BAYSIDE, NY - An eager audience listened to the presentation of Ruth Thomasian, Founder and Executive Director of Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives, on Friday evening, October 20, 2000, at the Kalustyan Hall of the Armenian Church of the Holy Martyrs here. Ms. Thomasian showed over one hundred slides representing views of late 19th- and early 20th-century Armenian families and towns. Her program, subtitled "Armenians Through the Camera's Eye," captured the attention of everyone present.

Through Project SAVE, Ruth Thomasian has been collecting photographs for the past twenty-five years, from Armenians and non-Armenians alike, such as missionaries who worked in Armenia. At the Holy Martyrs program, she showed a variety of images from the Project SAVE archives. Ms. Thomasian also explained the archival process of preserving old photographs in order to obtain museum-quality reproductions before returning originals to the photo donors. At the reception, which followed in the church auditorium, guests had the opportunity to discuss their personal photographs with Ms. Thomasian.

The Holy Martyrs Church Cultural Committee, under the chairmanship of Lillian Chapian, presents a program each year in commemoration of the month of Culture. Because of the generosity of the Jevarjian Trust Fund and the Cetin Trust Fund, these programs are open to the public without charge.