فصلنامه گنجینه اسناد
پیاپی 66 (تابستان 1386)

Oppression and injustice on the part of the local hereditary rulers of Estar Abad caused dissatisfaction among the inhabitants of that state and led them to Constitutionalism. Constitutionalism, which was seen as an appropriate way to oppose oppressive rulers, was first introduced in Ramiyan, Fenderesk and Katul, through direct resistance to the despotic rulers of Estar Abad. Meanwhile, Russians came to Ashuradeh. They monopolized the commercial and economic activities of the state of Estar-Abad and violated the rights of its inhabitants. The aforementioned facts, together with the incompetence of rulers and the government led traders, scholars and local chiefs to institute a provincial society for governing the state of Estar-Abad. Turkmen residents of Estar-Abad were in a chaotic situation due to the corruptness of the central government and the Russians’ desire for greater power. They managed to move towards peace by improving their role in the constitutional revolution, which enabled them to achieve parliamentary representation, particularly after their participation in public protests against the bombing of the parliament and against the takeover of Tehran by Bakhtiarian forces.

The Azerbaijan province, and especially Tabriz, the capital of east Azerbaijan, is considered to be the birthplace of the constitutional revolution. Publishing newspapers in this province had a dramatic effect on the improvement of Iran’s constitution. Aligholi Safarof author, poet, comedian, and critic, whom Mohammad Ali Mirza held in high regard, started his political activities by publishing tracts from 1310 AH. In 1316 AH he published the newspaper “Ehtiaj”. After this publication was closed down, he continued publishing it under the title “Eghbal”. In 1325 AH he published the “Azerbaijan” newspaper. The Azerbaijan newspaper consisted of four pages of cartoon pictures and four pages of Persian and Turkish text. After its closure, Mirza Agha Boloori instituted the “Hasharatolarz” newspaper, which dealt with similar themes. These newspapers contained pictures and critical text similarly to the “Kashkool” and “Mollanasreddin” newspapers from Tiflis and Baku and it is obvious that publishing them in that era was no easy task.

In the first decade of the constitutional revolution, Yazd was in utter disorder. During the kingdom of Mozaffaredin Shah and before the constitutional revolution, the rulers of Yazd were very overbearing. They imposed an intolerable tax burden on the citizens of Yazd. Their overbearing attitude was due to the physical and mental weakness of Mozaffaredin Shah. Yazd inhabitants protested, but each new ruler imposed new hardships on them. Shortages, drought and the spread of cholera aggravated the situation. Religious minorities such as Zoroastrians also suffered from the situation. After the constitutional decree was issued, the constitutional movement was formed in Yazd. Haj Mohhamadtaghi Mazar played a major role in the movement. Zoroastrians of Yazd were also in favor of the constitution. Yet there were some severe disputes, because the rulers ofYazd remained unchanged. Haj Mohhamadtaghi Mazar was killed and Parviz Shahjahan, a Zoroastrian trader, was assassinated as a result of these disputes. Other subjects studied in this research are: the protest of Yazd inhabitants against the imposition of taxes, the institution of provincial societies, the election of Yazd’s representative to the first parliament, the surrounding ofYazd by thieves of Faraghe, and its conquest by Bakhtiarian soldiers while their Bakhtiarian rulers governed Yazd, also the arrest and imprisonment of Farrokhie Yazdi, the defiant poet.

The constitutional movement had a great impact on Iran’s society and especially on the cultural affairs of the country. One manifestation of this was the institution of schools in new forms and the updating of existing schools. There are few sources of information about Kerman in historical books; therefore the following research studies the status of schools which were instituted during the constitutional era, based on information acquired from non-current archives of the Education Organization of Kerman, interviews with seniors who were teachers or students during the constitutional era, pictures and personal albums, and some school books remaining from that era. These schools are divided into four groups: 1- English schools; 2- Zoroastrian schools; 3- National schools; 4- Public schools Each school is studied in terms of its founding individual or institution, the purpose for which it was instituted, its facilities, fees, the salary and educational level of its staff, study materials provided and uniforms.

The constitutional revolution is a milestone in Iran’s history which not only had political effects, but set Iran’s civil society on a new course and gave it new impetus.Studying how Iran’s politicians acted in drawing up contracts and the way in which they gave privileges to the colonizers of Iran, and also clarifying how colonizers took advantage and broke these contracts, endorses the abovementioned fact. Some of the studied contracts are for: The Russian Loan Bank, Lynch’s Company, Khoshtariya Ltd. and the Russian Tehran-Anzali Toll Company.The self-confidence of Iran’s civil society during the constitutional era can be clearly observed by studying the social events of that era - for instance, the reaction of the citizens of Anzali to the Russian Lazanoff Company and the backlash of the butchers of Qazvin against the oppression of the American Gharehguzian Company. Among the positive consequences of the constitutional revolution and its impact, the discontinuance of the contracts with colonialist countries and the employment of more Iranian workers can be mentioned.

A standard is an agreement that helps to control activities or products. Archivists use standards to arrange and describe records by establishing a necessary level of consistency and coherence so that they can expedite and facilitate the retrieval and exchange of information among archival repositories.

The outputs of Oral history are constantly produced under the general name of “oral history”. These outputs can appear in varied forms and in different values. Apparently, this variety is due mainly to the different ways in which they are edited. Therefore, this article attempts to illuminate different aspects of the editing of oral history. Firstly, different prospective applications of oral history are discussed. Afterwards, editing is studied in three stages; pre-interview, interview, and transcription, since this method of representing the past is formed on the basis of editorial thought. The last section discusses editorial pathology which is important for the avoidance of partiality in the execution of oral history projects. The main aim of this article is to provide a practical and theoretical basis for promoting further discussion of the editing of oral history. In the end, there are ten questions to be considered by researchers in order to find more and better solutions in this field.

The survival of each nation is based on its ethical and cultural heritage, as is the cultural and historical guidance of any group. As a memorial, an archive provides illustrative evidence of the culture, civilization and identity of a country. Furthermore it forges links between past, present, and future. Archive is defined as an appropriately equipped center to which non-current records are sent after fulfilling their immediate purpose. These records are kept and preserved in order to provide a service for researchers and historians. In regard to the importance and role of national archives, the results] of comparative studies of the national archives of Iran, America, England and France are reported in this article. In conclusion, some suggestions are made based on these results, which could render the national archives ofIran more dynamic.

Compared to the past, universities and educational centers are giving more attention to educating individuals who can scientifically manage archival centers and also handle their professional activities, by acquiring archival knowledge. This increased attention is due to the daily development of archives, which serve a varied range of activities and purposes, and also to the importance of these archives among different governments and countries. Today, Archival studies, as an important course in many universities, has attracted numerous enthusiasts at different levels. Graduates, who are referred to as archivists, are devoted to purposeful activities in this field, by acquiring theoretical and practical skills. How, and at what levels, archival studies are presented in different universities, the content of courses, and also similarities and differences between courses in archives and those in librarianship, are discussed in the following paper. This research is done selectively by studying the state of archives education in a number of universities around the world. The major source is the websites ofthese educational centers.