Faculty of Literature and Humanities

Department of History

Considering that History was one of the first majors taught at Central College of Teachers and then Higher College of Teachers and that after the establishment of University of Tehran "History and Geography" was one of the main majors of the faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, History has a one-hundred-year record in the academic system of Iran. This record can be divided into two periods:

1. from the Beginning to the Establishment of Department of History
During this period the educational system of University of Tehran was based on the fundamentals of higher education of France and, thus, History and Geography. This period lasted from 1919 to 1963.
The History teachers of the first generation were eminent scientists of Iran. Teachers like Abbas Eqbal Ashtiani, Qolamreza Rashid Yasemi, Abdulhosseinkhan Sheibani (Vahid-ol-molk), Said Nafisi, and Nasrollah Falsafi were among these scientist.

2. The Period of Activity as Department of History
Perhaps the most important change in the system of higher education of Iran was brought about in 1963-64. During this academic year, University of Tehran endeavored to revise the methodology and curricula of schools to bring similar courses together. As a result, departments were established in the university and in the faculty of Literature. Thus the independent department of History was established and its system changed to a credit-hour one.

Fortunately University of Tehran as the symbol of Higher Education in Iran has the largest academic libraries. The faculty of Literature, too, has one of the oldest academic libraries of the country which is older than even Central Library and Document Center of the university. The first core of the library was formed by the books donated by the Farmanfarmayian family–Dr. Hafez Farmanfarmayian who was a member of this family and a former teacher of Department of History donated a part of his library to the faculty of Literature of University of Tehran. The endowed books were moved to the repository of the faculty library and after a few years the shelves were used to establish the first core of the library of Department of History. This library, which is the result of some of the History teachers' unconditional effort, in spite of being founded recently, has turned into a specialized library for history research. This library was named after Dr. Ehsan Eshraqi for his scientific contributions. In the summer of 2008, Room 327, through selling of the works of the late Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh and the contributions of Ayatollah Shahrestani (Ayatollah Sistani's deputy), Library, Museum and Document Center of Iran Parliament, and Dr. Mori Moto Kazeo (University of Tokyo teacher) was rebuilt and equipped and, to pay tribute to the elders of Department of History, was named Professor Abbas Aqbal Ashtiani Hall.

From 2002 onward Department of History made an effort to overcome other educational deficiencies. To do so, they suggested that the university introduce three other master's degrees. The three new fields are: Study of Central Asia and Caucasus, Persian Gulf Studies, and Manuscripts and Historical Documents. The first two fields were approved in 2006 and some students were accepted. The third one, that is Manuscripts and Historical Documents and Records, was approved by Ministry of Science in November 2007. Therefore, now the Department of History accepts students for six fields in Master's. Also in 1999 two new Ph.D. fields of "History of Islam" and "History of Ancient Iran" were added.

Facilities

The department of History, in order to facilitate students' research, has collected databases from all over the country. They are as follows:

• The database of detailed calendar of Qajar History including 28 thousands of records

• The database of detailed calendar of Iranian Constitution Movement including 17 thousands of records

• The database of detailed calendar of Islamic History including 52 thousands of records

• The database of bibliographies including 29 thousands printed books and manuscripts

All of these databases are installed on the department computers and can be used by students.

  MA Courses  

  PHD Courses  

 Head OF Department : Dr K.Ghazanfari