Turpanjian family sponsors digitization of Zoryan’s Zabelle C. Boyajian Collection

TORONTO —The Zoryan Institute is pleased to announce the successful digitization of its invaluable Zabelle C. Boyajian Collection thanks to the generous support of Peter Turpanjian and his family. As a researcher, Turpanjian generously sponsored the digitization of the collection to grant access not only for his work, but researchers to follow. 

Zabelle C. Boyajian was born in 1873 in Diarbekir (modern-day Diyarbakır, Turkey). Her father, Tovmas Boyajian, was an important Armenian figure who led the Diyarbekir Protestant church and served as a British vice-consul. Zabelle Boyajian was sent to Cyprus following the Hamidian massacres to assist in organizing an industrial home for Armenian widows and orphans and to care for the sick and wounded. In 1896, she moved to England and enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art, where she studied painting and would go on to become an accomplished artist, writer and poet.