August 2020 News

Improving Methodology of Accessing Oral History Resources in National Library of Iran

Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian
Iranian Oral History Website

2020-9-1

According to the Iranian Oral History website, "Month News" is the title of reports on this site. These reports take a look at news related to the topic of the website in print and virtual media. In the following, August 2020 news can be read:

• Fars News Agency has arranged an interview with Mehdi Yasavoli, the author of Malek’s Time: Oral history of the life of Hossein Malek, the greatest cultural benefactor in Iran. In this book, 80 memoirs of people such as, Zhaleh Amoozgar, Mohammad Ali Eslami Nadoushan, Sedigheh Malek, Jalal Sattari, Seyed Abdullah Anwar, Gohar Kamrani, Massoud Niroumand, etc., who lived with Hossein Malek or during his time, have been written.
• Hossein Foroutannejad, head of Department of Research and Staff Training and Digital Content Supply in the Organization of Sacred Defense Documents, said: “One of the plans of the Organization of Sacred Defense Documents is to collect the oral history of the martyrs during sacred defense and to classify and list the documents; for this purpose, special programs have been prepared, one of the most important of which is to hold training workshops in cyberspace.”
• Head of the think tank of National Library of Iran announced the spiritual, professional and documentary cooperation of the National Library of Iran with the Medical Council of IRIMC in the "Corona Narration: Recording lasting moments" event, and said: “The National Library of Iran, while confirming this event spiritually, is ready to provide the necessary knowledge, experience and training to prepare and record oral history to the policy council of the Medical Council of IRIMC.
• To What Sin, the oral memoirs of Sharifeh Karami and Rahim Moeini, compiled by Sheelan Avihangi, was published by the General Directorate for preserving and publishing sacred defense works and values in Kurdistan.
• Head of the Literary Creations Unit of Alborz Hozeh Honari has said: “The Culture and Resistance Studies Department of Hozeh Honari calls for the subject of Oral History and Memoirs book of the Islamic revolution and sacred defense and holds a production-oriented workshop for Alborz researchers and writers.
• With the help of Beseh of the leadership and support of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Research Institute, the oral history of Hajj during the four decades since the Islamic Revolution has been compiled. For four days, part of this valuable collection was broadcast on the Maaref TV network in the form of ‘Mahramaneh’ program and important parts of the oral history of Hajj, including events related to the Disavowal of Polytheists in Hajj, Iran's reasons for holding this ceremony and the killing of pilgrims in 1987 were stated.
• The first meeting of cooperation between Hozeh Honari of Isfahan and the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran was held regarding the movement of collecting documents of oral history and memoirs of warriors and army commanders in the sacred defense.
• Ezatullah Zarghami posted a video on his Instagram page and wrote: “Oral memoirs, if honestly compiled, are a great help to the history and civilization of nations. The oral history of the missile industry is being recorded.” In this video, he talks about his daily work with 30 tons of TNT.
• On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), Ali Motaghian, CEO of the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), narrated the oral history of the Cultural Revolution and 40 years of jihadi management in the form of a note.
• The head of the provincial office of the Leadership Representation in Khuzestan Universities considered the compilation of the oral history of the Khuzestan ACECR as a necessity and added: "memoirs of jihadists is an asset."
• On August 5, the unveiling ceremony of two oral history books, Qom in 8 years of sacred defense and A few seconds to martyrdom, coincided with the anniversary of the establishment of the Literature and History Organization in Foundation for preserving and publishing sacred defense works and values, in the presence of the authors and Ali Loghmanpour, Director General of Foundation for preserving and publishing sacred defense works and values in Qom, was held.
• In an interview with Mizan News Agency, Seyyed Qassem Yahosseini has said about the content of Vara, It’s Wartime: "This book is the oral memoirs of Akbar Kamali, disabled veteran of sacred defense, who bravely defended his country with his fellow-warriors."
• Softer than the Feathers Rhythm: Oral History of Dubbing, written by Sadegh Vafaei has recently been published and released by Negah Publications. This book includes 16 interviews with voice actors and dubbing directors in the country, which were conducted since 2013 to 2018.
• The Iranian Cultural Counselor in Italy has published the first volume of Simorgh: Thirty Interviews with Italian Iranologists, in collaboration with the International Institute for Mediterranean and Eastern Italian Studies (IZMEO). The first 10 interviews include “Oral history plan of Italian Iranologists of the Cultural Counsel of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Italy, which in addition to audio-visual output in accordance with the standards of oral history of the National Library of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has been published in a volume with a foreword by Akbar Gholi, the former cultural advisor of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Italy, Professor Adriano Rossi, director of (Izmeo) and Abul Hassan Hatami, the project manager. This 275 pages book has been released in 1000 copies in 2020 and at a price of 35 Euros.
• Resident of Qaf, the oral history of the sacred defense, narrated by Hossein Ghaderi and compiled by Yaser Babaei, was published by Nishtman Publishing in Ilam. Yasser Babaei, the interviewer and compiler of this work, said: Resident of Qaf is classified among the works of the oral history of sacred defense in Ilam, which is based on an active conversation with the narrator, who narrates his memoir from his childhood to the end of the sacred defense time.
• The head of Research Department in the National Library of Iran announced some methodological reforms in accessing oral history resources. In explaining the digitalization and accessibility of oral history book interviews in this organization, Gholamreza Azizi said: “In order for researchers to access oral history sources, the method of accessing oral history interviews was modified in three executive phases.”
• From Feizieh to Al-Rasheed: Oral history of a revolutionary fighter and a POW of the Sacred Defense, Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Hassan Jamshidi, which was published by Payam-e-Azadegan Press, and by efforts of the General Directorate of Islamic Culture and Guidance and the Foundation for preserving and publishing sacred defense works and values in Mazandaran, in eight chapters.
• In a meeting with a number of proud POWs of Qazvin on the occasion of the anniversary of the arrival of POWs, the representative of Supreme Leader in this province said: “The POWs interpreted chivalry and followed the Prophet Ibrahim’s life. What deserves this great move should be done in the field of Oral history and recording their self-sacrifices.
• Referring to the first vice president's circular on collecting and compiling the oral history of the sacred defense era, Seyyed Ghasem Ghasemi, Advisor to the Minister and in charge of coordinating the affairs of disabled veterans in the Ministry of Sports and Youth, said: “According to the circular issued by the first vice president, the Ministry of Sports and Youth have made arrangements to be able to collect and prepare the history by taking advantage of the large and respected community of sports and youth disabled veterans, and also by conducting interviews with veterans. Due to the vastness of both sports and youth area, this activity has its own difficulties that require more interaction between the different sectors of these two areas.
• Sands and Epics is the oral history of Mohammad Ershadi, one of the commanders of the sacred defense era of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces which has been published and made available to those interested in the culture of self-sacrifice and martyrdom, with the support of the General directorate for preserving and publishing sacred defense works and values in this province.