Primary Sources: Middle East: Iran

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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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