Library Guides: Historical Primary Sources: Middle East & North Africa: Iran & Iraq

Iran

Digital Persian Archive
Growing archive of Persian historical deeds and documents, both published and unpublished.
The Ghani Collection at Yale
A rich collection of documents in Persian of the Qajar period (1785-1925).

Iran political diaries, 1881-1965
Call Number: Main (Gardner) Stacks DS274 .I73 1997 and online
A key source work for modern Iranian history, this comprehensive series of British political reports provides an insight into the complexities and conflicts of Persian politics and closely reflects the changing nature of the relations between Britain and Persia revealing the extent of those mutual misunderstandings which sometimes made the relationship a difficult and sensitive one.

Iranian Oral History Project
Personal accounts of over 100 individuals who played major roles in or were eyewitnesses to important political events in Iran from the 1920s to the 1980s.

Iran: political developments, 1941-1946: British documentary sources: Iran under allied occupation
Call Number: Main (Gardner) Stacks DS318 .I735 2008 and online
This selection of documents examines in detail the political developments within Iran and the changes in Iranian policy that resulted from movements in the balance of power during the Second World War.

Iran: The Making of U.S. Policy, 1977-1980 (DNSA)
Documents on the fall of Shah and the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini, including some that the government would not have made available until the middle of the twenty-first century had the Archive not forced their release through the Freedom of Information Act.
Nashriyah: digital Iranian history
Iranian newspapers and periodicals capturing key historical events as they happened.
U.S. Policy toward Iran: From the Revolution to the Nuclear Accord, 1978-2015 (DNSA)
Includes top-level White House, State Department, and CIA records; British and Iranian sources; and international inspection materials covering every major issue and crisis in the U.S.-Iran relationship from the 1979 revolution, to the hostage-taking and terrorist attacks of the 1980s and 1990s, to the brief cooperation after 9/11, to the controversial 2015 nuclear deal.
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, relating to the lives of women during the Qajar era (1796-1925).

Cultural and Political Texts from Iraq
A digital project launched by a doctoral student to digitize Arabic texts gathered during his research.

Iraq Administration Reports 1914–1932
This title is a comprehensive series of British administration reports for Mesopotamia (Iraq) from the outset of World War I up to the independence of Iraq. It includes accounts of the British campaign against the Turks in Iraq (including the siege of Kut) 1914-1918, the administration of the vilayets of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul up to 1920; also the complete series of administration reports under the British Mandate over Iraq 1920–1932, including the final report submitted to the League of Nations.
Iraq: defence intelligence, 1920-1973
Call Number: Main (Gardner) Stacks DS70.96.G7 I73 2005 and online
The documents and supporting maps in this collection explore the central role of Iraq in both the politics of the Middle East and the formation of government policy in the West during this time period.

Iraqgate: Saddam Hussein, U.S. Policy and the Prelude to the Persian Gulf War, 1980-1994 (DNSA)
Materials that trace U.S. policy toward Iraq prior to the Persian Gulf War, as well as U.S. government reactions to revelations about the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) scandal and the secret arming of Saddam Hussein's regime. The set also focuses on the economic issues at play in the U.S. relationship with Iraq.
Iraqi Jewish Archive
Startling evidence of the once vibrant Jewish life in Iraq came to light in May 2003 — over 2,700 books and tens of thousands of documents were discovered in the flooded basement of the Iraqi intelligence headquarters by a US Army team. The remarkable survival of this written record of Iraqi Jewish life provides an unexpected opportunity to better understand this 2,500-year-old Jewish community.

Political Diaries of the Arab World: Iraq
Call Number: Main (Gardner) Stacks DS70.96.G7 P65 1998 and online
These volumes comprise the periodical political reports and intelligence summaries prepared by British political officers stationed in Iraq.

Records of Iraq, 1914-1966
This collection of British Government documents reflect the progress of the internal government of Iraq, including civil administration, transport, economics and petroleum affairs. In particular there is information on the treatment of minorities, including the Assyrians, the Yezidis, Jews and, running throughout the collection, on the Kurdish question.
Targeting Iraq, Part 1: Planning, Invasion, and Occupation, 1997-2004 (DNSA)
Documents on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, providing historical background on U.S. policy debates over Iraq dating to the Clinton administration; internal records that detail the Bush administration's decision-making leading to Operation Iraqi Freedom, including the controversial use of false intelligence to justify military action; materials that flesh out the campaign to build domestic and international support for the operation; and documentation covering the first 18 months of U.S.-led occupation.