Ali Djalali Collection includes a 2-volume set of Shahnamah of Firdawsi (Boxes 2 and 3) from which all illustrations were excised prior to the time of acquisition. Box 1 includes 7 unidentified volumes in various hands, one of which is disbound. There is also a folder of miscellaneous writings.

Homa Sarshar Collection: Homa Sarshar is an Iranian-American author, activist, and award-winning journalist. She was a columnist for Zan-e-Ruz magazine and the Kayhan daily newspaper between 1964 and 1978. The Homa Sarshar collection includes periodicals, articles, correspondence, and ephemera. Digital material includes a great deal of audiovisual content. The collection contents are unavailable until they are processed.

Hushang Gulshiri Papers: Hushang Gulshiri (1938-2000) was an Iranian fiction writer, critic and editor. He was one of the first Iranian writers to use modern literary techniques and is recognized as one of the most influential writers of Persian prose of the 20th century. This collection comprises Gulshiri’s manuscripts, letters, notes, and research files. The primary language of the collection is Persian.

Milani Oral History Collection: Oral histories in this collection are conducted by Dr. Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies program at Stanford University. The interviews took place in the United States and in Europe. They are part of a collection of interviews with contemporary Iranian activists, entrepreneurs, and statesmen conducted in the late 1990s and the early 2000s by Dr. Milani.

Reza Allamehzadeh Collection: Reza Allamehzadeh is an Iranian-born Dutch filmmaker, film critic, and writer. He is primarily known for his films about refugees, including The Guests of Hotel Astoria (1988) and Holy Crime (1994), and the assassination of opposition figures in Europe by the Islamic regime in Iran. The collection consists of documentary films created or collected by Reza Allamehzadeh. Open for research, with the exception of the born-digital materials, which are closed until processed.

Shahrukh Miskub Papers: Shahrokh Meskoob (1924-2005) was one of Iran’s most acclaimed essayists, memoirists, literary critics, and public intellectuals. His long and productive life spanned more than six decades, beginning with the Marxist exuberance of his youth, his many years of writing during the last two decades of the Pahlavi era and ending in his no less productive period in Diaspora. He had an avid avocation as an archivist and his collected letters, notes, drafts and outlines provide a rare view of one of contemporary Iran’s increasingly celebrated intellectuals. 

The Iranian Movie Posters Collection includes approximately 100 film posters printed for pre-revolution Iranian movies. The collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.   

The Shah Research Collection: This collection, gathered by Dr. Abbas Milani, includes copies of hundreds of archival documents from the Public Record Office (The National Archives), National Archives and Records, the CIA Electronic Reading Room, the German Federal Archives and Archives de France, on the life and times of the former shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (r. 1941-79). 

The Iranian collections at the Hoover Library and Archives include significant holdings on Iranian communism and communist parties, the Pahlavi dynasty, the Islamic revolution and establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, US relations with Iran, the Iran-Iraq war, and Shi'ism and Iranian politics. Included is one of the largest collections of Iranian political opposition materials in the United States. 

The Middle East collection at the Hoover Library and Archives was formally established in 1948 with the appointment of its first curator, Dr. Christina Phelps Harris, and the acquisition of the libraries of James Heyworth-Dunne, Hidayet Dağdeviren, and Richard P. Mitchell. Building on this foundation, the collection now includes materials on political and social movements in the Middle East and North Africa, relations with the U.S. and Europe, education development, and military affairs.

Iran Freedom Foundation Collection relates to the Iranian revolution of 1979, subsequent political conditions and civil rights abuses in Iran, the Iran-Iraq War, Iranians in the United States and elsewhere, and American foreign policy toward Iran. It contains correspondence, press releases, appeals, clippings, speeches and writings, financial records, reports, bulletins, newsletters, pamphlets, serial issues, photographs, sound recordings, and videotapes. The collection includes some personal papers of Ali A. Tabatabai, the founder of the organization, covering the period between 1966 and 1980, including material relating to his assassination. 

Mostafa Shu'aiyan Papers contains the writings of Iranian leftist writer and political activist Mostafa Shu'a'iyan (1936-1975). The items in the collection include manuscripts, poetry, notes, and research files on political conditions in Iran in the 1960s and 1970s, the Jungle Movement of Gilan (1915-1921), and the career of Iranian premier Mohammed Mossadeq.  

Ardeshir Zahedi Papers: Ardeshir Zahedi (1928-2021) was an Iranian statesman and diplomat during Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's reign (1941-1979). His collection, available for on-site use at the Hoover Institution Archive and Library, consists of correspondence, speeches and writings, interview transcripts, financial records, photographs, video and sound recordings, printed matter, and computer disks relating to Ardeshir Zahedi's diplomatic career during the Pahlavi era in Iran. Zahedi served as Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Minister of Foreign Affairs during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The collection also contains the papers of Ardeshir's father, Fazlollah Zahedi, a general who occupied the post of prime minister. Topics of note include Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iranian foreign relations, Iranian-American relations, the Cold War, the events of August 1953, the 1977 Hanafi Siege, and Iranian dissent. The Zahedi collection comprises 301 manuscript boxes, 86 oversize boxes, 9 card file boxes, 2 oversize folders, and 924 computer files (1.6 GB). 

The Hussein Alai Collection contains archival sources on the oil industry and financial institutions of inter-war Iran. It includes the papers of Arthur C. Millspaugh (1883-1955), who administered Iran's Ministry of Finance from 1922 to 1927 and 1942 to 1945. 

The Hamid and Parviz Shawkat Collections contain newsletters, newspapers, journals, pamphlets, booklets, reports, and other writings issued primarily by the Confederation of Iranian Students National Union (CISNU) and other student groups in Europe and abroad. The materials in these two collections relate to political conditions and civil liberties in Iran, focusing primarily on the campaign for the rights of political prisoners; political opposition to the Pahlavi monarchy; the spread of Marxist-Leninist thought in Iran and among Iranian students abroad; the aftermath of the 1953 coup. 

Before your visit

We ask patrons to help us preserve our rare and unique materials for future use by following special handling requirements. Please consult collection handling guidelines prior to your visit.

Register for an Aeon account in order to request materials. There may be limitations on the number of items you can request at one time.

Request materials in advance

Many of our special collections materials are housed offsite, and patrons must request materials at least three full business days before the planned date of use. Place requests for materials via SearchWorks, the Libraries’ online catalog, which may also provide links to finding aids (detailed collection guides) hosted by the Online Archive of California as well as links to related online content. 

Specific policies and guidelines for requesting materials differ across locations. Please consult the pages below for details: 

• How to request collection materials from Special Collections and University Archives 
• How to request collection materials from the Archive of Recorded Sound
• How to use special collections in the East Asia Library

During your visit

• Visitors without a Stanford ID will need to supply a government ID and register upon entrance to Stanford Libraries.
• Please wash your hands before arriving, and do not bring food or drink into Libraries spaces.
• All personal belongings except pencils, sheets of paper, cell phones, and laptop computers must be placed in a designated storage space before using special collection materials.
• Non-flash photography of materials for research purposes is typically allowed. When you arrive, please ask the reading room staff if there are additional restrictions on photography.
• Policies on reproduction may differ across collections and types of materials.
• Library staff are here to help. When in doubt, please ask.

The Hoover Library & Archives implements Aeon as its library and archives request system. With Aeon, users can register to create a researcher account, which will allow them to submit requests directly from SearchWorks, our library catalog, or from our finding aids on the Online Archive of California (OAC), save requests for future submission, submit requests for duplication of library or archival materials, and track the status of current requests and access detailed information about past requests. For more information about the collections on Iran and the Middle East at the Hoover Institution Library and Archive, you can reach out to Dr. Haidar Hadi, the Curator of the Middle East and North Africa Collections and Digital Systems Manager.