Womens Worlds in Qajar Iran: A Digital Archive and Website

FAIN: PW-50478-09

President and Fellows of Harvard College (Cambridge, MA 02138-3800)
Afsaneh Najmabadi (Project Director: August 2008 to August 2012)

The development of a comprehensive digital archive and Web site that will preserve and render accessible primary sources related to the social and cultural history of women during the Qajar dynasty (1785-1925) in Iran.

Womens Worlds in Qajar Iran: A Digital Archive and Website May 2009 to April 2011. Harvard University seeks $341,933 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop a comprehensive digital archive and website that will preserve, link, and render accessible primary source materials related to the social and cultural history of womens worlds during the reign of the Qajar dynasty, 1785 to 1925, in Iran. The Qajar dynasty is perhaps most notable for a series of intense interactions with Europe (Britain and Russia, in particular), many of which introduced cultural and political changes that still resonate in the Iran of today. The proposed archive will address a significant gap in the scholarship related to this important time in the history of Iran by making available writings and other personal documents created by, and reflecting the lives of, women during the Qajar era.

Associated Products

women's worlds in Qajar Iran (Web Resource)
Title: women's worlds in Qajar Iran
Author: Director, Afsaneh Najmabadi
Author: Project Manager, Ramyar Rossoukh
Abstract: Women’s World in Qajar Iran (WWQI) is a comprehensive digital archive and website that preserves, links, and renders accessible primary source materials related to the social and cultural history of women’s worlds during the reign of the Qajar dynasty (1796 – 1925) in Iran. The WWQI project addresses a significant gap in the scholarship related to this important time in Iran’s history by making available writings and other personal documents created by, and related to the lives of, women during the Qajar era. Primary source materials -- digitized and rendered accessible to scholars worldwide via a digital archive, www.qajarwomen.org -- include unpublished poetry, essays, and treatises; travelogues; private letters; marriage contracts; photographs and portrait paintings; calligraphies; and legal documents. A number of collections, comprised of similar materials at museums and archives in Iran, have also been added through collaboration with local institutions.
Year: 2010
Primary URL: http://www.qajarwomen.org

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