CITIZEN HISTORIANS
ASSYRIANS IN MOTION
INTRODUCTION / FILM / SECTIONS / CITIZEN HISTORIANS / FILMMAKER / STORY OF THE FILM
CITIZEN HISTORIANS
Do you have something to add to the narrative? An identification, a story? Do you recognize a face or the piece of music being played in this silent film? Do you have a photograph or a piece of audio related to the films? Has someone been misidentified? Add to the narrative here!
Let us know.
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Our intention is for this site to be a resource and repository for stories, pictures and memories.
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Fill out the form on the right.
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RECOGNIZE SOMEONE?
CREDITS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
SITE CREATORS
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AUTHORS, RESEARCHERS: Dr. Ruth Kambar and Annie Elias
WEBSITE DESIGNER: Sarah McLennan
VIDEO AND STILLS ASSEMBLY: Asher Sinaiko
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BIOGRAPHIES
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ANNIE ELIAS
Annie Elias serves on the board of San Francisco's Assyrian Foundation of America (AFA) where her father, Joel Elias, served for decades. She is a contributor to Nineveh Magazine, the AFA’s quarterly journal. Annie is a playwright and director in the San Francisco Bay Area who specializes in the creation of documentary theater—plays based on interviews. Her acclaimed play Tenderloin, composed from interviews of residents from the SF neighborhood, premiered in 2012 at The Cutting Ball Theater. Annie has a BA from Mills College, studied dramaturgy at the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard University, and has received numerous grants and awards, including a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and a grant from the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Project.
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RUTH KAMBAR, Phd.
Ruth Kambar is an English Teacher, Archivist, and Oral Historian whose ethnographic work focuses on modern Assyrian history through transnational, intersecting texts: including photos, oral histories, documents, books, and personal letters. Ruth earned her PhD from New York University in 2013: A Family Archive: Construction of Identity in the Assyrian American Diaspora.
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In 2017, Kambar co-curated the Blue Door Gallery exhibit: Assyrians in Yonkers
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In 2019, she published Assyrians of Yonkers, Images of America Series: Arcadia Publishing
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In 2020, she joined the Assyrian Studies Association Board of Directors and Chairs the ASA Digital Archive Committee
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In 2022, Kambar Co-Directed the historical exhibition, Tell Our Stories: Artifacts from the Assyrian Genocide, funded by a California Humanities grant in-kind with California State University, Stanislaus
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During the Pandemic, Kambar collaborated on the Yonkers Public Library Assyrian Oral History Project;
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Kambar has contributed to Nineveh Magazine, the AFA quarterly.
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INTERVIEWEES AND IDENTIFIERS
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REEL ONE - CHICAGO AREA:
Wilbur Elias, Elsie Elia Elias, Fred Elia, June Isaacs Elia, Ed.D, Lorna Johns Schmidt, Doreen Elias, Ed.D, Gloria Miner, Julius W. (Jay) Mirza, Turan Tuman, Mabel Sargis.
REEL TWO - EAST COAST:
John Ameer, Lydia Benjamin Kambar, Elizabeth Jacobs Bender, Kenneth and Diana Petrillo Kambar, David Benjamin, Sr., Estelle Vitti Tutora, Denise Pera, Alice Aziz David, Karen Sargis McCarthy, David Odishoo, Nancy Lee Jacobs, Joseph David, Christy Shalitta, Darius and Barbara Ovanes Baba, Louise Jacobs Silver.
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ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS
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Joseph Hermiz (PhD Candidate), Buck Bito at Movette, Lisa Grotts, Jenny Barr (Reference and Outreach Archivist at the Presbyterian Historical Society), Kimberly Sheamon, Nancy Simonian, Dr. Eden Naby, Bill Neesan, Kenneth Jacobs, Alex Oshana, Susan Hardcastle, Sara Akalski, Bob Georges, Lisa Essa, Nick Oshana, Maria Morris, John Kessel, Adam Boornazian, and Jason Sulliman.
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RESOURCE MATERIAL USED
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John Pierre Ameer, Assyrians in Yonkers: Reminiscences of a Community, Gorgias Press, 2008.
Edward and Irene Kliszus,The Assyrian Diaspora: A Research Project, 1999
Frederick A. Aprim, Assyrians: From Bedr Khan to Saddam Hussein: Driving into Extinction the Last Aramaic Speakers, Xlibris Corporation, 2006.
David A. Armstrong, Dragons & Violins: A Memoir of War and Music, BookLocker.com,Inc., 2010.
Assyrian Star, Assyrian Star, Inc.. November-December, Yonkers, New York, 1960.
Assyrian Star, Assyrian Star, Inc.. July-August,Yonkers, New York, 1961.
John Baba, Editor, Kitavona: The Assyrian Chronicle, Volume 2: a collection of 23 Issues from May 1935 to August 1937, John Baba Publisher, The Assyrian Press.
Maegan BetGivargis-McDaniel, Assyrians of New Britain, Arcadia Publishing, 2007.
Dr. Sargon Donabed and Ninos Donabed, Assyrians of Eastern Massachusetts, Arcadia Publishing, 2006.
Arianne Ishaya, Familiar Faces in Unfamiliar Places: Assyrians in the California Heartland 1911-2010, Xlibris Corporation, 2010.
Ruth Kambar, Assyrians of Yonkers, Images of America Series: Arcadia Publishing, 2019.
Vasili Shoumanov, Assyrians in Chicago, Arcadia Publishing, 2001.
Vasili Shoumanov, Assyrian American Association of Chicago: 100 Years, Arcadia Publishing, 2018.
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INTERNET LINKS:
Assyrian Studies Association Archive
The New Jersey Historical Society Fans!
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Supported by the Assyrian Studies Association’s Preserving Assyria program, Assyrians in Motion is a living document that can be developed, altered, and expanded through multiple voices and contributions.
Assyrians in Motion Copyright, ASA 2023
