.شيخ رضائى، انسيه و آذرى، شهلا. گزارش های نظمیه از محلات طهران: راپورت وقایع مختلفه محلات دارالخلافه. تهران: سازمان اسناد ملی ایران – پژوهشکده اسناد، ١۳۷۷ﻫ ، ٨٥٢ص
Shaykh Rizaʼi, Insiya and Azari, Shahla. Guzarish-ha-yi Nazmiyyah az Mahallat-i Tihran: Rapurt-i Vaqayiʻ-i Mukhtalifa-yi Mahallat-yi Dar al-Khilafa. Tehran: Sazman-i Asnad-i Milli-yi Iran, Pizhuhishkadah-yi Asnad, 1999, 852pp.
ABSTRACT
Police Department Reports on Tehran Neighbourhoods: Reports on the Various Events of the Capital
گزارش های نظمیه از محلات طهران: راپورت وقایع مختلفه محلات دارالخلافه
This book gathers reports drafted by Tehran Police Department secretaries between 1923 and 1926. These were in essence incident reports from various neighbourhoods written on the orders of the Austrian Count de Mount Forte, who was Tehran’s first police chief. The book is based on these documents, which are housed in the National Library and Archives of Iran. These daily reports begin with incidents in the neighbourhood of the seat of the government and move onto Sangelaj, Oud Lajan, Chal Meydan, and the Bazaar Neighbourhood. The reports also include the names of those “entering and leaving the police department.” Every report was very brief and on any given day rarely surpassed two pages.
Both the book’s editors and the director of the National Library and Archives, who published the book, consider the work’s most significant feature to be its reflection on the role of Shia clergy in guiding the people in the struggle against tyranny before the Constitutional Revolution. However, the entire book contains nothing in this regard other than one instance pertaining to a cleric’s remarks at a wedding ceremony. Thus, it is possible that some reports with contents contrary to the publisher’s tastes might have been omitted.
Issues most frequently covered include one line reports about rauze khani (recitation of threnody ceremonies), which occurred most days; family disputes; thefts, and
some positions taken by individuals or guilds regarding emerging laws or issues.
This book also includes a brief description of how the Tehran Police Department was formed. The book’s index of announcements, important figures, places, and occupations is another valuable feature which will aid and simplify the work of a researcher. Most important, perhaps, is the book’s subject index. This index includes subjects of main incidents and disputes that have been extracted from the texts of the reports.
The police reports of every city contain valuable information which will find an audience among a wide range of researchers, including historians, sociologists, and linguists.
Iradj Esmailpour Ghouchani
Translated by Niki Akhavan