Ethnographic studies in Armenia have been initiated in the late 19th century. Soviet years brought Armenian ethnography to the new reality.
In the 1920s as in the entire USSR, largescale ethnographic date has been collected also in Armenia. In contrast to the pre-Soviet period, at this stage the challenge was not only to gather ethnographic data, but also to design institutions. This process is known as "ethnographic local lore studies".
During the research field trips of the Museum of History (the main ethnographic institution of these years), rich materials were collected about different regions of Armenia and the South Caucasus (Syunik, Artsakh, Shirak, Javakhk, etc.) in 1920-30s. This period was important not only from the point of view of the establishment of institutions, but also for "rescuing" of ethnographic materials. Ethnographic objects, manuscripts, and other materials were being destroyed due to communist ideology of “fighting the old, and construction the new life”.
The process of collecting ethnographic data and development of ethnographic archives was interrupted due to WW2 in 1941-45.
Ethnographic works were continued with new scale and enthusiasm taking also account the raise of patriotism due to the victory over fascism. Museum of History, other institutions were developed. In 1959 The Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography was founded in the scope of NAS, the State Museum of Ethnography of Armenia was founded in 1978, Chair of Ethnography was created at the YSU. During several decades, these institutions recorded valuable ethnographic materials, collected tens of thousands of photographs and documents.
The main purpose of the presentation is to discuss the general approach of the development and design of Armenian ethnographic archives and to show that the collected materials in the archives are important sources for the study of the culture, ethnography, and folklore of the Soviet and pre-Soviet periods.
