LibGuides: Primary Sources: Middle East: Iran

Guide to Persia/Iran Time Periods

Achaemenid Empire	650-330 BCE
Greek Conquest	330-323 BCE
Seleucid Empire	312-248 BCE
Parthian Empire	248 BCE-224 CE
Sasanian Empire	224-651 CE
Islamic Conquest	633-651 CE
Umayyad Caliphate	661-750 CE
Abbsid Period & Iranian Dynasties	750-1258 CE
Mongol Conquest	1219-1358 CE
Timurid Empire	1370-1507 CE
Safavid Empire	1501-1736 CE
Afsharid & Zand Dynasties	1736-1796 CE
Qajar Dynasty	1796-1925 CE
Pahlavi Era*	1925-1979 CE
Islamic Republic	1979-present CE

*Official stopped being called Persia Internationally in 1935 and began being called Iran

See also: Persia Primary Source Guide

Online Sources: Iran

Documenting Iran-U.S. Relations, 1978-2015
Harvard Iranian Oral History Project
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Note the majority of the transcripts are in Persian with a few in English. This Harvard University website provides access to a collection of "personal accounts of 134 individuals who played major roles in or were eyewitnesses to important political events in Iran from the 1920s to the 1980s. Of these, 118 narratives have been digitized and are available to researchers through this database. The collection provides scholars and practitioners the opportunity to listen to and read the personal accounts of many of Iran's former political leaders as they recall the times and events that shaped their lives and the life of their country."
National Security Archive: Iran-U.S. Relations*
*Library does not subscribe
Selected materials accessible without subscription.
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"The Iran-U.S. Relations Project promotes the multinational, multi-archival exploration of “hot button” issues in the two countries’ complex relationship spanning more than 70 years.

Our documentary holdings, from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and archival spelunking on location in Tehran, Baku, Moscow, London and elsewhere, range from a collection of the published, shredded files taken from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, to key episodes such as the 1946 Azerbaijan crisis, the 1953 coup, and the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, all the way to the JCPOA."
Tehran Propaganda Murals
Photographed in Iran's capital city during the summer of 2006.
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"This selection of over 130 propaganda murals photographed in the capital city during the summer of 2006 is among the first “born-digital” special collections to come to the library and represents one of the first efforts to systematically document such public murals."
The Uprising of Khurdad 15, 1979
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"Born Ruhollah Hendi, the Ayatollah (the word signifies religious leader) took the name in 1930. He taught in the major Shi'ite theological school at Qom, but was exiled for his opposition to the government of the Shah. Living in Paris after 1978 he orchestrated the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran. He became the effective political and religious leader of the country until his death in 1989."
Women's Worlds in Qajar Iran
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"Explore the lives of women during the Qajar era (1796-1925) through a wide array of materials from private family holdings and participating institutions. Women’s Worlds in Qajar Iran provides bilingual access to thousands of personal papers, manuscripts, photographs, publications, everyday objects, works of art and audio materials, making it a unique online resource for social and cultural histories of the Qajar world." Site from Harvard University
See also: Persia Primary Source Guide

Book Sources: Iran

A selection of books/e-books available in Trible Library.
Click the title for location and availability information.

Off campus access instructions (for e-books)

Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody; William Hoffer
Call Number: Click title for availability
ISBN: 0312010737
Publication Date: 1987-08-01
The Priest and the King: An Eyewitness Account of the Iranian Revolution by Desmond Harney
Call Number: DS318 .H375 1999
ISBN: 1860643744
We Heard the Heavens Then: A Memoir of Iran by Aria Minu-Sepehr
Call Number: DS318.84.M56 A3 2012
ISBN: 9781451652185
Worlds Apart: A Documentary History of US-Iranian Relations, 1978-2018 by Malcolm Byrne; Kian Byrne
Call Number: Online - Cambridge
ISBN: 9781108975148

Search for More

Suggested terms to look for include - diary, diaries, letters, papers, documents, documentary or correspondence.

Combine these these terms with the event or person you are researching. (example: civil war diary)

Also search by subject for specific people and events, then scan the titles for those keywords or others such as memoirs, autobiography, report, or personal narratives.

An additional option is to do a search on a topic and use the "Resource Type" limiter on the left side of the results and choose the option "Primary Sources" - please note this is extremely limiting as most primary source materials are not marked in records with this resource type and you will miss seeing a large number of useful items.