This section contains a wide selection of documents collected and copied from various institutions in the Middle East, mainly Iran and Central Asia. Most of them are state archives. The documents include petitions, court records, bureaucratic correspondence, situational reports, travelogues and much more.
The National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI)
From this archive we hold Persian-language correspondence relating to Iran’s Jewish communities in the late 19th and early 20th century. It includes court cases, correspondence relating to Jewish elections, migration, education, population statistics, as well as Jewish petitions to the Qajar and Pahlavi courts. In the 1950-1970s, it contains extensive correspondence between Iranian-Jewish organizations and various Pahlavi government offices.
These documents are well catalogued and can theoretically be searched at the Iranian National Library’s online catalogue: http://opac.nlai.ir. Please note that Iranian websites have significant down-time at the moment.
The Central Zionist Archives (CZA)
Holdings from the CZA include correspondence between various Zionist associations in Iran and the global Zionist movement, reports from emissaries, as well as documents relating to trade and policies of the Alliance schools. The correspondence between Zionist associations includes meeting minutes, exchanges of funds (shekel) and promotional material, as well as reports about the general situation of Jews in Iran. The holdings are particularly strong on the early 1920s. Documents in Hebrew, English, Judeo-Persian and French.
These folders can be searched at the CZA website: http://www.zionistarchives.org.il/en/pages/default.aspx
National Archive of Uzbekistan (Tashkent)
The National Library of Israel (Jerusalem)
The Ben-Zvi Institute (Jerusalem)
The Ottoman Archives (Istanbul)
Oriental Manuscripts collection, National Library of Russia (Moscow)
Persian Jews 