Iran's National Archives Holds 3m Files

There are about 3 million files in the national archives, said Shahram Yousefipour, deputy for document affairs at the National Library and Archives Organization of Iran on Tuesday, on the occasion of the Written Heritage National Day (May 9). Ashraf Boroujerdi, head of the NLAOI attended a ceremony at the premises of the national archives in Tehran, where a group of officials, codicologists and other researchers in written heritage were present, Mehr News Agency reported. Boroujerdi referred to the Cyrus Charter of Human Rights (a declaration by the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great from 6th century BC) as the first written document existing on the administration of ancient Iran. She regretted that there are still some organizations and institutions that hold national documents at their own premises and refuse to submit it to the NLAOI. As per law, Boroujerdi said, “The national library is the sole authority responsible and eligible to hold and preserve national documents, and make them accessible to researchers. This does not mean that we will conceal the documents or lock them away.” All organizations in the country are obliged to transfer their documents to the national archives, she stressed.

“There are documents in other countries that surely are of significance to Iran because of our cultural affinity. We need to make arrangements to make them accessible.” At the ceremony, Yousefipour noted that the documentation system of the national archives is 47 years old, and now holds about 3 million files. Yousefipour referred to a special section at the archives dedicated to documents provided by senior officials in Iran. “I’m happy to say that the first batch of documents sent to this section was delivered to the archives by Es’haq Jahangiri,” the first vice president. “In the last calendar year that ended in March, 1.5 million pages of documents from the Presidential Office were catalogued. One million pages transferred from the library to the archives are to be catalogued.”