The International Institute for Social History has received a collection of letters from Iranian researchers, writers, and poets living outside Iran, together with unpublished writings that have not been published in the Cheshmandaz yearbook. This collection is valuable for research in the areas of political and social opinions of Iranians in Europe in the 1980s and 1990s.
As a consequence of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, a large number of Iranian intellectuals, writers, and university scholars left Iran as refugees for other countries, especially in Europe. Some started to their own publications. Printing and spreading these publications became an important chapter in the scientific, research, political, and cultural activities of Iranians outside their country. One of these publications is the yearbook of Cheshmandaz. It was founded by Dr. Naser Pakdaaman and Muhsen Yelfani. The first issue of Cheshmandaz yearbook as a social, cultural, and literary publication was published in the summer of 1986 in Paris. Many Iranian poets, writers, and researchers outside Iran cooperated on the yearbook.
Cheshmandaz numbers 1, 17, and 21 all support these points. Cheshmandaz is a yearbook published in exile and carries discussions and debates about what have happened and may happen to the Iranian exiles. Cheshmandaz helps to keep alive these issues. "Cheshmandaz is not a purely political publication. It is a cultural, social, and literary year book."
Cheshmandaz contains the following types of information:
1. Manuscripts for the published articles.
2. Articles and writings not yet published.
3. Sample of pagination for preparation of the film and zinc, and publication of the issues of the first year (over the years the printing methods and later on the printing methods were changed). In the beginning the articles were typeset by IBM typesetting equipment Then the pages were created, and after that it was delivered to the printing house to begin printing from the zinc and the film proofs. Advances in the printing industry streamlined and simplified many of these processes.
4. Letters from the readers and letters from subscribers and colleagues.
The majority of these letters are handwritten. They reflect many of the difficulties of emigration and settlement in the new environment.
The collection is part of the Centre for Iranian Documentation and Research (CIDR) collections.
Except for the individual correspondence, this collection is open to public.
Text: N. Kawyani
More information in the IISH catalogue and the archival description of the Cheshmandaz Yearbook (Paris) Collection.