Collection of autograph letters in Armenian and one envelope in Ottoman Turkish with postal stamps signed 'Mihran Sahinyan'.

MIHRAN SAHINYAN, (Armenian photographer, owner of 'Foto Galatasaray', father of first female Armenian photographer Maryam Sahinyan, son of Agop Sahinyan Pasha who was deputy from Sivas in the first Ottoman Parliamentary).

Original Three Manuscript Letters, Ist., 1924.

Original autograph manuscript letters signed 'Mihran Sahinyan'. 26x20 cm. In Armenian. 3 separate bifolium letters. Dated 1924. Mihran Sahinyan was avidly interested in photography. In 1933 he began to work for the Galatasaray Photography Studio in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul. In 1936, Maryam's mother Dikranuhi died a sudden death and left the family financially strained. Due to these circumstances, Maryam Sahinyan was forced to drop out of the French School Sainte-Pulchérie she attended in order to help her father out in the studio. By 1937, in order to assist the financial burden of the family, she started managing the studio independently. Maryam Sahinyan managed the studio until 1985. Maryam Sahinyan was born at Sahinyan Konagi, now known as the Camli Kösk in the city center of Sivas, Turkey. Her grandfather, Agop Sahinyan Pasha, was the representative of Sivas in the first Ottoman Parliament established in 1877. After the Armenian Deportation of 1915, at the age of 4, Maryam Sahinyan escaped to Istanbul via Samsun leaving behind many assets such as the Sahinyan Konak, 5 flour mills, and large amounts of real estate. The family settled in the Harbiye district of Istanbul and soon adjusted to a new lifestyle under the Republican Era of the Turkish Republic. She attended the local Armenian school Esayan.

Autograph Collection Photography Turkish Armenians The Ottoman Empire