نشریه اسناد بهارستان
شماره 1 (پیاپی -1، بهار 1390)

When Reza Shah acceded to the throne, extensive developments took place in roads and road construction and consequently special attention was paid to the Northern regions of Iran. The new shah was well aware of the importance of enhancing communication and its interrelation with road construction. Railroad lines all over the country are an instance of his activities. The littoral regions of Caspian Sea, due to their proximity to Russia on the one hand and to Tehran on the other, could play a pivotal role in trade and commerce. However, the roads remaining from the time of Qajar had lots of problems including their being mountainous, narrow and difficult to pass. These problems caused the first Pahlavi to spend a lot of time on this. When Mohammad Reza Shah was put into power, because of the presence of the Allied Powers and some other factors including lack of food in the country, roads were again opened up for discussion, but nothing serious was done about them. This paper looks at the issues connected to roads and road construction in Islamic Consultative Assembly.

The report, as written by Abdullah Mostufi, deals with the administrative chaos as well as the poor conditions governing certain ports in the Persian Gulf. It offers suggestions as to how to remove such deficiencies in the above areas, both to enhance the quality of the administrative system and to place an emphasis on the local peculiarities. The report also emphasizes the above features as the criteria to be observed under any circumstances and for any change and improvement.

D’Arcy Contract was concluded at the beginning of the twentieth century, in an atmosphere of competition between England and Russia in Iran. Iran’s economic status and its making concessions to foreign countries especially England and Russia, had created a situation in which conclusion of a contract with any other foreign country would be opposed by Russia and England. In the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, whenever the Iranian government would grant England a concession, Russia would object and ask for the same or a similar concession; and the same with England, when Russia was given a privilege. In that political atmosphere, D’Arcy concession was not welcomed by Russia; Russian government and mass media showed adverse reactions to this contract. Although D’Arcy concession did not include the five Northern states of Iran, Russia asked for a similar concession and tried to construct oil pipes from Baku to Persian Gulf. The present paper, aiming at an investigation of Russia’s reaction to the establishment of Iran-England oil company, studies documents pertaining to Russians’ activities in Iran oil market. This study reveals that Russians, given their 1907 contract with England concerning their interests in Iran, would react to England’s meddling in buffer zones which were the center of Iran-England oil company activities.

The first document is a report by the then head of National Iranian Radio-Television (Reza Ghotbi), dated 1975. This document is about the opportunism of Afghanistan and Iraq in appropriating the prominent Iranian Muslim figures. The second document is the report of one of the deputies of the organization asking the head for guidance on how to identify the policy of the organization towards the political events of the spring and summer of 1978. Finally, the third document is a report by the organization’s journalist on health and life shortcomings of Kurdish Iraqi refugees in Kerman and Zanjan and their longing for returning to their country, in spite of serious dangers from the Iraq’s Ba’athist regime.

Registration of transaction documents (title deeds and bonds/religious documents), based on the needs of different cities of Iran, used to be carried out by judges. An examination of a number of title deeds, which belong to the family collection of Davani family who has lived in Bushehr for years, can direct our attention towards the history of title deeds registration in this important port. Based on these documents, in the first decade of the eleventh century and probably due to association with judges of Shiraz, the judges of Bushehr got familiar with this method of document registration and started to practice it. In that decade, the descendents of Imam Mūsā Kāzim in Bushehr, and in later decades several judges from Behbahānī and Āl-e Osfūr families were in the business of writing and registering transactions in Bushehr.

Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Tabataba’i Boroujerdi (1875–1961), Shiite religious authority from 1945 to 1961, was one of the authorities seriously concerned with promoting religious education among different classes of society. After the decline of Reza Shah, in the beginning years of Mohammad Reza Shah’s reign, religious forces found a golden opportunity to start their activities in different social, political and cultural fields. Around the same time, Ayatollah Boroujerdi settled in Qom’s theological school and benefiting from that favorable condition and his close association with the government, he undertook different activities including teaching religious laws at schools. Even before these activities, he had advocated Ayatollah Haj Aqa Hussein Qomi’s view regarding the necessity of attention to culture and teaching religion at public schools on the part of government. Ayatollah Qomi’s demand, which was later reflected in letters and statements of other religious scholars such as Sheikh Gholam Hussein Tabrizi, Reza Kalbasi and others, is an indication of the extent to which religious activists were concerned about religion. Especially, since a long time ago, rival groups and movements like Tudeh party and the Baha’is were trying to infiltrate Ministry of Culture. It was in line with this approach that Ayatollah Boroujerdi, a couple of months after 28 Mordad coup in 1953, seized the opportunity and in his fivefold demand, directed attention to the necessity of teaching religious laws at schools; the governing body’s need for political legitimacy necessitated an immediate response to this demand.

Between 1907 and 1919, a riot was staged in the central region of Iran, with Kashan as its stronghold. The ringleaders of the rebels were Nayeb Hussein Kashi and his son Masha’allah Khan. The riot covered a vast geographical area from the South of Qom to Yazd and from Murchehkhort to Tabas. Because of the geographical coverage of the riot on the one hand, and its thirteen-year temporal span on the other hand, there exist lots of telegraphs and reports by the ringleaders of this riot in archival bases, especially in the National Library and Archive of Iran. There is no documented investigation of the run of events of this riot, from its very beginning to its suppression; the present paper, therefore, has examined the chain of events pertaining to Nayebi riot on the basis of national documents.

Naser al-Din Shah, whose reign was simultaneous with the start of modernism (in its special sense) in Iran, reigned more than all other Qajar shahs. Historians have different and sometimes even contradictory ideas about Naser al-Din Shah’s behavior, conduct and policies for running the country. The documents examined in this paper cover some general issues: issuing orders and giving verdicts in response to people’s petitions, investigating collective complaints, investigating financial orders, economic concessions, and holding court meetings, and looking into mundane governmental matters. Moreover, in this paper we are concerned with aspects of Naser al-Din Shah’s character which are related to innovations in his governing policies, his interactions with religious scholars, his particular attention to the petitions and complaints of rulers, commanders and ordinary people (peasants), the style of his letters to his chancellor, Mirza Yusof Mostufi al-Mamalek and some social affairs. This paper builds on the hypothesis that Naser al-Din Shah has a dual character: he swings between autocracy and consultation, between modernity and tradition.

The hometown and nationality of Seyyed Jamal al-Din Asad-abadi was an issue for governments when he was living, and, later, was a matter of disagreement for some history researchers. After Naser al-Din Shah was assassinated and Seyyed Jamal became known as the one who encouraged Mirza Reza Kermani to bring Shah down, the Iranian government asked the Ottoman government to return Seyyed Jamal to Iran. This request was turned down for both English and Ottoman governments doubted the Iranian nationality of Seyyed Jamal and finally did not return him to Iran. The present paper introduces the newly found documents which can be traced back to the time when Seyyed Jamal was living, and substantiates that he was born in Asad-abad, Hamedan and had Iranian nationality.

Among the documents of the third round of elections of Islamic Consultative Assembly – which took place in one of the most critical periods in contemporary history – there is a collection of complaints pertaining to Daregaz and the legislatorship of Mohammad-Taqi Bahar (Malek al-Sho’ara) which shows some objections to his appointment. His political and literary activities, his papers in Nowbahar journal, doubts about his religious beliefs and the validity of Daregaz election were some of the reasons why his appointment was met with opposition; relying on these newly found documents, this paper explores these reasons.

The relations between Iran and France at the beginning of the eighteenth century (the most important century in Iran’s foreign policy), the wars between Iran and Russia, Napoleon’s meteoric victories in Europe and his sending numerous ambassadors (especially Jaubert), urged Fat’h Ali Shah to send Mirza Reza Qazvini, the clerk of the supreme court, as an ambassador to France. In his letter to the French emperor, Fat’h Ali Shah first praised him and then asked him to assume the responsibility of equipping Iran’s army in a European fashion. After the submission of this letter, the treaty of Finkenstein was concluded between the two countries. Following that, General Gardane and the French military board were sent to Iran. Since this contract is of great significance, out of its 16 clauses, 3 are studied in this paper; the paper ends with the features of Fat’h Ali Shah’s letter and its original manuscript.

The present paper explores transportation crisis in Iran after the First World War. Famine and drought and the need for cars and trucks urged the then Iranian government to take action to satisfy these needs. In the first place, the government decided to take Russian trucks – which were brought to Iran for the First World War – in place of the cost of the damage they caused to Iran. But the Russians did not accept this. Hence, the government decided to buy the trucks. Russians sold most of their trucks to the English forces that had settled in Iran and seemingly sold a number of them to Iranian government. But this did not resolve the transportation crisis. Consequently, to combat the problem, the government decided to buy cars from America and Germany.

The document examined in this paper is prepared by the English consul in Esfahan and describes the commercial situation of this city between 1901 and 1906, which coincides exactly with the run-up to Constitutional Revolution. The document provides a precise report of the items being imported or exported, the importing and exporting companies and countries and the competition between them, the state of commercial roads and transportation system, weather condition in Esfahan in different seasons as well as agricultural products. The statistics it provides on the amount of import and export, agricultural products, and birth and death rate is unrivalled in its own right. The social life of people is another issue with which this document is seriously concerned. The beliefs, manners, diseases and cures, and festivals and funeral ceremonies are among other things discussed in this document.

The attention directed to the South in the eighteenth century – which was due to Nader Shah’s attention towards naval force that resulted in the establishment of the port of Bushehr – had a pivotal role in the formation of economic, political and social structure of this port. Since the beginning of Qajar era, for different reasons, this port changed into a port for exchange of goods. The thrive of Bushehr caused the tradesmen of farther cities like Shiraz, Kazeroun and Yazd to migrate to this port; in the reign of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, the migration of tradesmen from Kazeroun, completed this emigration process. In the beginning years of Fat’h Ali Shah’s reign, because of the safety of the land, commercial activities increased tremendously and many of the dwellers of other ports including Bahrain were attracted to this port. In the beginning years of Naser al-Din Shah’s reign, because of a number of events, the popularity of this important port waned and finally it was left out of the Persian Gulf economic circle. At the end of this period, factors such as inattention of the central government to this port, high taxes, improper customs, prevalence of smuggling, decrease of trade, poverty, unemployment, and the interference of the British government and most important of all, the thrive of Khuzestan’s ports due to the discovery of oil encouraged many of the inhabitants of this port to leave for the Southern ports of Persian Gulf like Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman.

An enlightening letter was sent to Ayn al-Dowleh by Mirza Aqa Esfahani, also known as Mujahid, about the wrong doings of Mirza Khan Danesh (Prince Arfa’ al-Dowleh). As a politician and journalist living in Mashruteh (the Constitution) period, Mirza Aqa Esfahani knew several languages and published Asr Newspaper in 1328 A.H. He was a renowned liberalist who dedicated his life to freedom before Mashruteh. The letter is a significant document outlining his patriotism and an evidence of the relationships between Ayn al- Dowleh and Prince Arfa’ al-Dowleh.

Akhound Molla Abd al-Ghaffar was a well-known clergyman and calligrapher in Takab Afshar; his son, Mirza Mohammad Hussein Nejat (Mo’in al-Eslam), was also a famous calligrapher and poet in that region. This paper gives a brief account of the life and works of these great men and studies four documents addressed to Molla Abd al-Ghaffar which were written by Hassan Ali Khan Amir Nezam Garousi (a man of Naseri era).

The history of the relations between Iran and England – which is replete with contempt for and treason against Iranian government and people as well as numerous services to the colonial regime of England – is deserving of in-depth investigation. One of the issues worth examination is the political missions which were carried out under the guise of jobs like ambassador, orientalist, etc. This paper aims at providing a brief introduction of Sir Denis Wright (1911–2005), politician and former ambassador of England in Iran. The documents pertaining to his trip to Azerbaijan for the purpose of undertaking a political-colonial mission are studied too.

Because genealogy is of overriding importance in learning about the kinship of the descendents of the Prophet, and Islam has attached enormous significance to this field of study, writing books and papers with a scientific methodology as well as investigating the documents, genealogical trees and other relevant things seem necessary. Lack of any established organization responsible for identification and recording of the genealogies of different families, the reluctance of the owners of genealogies to publicly present these documents and the lack of confidence in the truth and precision of the existing genealogies have rendered this field of study a fairly challenging one. Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Rouzati, a contemporary genealogist, within the last six decades, has authored and revised several relevant books and has undertaken a worthwhile and fruitful endeavor to collect the genealogical trees of the descendents of Imam Ali (PBUH). The present paper has a brief discussion of the science of genealogy, enumerates the features of Ayatollah Rouzati’s genealogy in the book Jāme’ al-Ansāb and finally presents a number of important documents of this field of study.

Mo’aven al-Molk Tekyeh (religious theatre) is a unique building, remaining from Qajar dynasty in Iran. This theatre is a collection of architecture, including a Husseiniyeh, Zeinabiyeh, and Abassiyeh. What has made this historical building distinctive is its exquisite tiles with their various paintings. The present paper pinpoints the location of this theatre and its different parts, and for the first time, examines one of the documents of title of this building in order to learn about the process of development of such architecture. The second land bought for building the Husseiniyeh, the date of purchasing the land and its first founder are some of the issues addressed.

The establishment of Iran National Archive in 1960 opened a new chapter in documentation activities in Iran and aimed at removing redundant documents and collecting, maintaining and distributing the valuable documents of country’s archive. However, gradually, the role and importance of the theoretical basis of archive, document research, documentology and document-based studies became known to the officials and consequently Documentation Research Faculty was established. The present paper is a discussion of the history of this Faculty, a description of its functions and duties, and a brief review of its activities, particularly the most important activities of 2010.

Depending upon the subject of historical research, the historians can utilize differing sources. The more the research is related to the field of social history and the history of people, the more valuable will oral sources be – due to their public nature. This study examines the place of oral history in historical researches and investigates the relation between historians and oral history. Moreover, the relevant definitions of oral history are given and the different criticisms centered on oral sources are addressed; finally some solutions are offered.

Oral history which has gained increasing significance in contemporary studies and researches is one of the research methods in history which identifies and expounds historical events based on the views and reports of witnesses, observers and activists in a particular area of research. In this interview with Mohammad Afrasiabi, one of the former personnel of the Senate, we address a number of issues concerning the structure, interactions and activities of the Senate and the senators and also some contemporary historical events like the 1953 Iranian coup d’état, on August 19 (known as 28 Mordad coup), events of the Second World War and the uprising of July 1952 (30th of Tir).

The Documentation Center of Islamic Consultative Assembly Library has put in an unprecedented effort to collect historical documents within the few past years. This was done in two ways. First, through dedication of some documents which was materialized by encouraging private collectors and archivists and some Iranian contemporary scientific and political figures and notables to contribute documents to this center. Following this, for the first time the idea of purchasing historical documents emerged. This idea was put into practice in the documentation center of the Library by establishing the ‘committee of document evaluation’, as the first step. In the next steps, the committee, in its regular weekly meetings, pursed policymaking in this field vigorously and seriously. The result of these efforts was an addition of about two million domestic and foreign documents to the Assembly’s archive. The present paper, thus, provides a list of documents, obtained through dedication or purchasing, in the last two years. The list that follows is in fact a selection of collected documents, summarized and also classified and labeled based on their content. We hope to introduce a selected list of collected documents to our educated audience in the coming issues of Asnad Baharestan Quarterly.

Valizadeh Mo’jezi family is a renowned family in Khorram-abad and their family documents (in 459 pages) were donated to the archive of the Islamic Consultative Assembly Library on February 2011 by Hussein Ali Valizadeh. These documents include a large number of bills of sale, written statements of witnesses, deeds of conveyance and decrees and orders related to the estates, lands and possessions of Sardar Khan, Ali Mardan Khan, Papi Mohammad Khan, Mo’jez Ali Khan, Khanjan Khan and other individuals of Valizadeh household in Khorram-abad; these documents can be of immense benefit to researchers. To provide you with more information on the content of these documents, we can refer to the following instances: a number of these decrees and orders pertain to the transfer of Mish Akhor estates – in which the tribes of Koulivand, Chegini and Shiravand had settled – to Khanjan Khan; some others state that Amir Teymour Khan took Zeynvand and Dirikvand tribes under his own guardianship to enforce discipline in their affairs and collect their taxes; and there is an order to cut the tax Malek Tahuneh had to pay to Khanjan Khan. At the end, we highly appreciate Hussein Valizadeh Mo’jezi for his invaluable contribution to the enrichment of the archive of the Islamic Consultative Assembly Library.