BARRASĪHĀ-ye TĀRĪḴĪ, a journal of historical studies of Iran published in Tehran during 1966-78. Its publication in March of 1966 by the public relations office of the Iranian Armed Forces under General B. Āryānā was undertaken in pursuance of a decree issued by Shah Moḥammad Reżā Pahlavī, who on December 6, 1965, had ordered a series of cultural activities, among them the preparation of a new history of Iran by the Pahlavi Library and the organizing of an international congress of Iranologists in Tehran the following year.
The journal had a ceremonial board of governors on which the chancellor (raʾīs)of Tehran University and a number of high-ranking army officers sat, but it was actually supervised by a six-member board of editors and run by an editor-director. For the first five years, Colonel Jahāngīr Qāʾem-maqāmī, a historian of the Qajar period, was the editor-director of the journal; subsequently the post was held by Colonel Yaḥyā Šahīdī, Qāʾem-maqāmī again, and Major Moḥammad Kašmīrī. The contributors were, however, mostly civilians, including some university professors.
As expected, the journal had a nationalistic slant, and much was made in its pages of the glories of ancient Iran. Nevertheless, the scholarly bent of Qāʾem-maqāmī and some of the contributors made for the publication of some useful bias-free research. While the articles on pre-Islamic Iran were generally derivative, some of the articles relating to Islamic Iran, particularly those bearing on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and descriptive geography, were well researched and original. The journal also published a number of historical documents (letters, decrees, etc.) pertaining to the modern history of Iran, especially in volume 8 (1351 Š./1972-73).
From 1971 the journal began a biannual English edition, Historical Studies of Iran,and a French edition, Ētudes historiques sur l’Iran.A number of articles appearing in the journal were reprinted separately, and a special issue of Barrasīhā-ye tārīḵī was published in 1971 to coincide with the celebrations commemorating the 2,500 years of monarchy in Iran.
The journal had a circulation of 2,500-2,600, and there were 250-420 pages per issue in 17 x 24 cm format, printed on very fine paper. It included both black-and-white and color illustrations and was printed in the Armed Forces printing office in Tehran. A yearly subscription initially cost 100 rials for the military and 170 for civilians; in the last year of publication the figures were 600 and 1,200 respectively. Outside of Iran, the yearly cost was first 6 dollars, which by the eleventh year had increased to 20 dollars. The journal ceased publication in 1978, following the events that led to the 1979 revolution.
Search terms:
| بررسی های تاریخی | barresihaye tarikhi | barresi haaye taarikhi | barresehay e tarikhi |
(N. Parvīn)
Originally Published: December 15, 1988
Last Updated: December 15, 1988
This article is available in print.
Vol. III, Fasc. 8, p. 823
