Archives in Iranian Itineraries of Qajar Era (From the Beginning of the Qājār Era up to the Constitutional Revolution)

The word “archive” became widespread in Iran after communication of Iranians with European countries. Therefore, finding out about different usages of this word is of high importance in archival studies. Iranian itineraries are among resources which reflect the early perception of Iranians about new phenomena. Therefore, these resources are also significant in studying archives. In this article, by studying the itineraries of Iranians who traveled to Europe from the beginning of the Qajar era up to the Constitutional Revolution (and are themselves divided to a number of groups), the author tries to indicate how much consideration was given to archives by itinerary writers. The notable finding of this study is that Iranian itinerary writers did not pay much attention to archives. The present article also brings up the question of why archives have not been noticed by Iranian itinerary writers, who traveled to European countries in the mentioned historical period and described lots of phenomena in those countries? In the author’s point of view, neglecting archives was due to the historical conditions of Iranians and their viewpoint on manifestations of civilization in European countries.