Faces and Places in Iran. Iranian photography at the turn of the 20th century

The EAP team

Aims and objectives

Iran has a long tradition of photography dating from the 19th century Qajar period. Invaluable visual material was created and throws much light on the pre-modern period in Iran. The rapid modernisation of Iran in the last ten years, the spread of digital technologies at the level of the population, the increasing internal migration from small to big urban centres, the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, not to forget natural disasters are among the many factors that endanger both private collections and public archives of photography.

This pilot project will investigate the potential and the feasibility of a long-term project aimed at safeguarding photographic materials from pre-modern Iran by:

locating photographic material from the 19th and early 20th century in Iran which is archived in precarious conditions or in personal family collections and, where possible, to copy and/or transfer them to safer places;
identifying Iranian museums or institutions that may be interested in archiving and making available to the public this kind of material. In parallel, this pilot investigation will seek to approximate the duration and cost of a project to relocate and/or copy the material.

Outcomes

This pilot project was completed in October 2005 and provided information with regards to photographic material stored in vulnerable conditions in 13 urban centres across Iran. The research period also helped to estimate the viability and costs for a future application for a major research project to relocate and/or copy the material.

Blog: September 2014

List of identified archives:

Abadan : Petroleum Industry in, 1904-1920, copies.
Kerman : The archive of Ebrahimi.
The archive of Chanani, different places, copies.
Ardebil : The organization of Preserving Cultural Heritage in.
Ardebil : Iran Shenasi Museum in.
Ardebil : The archive of Alefbaii in.
Ardebil : The archive of Amir Touman in.
Golpaygan: Photo Shahla archive in.
Khomein: Salar Mohtasham archive in.
Tehran : Photo Mitra archive in.
Tehran : Photo Tahami in.
Arak : Photo Gila archive in.
Golpaygan: Soltani collection in.
Khomein: Photo Shiva archive in.
Arak : The album of Shoraye Khalifeh gariye Aramaneh in.
Isfahan, Mirza Mehdi Khan Chehreh Nama (1891-1979), glass plate negatives, gelatin negatives and original prints, more than 6000 pieces.
Isfahan, Minas Patkerhanian Machertich (1885-1972), glass plate negatives, gelatin negatives and original prints, more than 6000 pieces.
Isfahan, Gholam Hossein Derakhshan (1907-1975), glass plate negatives, gelatin negatives and original prints, more than 8000 pieces.
Isfahan, Abolghasem Jala (1915-1979), glass plate negatives and gelatin negatives, more than 3000 pieces.
Isfahan, different collections, Thooni Johanness (1864-1946), Abdolkhalegh Khan (1873-1936), Vahan Patkerhanian (1916-2005), Mirza Hasan Khan Shams (?) and anonymous photographers, printed copies, original prints and gelatin negatives, more than 200 pieces.
Bam-Kerman, Amir Behzadi's collection, Qajar period, original prints, more than 30 pieces.
Kordestan, Morad Salimi's collection, Qajar and Pahlavi I period, printed copies, more than 50 pieces.
Tabriz, Boris A. Madatian, Pahlavi I and II period, glass plate negatives, gelatin negatives and original prints, uncounted.
Tabriz, Jadid ol Eslam's collection, Qajar and Pahlavi I and II period, glass plate negatives, gelatin negatives, printed copies and original prints, more than 3000 pieces.
Tabriz, Emil Hakoupian's collection, Qajar and Pahlavi I and II period, Original prints and printed copies, more than 300 pieces.
Shiraz, Chehreh Negar's collection, Qajar and Pahlavi I and II period, glass plate negatives, gelatin negatives, printed copies and original prints, more than 5000 pieces.
Tehran, Estepanian's collection, Qajar period, original prints, more than 200 pieces.
Tehran, Bichareh's collection, Qajar and Pahlavi I and II period, glass plate negatives, gelatin negatives, printed copies and original prints, more than 2000 pieces.
Yazd : Studio Shahin.
Yazd : private archive.