Historical Portrait
Hartop Goshtigian playing the violin, portrait, photograph
Archive record
Photograph caption: "Armenian from Constantinople." Forms part of a group of field materials documenting Mary and Hartop Goshtigian performing Armenian and Armeno-Turkish songs and music on April 17, 1939, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Fresno, California.
About this photograph
This photograph shows Hartop Goshtigian holding his violin during a recording session on April 17, 1939, in Fresno, California. The original caption identifies him as Armenian from Constantinople. He and Mary Goshtigian performed Armenian and Armeno-Turkish songs and music that day.
The session was part of the W.P.A. California Folk Music Project, directed by Sidney Robertson Cowell. Between 1938 and 1940, Cowell recorded and photographed traditional musicians across Northern California, deliberately working across the state's immigrant communities rather than concentrating on a single tradition. The resulting collection includes portraits of Armenian, Icelandic, Italian, Portuguese, Mexican, Irish, and Serbian musicians recorded side by side.
The recordings and photographs from the project are held by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Compiled from the catalogue record and reference notes on the formats and events involved. The archive record above is the primary source.
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