Homa Nategh's Archive Donated to Stanford

Prominent Iranian historian Homa Nategh's archive was recently donated to Stanford's Green Library.  The Homa Nategh Collection contains hundreds of documents, research files, and manuscripts from Dr. Nategh.

Homa Nategh was an eminent historian of modern Iran. Her research work and writings focused on Iran's social, political, and intellectual history from the 19th century through the 1979 revolution. She served as a professor of history at Tehran University from 1968 to 1981. She was forced into exile in Paris early in the 1980s, where she was appointed a professor of Iranian Studies at the Sorbonne. Her scholarship ranged from women’s rights issues, particularly the adverse effect of the 1979 revolution on women, to economic devastations caused by political upheavals, such as the 1909 famine in the city of Qom in Iran, and the persecutions of the ethnic-religious minorities in Iran including the migrations of Iranian Assyrians and the nationalist movement of Armenians in the late 19th century. Dr. Nategh also examined the socio-political impact of the Islamic clergy on Iran’s modern history and was an activist in the secular educational development of Iran. The Homa Nategh collection contains primary and secondary historical documents about the establishment of French schools in Iran and the advancement of the country’s educational institutions during the past two centuries.

Dr. Nategh was also a political activist before the1979 Revolution and participated in numerous social and political organizations. During her exile in France, her activism waned, and she expressed regret about her involvement in the Revolution. 

This important donation was made possible by Dr. Nategh's daughter, Rowchanak Pakdaman.