Role of Oral History in Economic History of Iran

The central aim of this paper is to show how interviews with people, particularly of ex-leading businessmen, and dominant strata concerning their role in the political and economic history assist to create an unique oral archive and a significant source for preparing biographies. For this reason the paper analyses the contents, products and methodologies of some Iranian oral history projects which have created significant source to study their role in the political and economic history of Iran during the Pahlavi period (1940-1979). The paper reviews the process of these projects, i.e., formal agreement, interview procedure, single phase interview, recollection about others, processing, preservation and increasing objectivity, etc. The paper will argue that the collections of oral history are immensely significant in helping us to understand the key periods in global history during the last century. The paper likewise maintains that oral history projects are exceptionally timely, not only because of current changes in global history, but because the experiences of many of the people involved in political, social and economic activities should be collected and their recollections of those tumultuous years of their life should be recorded and made available to future generations of scholars in various formats.