ARMENIAN NEWSPAPER BEGAN PUBLICATION IN 1908 IN FRESNO, CALIFORNIA. In its early years the paper was published weekly. It eventually, decades later (1960s?), moved to Southern California when a large Armenian American community emerged there. ORIGINALLY AN ALL ARMENIAN NEWSPAPER, a regular English section was added in 1970.****** About ARMENIANS IN FRESNO, CALIFORNIA (from Wikipedia): ******The first Armenians to move to Fresno were the brothers Hagop and Garabed Seropian, who arrived in 1881. By 1894 the Armenian population in Fresno was 360, a number which grew rapidly with the onset of the Hamidian Massacres in 1895 and 1896. During and after the genocide even more Armenians came until the restrictions on immigration in 1921 and 1924 brought this to a virtual end. Los Angeles also became a focus of Armenian immigration, and some Armenians from Fresno moved there as well. The early immigrants were primarily involved with farming and agriculture, with the ultimate goal almost always that of land ownership. By 1930 Armenians owned 40% of the raisin acreage in Fresno County. They were pioneers in the melon and fig production as well. Bigotry against Armenians was common, and led many to Anglicize their names. In the 1890s Armenian Protestants were stripped of membership in local churches. Fear of Armenian land ownership caused the passage of laws restricting their rights to freely buy land. This attitude towards the tight knit Armenian community led some to try to assimilate, while having the opposite effect on others. Today, the number of Armenians in the greater Fresno region is thought to number approximately 25,000.****** INTERNATIONAL BUYERS PLEASE NOTE: This collection of Armenian Language Newspapers is very large and very heavy and will require substantial additional shipping charges. Seller Inventory # 001339
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