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| Robert Hewsen | |
|---|---|
| Name | Robert Hewsen |
| Birth date | 1927 |
| Birth place | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Death date | 2000 |
| Death place | Yerevan, Armenia |
| Occupation | Historian, Scholar |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Scholarship on Armenian history, cartography of Armenia |
Robert Hewsen was an American historian and nineteenth–twentieth century Armenian studies scholar noted for his work on Armenian historical geography and cartography. He held academic positions in the United States and Armenia and produced influential studies on Armenian historiography, the Caucasus, and regional cartography.
Born in Philadelphia in 1927, Hewsen completed secondary schooling before attending higher education institutions including the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied history and related fields. He pursued advanced research at institutions connected to Armenian studies and the wider Near East, engaging with scholars from Columbia University, Harvard University, Princeton University, and Yale University. During his formative years he encountered scholarship from the British Museum, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and archives associated with the Vatican Library and the Library of Congress, which informed his interest in historical cartography and primary sources.
Hewsen held appointments and fellowships at a range of institutions, collaborating with centers such as the University of Michigan, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago. He taught courses and conducted research connected to programs at Brown University, Rutgers University, and Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. His career included visiting positions and research affiliations in Armenia at institutions like Yerevan State University and the Matenadaran, working alongside scholars associated with the Academy of Sciences of Armenia and the Oriental Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He contributed to projects with international organizations including the Smithsonian Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Hewsen specialized in Armenian historical geography, cartography, and the reconstruction of medieval and early modern place-names. He analyzed primary sources from Armenian chroniclers such as Movses Khorenatsi, Faustus of Byzantium, Armen Petrosyan, and cross-referenced Byzantine records including works by Procopius, Agathangelos, and Anna Komnene. He examined Ottoman and Persian archives, incorporating materials from the Ottoman Archives (Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi), the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents, and the British Library collections. His method combined philology, topography, and cartographic analysis similar to approaches used by Vladimir Minorsky, Nicholas Adontz, and Robert H. Hewsen's contemporaries in Armenian studies. Hewsen's work addressed contested regional issues involving Caucasus, Eastern Anatolia, Kars Province, Nakhchivan, and Nagorno-Karabakh, engaging with scholarship from historians like Hewsen collaborator? and geographers associated with the Royal Geographical Society and the International Cartographic Association. He reconciled medieval Armenian toponyms with modern maps produced by institutions such as the Ordnance Survey, the Institut Géographique National, and the United States Geological Survey.
Hewsen authored monographs, atlases, and articles for journals and encyclopedias. His publications appeared in outlets such as the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Revue des Études Arméniennes, the Harvard Ukrainian Studies, and the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. He contributed entries to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and reference works published by the Oxford University Press and the Cambridge University Press. Notable works include comprehensive treatments of Armenian historical geography and critical editions of cartographic sources used by scholars working on Byzantium, Safavid Iran, Ottoman Empire, and Russian Empire periods. He collaborated with editors from SUNY Press, Brill Publishers, and Routledge on volumes concerning the Caucasus and Near East studies.
Hewsen received recognition from academic bodies and cultural institutions, including awards and fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Ford Foundation. He was honored by Armenian academic institutions such as the Academy of Sciences of Armenia and received medals and commendations from cultural organizations in Yerevan and diaspora centers in Beirut, Paris, Los Angeles, and New York City. His scholarship was cited in works by recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize, and other major distinctions in history and area studies.
Hewsen maintained connections with Armenian cultural and scholarly communities in the United States, France, Soviet Union, and Armenia. He collaborated with librarians and archivists at the Matenadaran, the National Library of Armenia, and institutions in Tbilisi and Moscow. He died in Yerevan in 2000, leaving a legacy continued by scholars at institutions such as the University of California, Haigazian University, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.
Category:Historians of Armenia Category:1927 births Category:2000 deaths