ASBAREZ ARMENIAN NEWSPAPER. Published TWICE Weekly, Every Tuesday and 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 1950 and 1951, bound together. Approximately 208 twice weekly issues, beginning with the January 3, 1950 issue and ending with the December 25, 1951 issue (Armenians celebrate Christmas on January 6). 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 208 issues. The issues are LARGE BROADSHEET FORMAT, with the pages measuring approximately 15x22 inches (38x55 cm). The issues have 4 pages. Therefore this bound set has over 800 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. Later in the 20th Century Los Angeles hosted a larger Armenian community, with many Fresno Armenians moving south as a result of an agricultural depression. 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 cheap paper and are in somewhat ragged condition, with tears, pieces missing, shedding and general wear. The newspapers are printed on fragile paper and there edge tears, chips, and wear here and there, some tearing along the center folds, and age toning, nonetheless all the bound in NEWSPAPERS are in generally good condition, looking as if they have been infrequently used (the fragile covers possibly being worn and torn when this heavy bound set of newspapers was moved!) 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 number of Armenians in LA surpassed those in Fresno in 1930, partly because of the agricultural depression in the valley during the 1920s. The early immigrants were primarily involved with farming and agriculture. By 1930 Armenians owned 40% of the raisin acreage in Fresno County. Bigotry against Armenians was common. 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.