The Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia (Armenian: Հայկական սովետական հանրագիտարան, Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran; ASE) publishing house was established in 1967 as a department of the Institute of History of the Armenian Academy of Sciences under the presidency of Viktor Hambardzumyan (1908–1996), co-edited by Abel Simonyan (1922–1994) and Makich Arzumanyan (1919–1988). In 1988–1999 the editor-in-chief was Konstantin Khudaverdyan (1929–1999) and since 1999 Hovhannes Aivazyan. It produced the Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia (also rendered Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia; Armenian: Հայկական Սովետական Հանրագիտարան, Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran, Russian: Армя́нская сове́тская энциклопе́дия, Armyanskaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya АСЭ) from 1974–1986.