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The research library of the Institute for the History of Children’s Literature began in 1379 SH to support research in children’s literature and now holds more than 22,000 information resources in fields such as literature, education, history, art, and sociology. The collection includes books, articles, periodicals, historical documents, photographs, audio and visual works, and museum objects, and its holdings also cover the history of children’s literature in Iran from the Constitutional era to 1357 SH. Enthusiasts and researchers can access part of these resources through the online Iranak (Iran Childhood) portal and use its databases and virtual museum.
The research library began in 1379 SH, when the Institute for Research on the History of Children’s Literature was founded, to support and meet the information needs of the History of Children’s Literature in Iran research group. Two years later it organized the first steps toward a library, archive, and information center for children’s and young adult literature in Iran. The result to date is a library of more than 22,000 classified information resources.
Among the library and archive’s most important subject areas are literature, children’s literature, education, history, art, and sociology. Information resources have been collected in original, scan, or copy form. The older and museum-related holdings—such as original photographs, lithograph and letterpress books, periodicals, antique toys, and more—will remain in the library until the National Museum of Culture and Literature for Children and Young Adults of Iran opens.
This library and archive holds a diverse collection of information resources “for children” and “about children,” including books, articles, periodicals, documents, theses, reports and pamphlets, photographs, cassette tapes and gramophone records, filmstrips, and museum objects.
The historical coverage of children’s and young adult books as this library’s primary sources runs from the start of printing children’s and young adult books in the Constitutional era to 1357 SH. Secondary sources include all reference books researchers need, regardless of date. All library resources are searchable through the comprehensive Pars Azarakhsh library software. Part of this collection is already available online through the Iranak (Iran Childhood) portal for researchers and those interested in children’s and young adult culture and literature. The Iranak portal has two sections: a databases hub and a virtual museum.
The library’s children’s and young adult books and research titles are catalogued and classified by the Dewey Decimal Classification and Anglo-American cataloguing rules. More than 7,700 titles in Persian, Kurdish, Turkish, Armenian, and Assyrian (lithograph, letterpress, and print) are currently held. New resources are acquired through purchase and gifts from supporters of this field.
The Oldest Book in the Library:
Hasanayn. Scribe: Muhammad ibn Ismail Khansari. Commissioner: Mashhadi Ahmad Khansari. Tehran: Mashhadi Taqi’s press, 1264 AH = 1248 SH; and the unique copy of Ta‘lim al-Atfal, written by Mahmud ibn Yusuf Mazandarani (Miftah al-Mulk). Scribe: Mahmud Muhammad-Riza Sultan al-Kuttab Lashkarnevis Mahallati. [n.p.]: Sayyid Murtaza’s press, 1322 AH = 1283 SH.
The library holds a collection of 392 periodical titles—children’s and young adult magazines and adult magazines with children’s pages or columns—in original, scan, and copy form. Information on these periodicals and their holdings, stored in special boxes, can be retrieved through the library software and Iranak Bank.
The oldest children’s periodical (copy) in the library is Majallat al-Adab, under Muhammad Vafadar’s direction, published every two months in Tehran from 1336 AH / 1296 SH by the Faros Press. The oldest children’s periodical (original) held is Nunahalan, with Abdullah Faryar as managing director, published every two weeks in Tehran from 1322 SH by the Publications Office of the British Embassy.
In addition to periodicals, the library has indexed a collection of 4,466 article titles drawn from old and new journals and used in research for The History of Children’s Literature in Iran. Copies of these articles can be retrieved through the library software and Iranak Bank.
1,732 historical documents—including manuscripts by those active in children’s and young adult literature, letters, guidelines, educational certificates, and more—are organized in the library collection in original, scan, or copy form. This document set is stored in special boxes, and its information can be retrieved through the library software and Iranak Bank.
This collection includes 4,200 original and scanned photographs; 211 audio tape titles (interviews with those active in children’s literature and children’s stories); 20 reels of microfilm; 52 gramophone record titles; 42 films; 22 stamps; 208 exhibition panels; and one filmstrip reel. The collection is searchable through the library software. At present only the photograph collection’s information is publicly available through Iranak Bank.