Mohandes al-Mamalek Ghafari's Daily Notes

Having studied mathematics and mining engineering abroad, Mirza Nazem was one of the first Iranian scholars in Europe and a very successful technocrat of Qajar era. He was a man of discipline and sheer will who was very professional in his field of action and enjoyed writing. He was also trusted by both Naser al-Din Shah and Mozaffar al-Din Shah, which allowed him to gain numerous administrative positions as minister or a contractor for Iranian roads. His daily notes from 1881 to 1883 A.D. reflects a collection of these personality traits. This collection is called "Rozname Ye Xaterate Mohandes al-Mamalek Ghafari"1 contains valuable information which helps with the understanding of political, social, and economical status of Qajar era. Some of his book's features are precision in recording events, recording the dates of events in both Islamic and Christian calendar, recording the number of days passed from Nowruz (Iranian new year), and correcting previous mistakes while recording present events. These features highlight the value of this book among others as a major source for studying Qajar era. This study seeks to analyze the contents of the manuscript version of his notes.