Have you ever encountered a scenario when you were asked to provide a detailed explanation of: a historical incident, certain artifacts, a musical piece, or a scientific breakthrough pertaining to Iran, yet didn't have the comprehensive verified reference compendium to develop your specific convincing response? Well, you would be thrilled to realize that there is no more confusion as Encyclopedia Iranica has resolved this dilemma.

Housed at Columbia University's Center for Iranian Studies, the Encyclopedia Iranica (www.iranica.com) has been progressing under the supervision of its founder, Professor Ehsan Yarshater since 1974. The Encyclopedia Iranica is a monumental undertaking with historical ramifications that covers the past three thousand years of life in its broadest sense on the Iranian plateau. It has been regarded by great many internationally known scholars as the most extensive compendium ever conceived on the past and present cultures of the people who speak a Persian/Iranian language and their contributions to the global Human Civilizations. In fact, it is a prime, precise and reliable reference volume set on the lands, lives, cultures, science and history of all Iranian peoples and their interaction with other societies. At first glance, it may seem a rhetorical and redundant question; nonetheless, the simple perpetual paradigm that promotes, and protects peoples of common cultural heritage is the sustained recognition of their contributions throughout history by others to the advancement the world civilization, leading to the preservation of their cultural identity.

Even though pockets of peoples of Iranian/Persian heritage have moved out of the Iranian plateau to Eastern Europe, India, Arabia and Southeast Africa since antiquity, it is, nevertheless, in the latter part of the twentieth century when a substantial number of Iranians immigrated to the West, mostly to North American and Europe. This move was mainly due to the abrupt socio-political changes in their native land. It is estimated that the number of such Iranians in Diaspora stands at a few millions, with those residing in the US and Canada alone at over one million inhabitants. Their life yearning quest is the same as any other visionary immigrant population--to secure a far better life for their children than what they themselves have endured in their mother country.

Recognizing that language and culture are integrated throughout history, the use of one of the dialects from the family of Iranian Languages is the main commonality that ties historical and contemporary peoples residing form Northern India, Aral and Caspian regions, to the Persian Gulf, Asia Minor and Mesopotamian territories. In order, however, for such diverse people to learn, register, and appreciate their commonalties and contributions, and to also ensure that the rest of the world would also recognize such endeavors, there is an overdue need and merit for making available a set of documented tools. Having been an active participant in the advancement of cultural and community based agendas of our people in the US in particular, I could not envisage any other showcase of historical significance and pride but ENCYCLOPEDIA IRANICA (Danesh-nameh Iran) to achieve the aforementioned objectives.

When Professor Yarshater was asked to share his initial motivation for Encyclopedia Iranica, he reminisced about his days as a student. "There were times, then, when we students wanted to find detailed but concise and verified information about a certain specific aspect of Iranian culture, beyond the ordinary stories of certain Persian dynasties covered in history textbooks. Well, I soon realized we had no single comprehensive source of information on Iran, similar to Encyclopedia Britannica or Americana. The dream became a reality in the mid-70's when in cooperation with an ever growing number of Iranologists, we began Encyclopedia Iranica."

The mission of Encyclopedia Iranica project is to complete a peer-reviewed set of twenty- eight volume reference books, ten of which have already been published. It is intended to benefit scholars, students, elite and general readers alike with keen special interests in Iran, by providing a medium that each person of Persian/Iranian heritage would be proud to possess. Regarded as a Treasurer-Trove of Knowledge, it encompasses from biographies of notable men and women in every field to descriptions of all Iranian cities and monuments (ancient and modern), from oil installations to major banks, from Zoroastrian scriptures to Islamic rituals, to Jewish shrines, from Persian classics to modern novels, from Iranian flora and fauna to Persian music and folklore, from philosophy, mysticism and Persian calligraphy to Persian and Afghan architecture, from history of science and medicine to economy and ecology. Dr. Mohsen Kashef, senior assistant editor of the Encyclopedia Iranica, who has been associated with the project for twenty-five years, offers his description of the editorial process: It usually takes a long peer-reviewed process of up to three years to ensure accuracy and adequacy of an article before it is published in a specific volume. Over 900 scholars have thus far cooperated with Iranica.

The Encyclopedia Iranica is currently assisted by its Foundation Board (Khosrow Eghbal, Chair; Fereydoun Nazem, and Khosrow B. Semnani, Vice Chairs; and Akbar Ghahary, Treasurer.) Iranica is also managed by an Editorial Board comprised of Senior Editor and six in-house Editors, forty-three consulting Editors, and an International Advisory Committee (www.iranica.com).

Iranian linguists, historians and archaeologists from a great many Universities, Museums, and institutions including those form Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, Chicago, Pennsylvania, New York, Harvard, Texas, Columbia and California are among those who have actively participated in the development of Encyclopedia Iranica. Professor Peter Avery of Cambridge for instance, called it very unique for the Middle Eastern, African and Latin American Nations, and compared it to Encyclopedia Britannica. Dr. Prudence Harper, the Director/Curator of Near Eastern Arts at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Arts refers to the scope of the project as reaching far beyond the current borders of Iran, comprising cultural interactions with neighboring nations as well as European countries and the United States of America.

Peter J. Chelkowsky, Professor of Iranian Languages and Cultures at New York University, regards the Encyclopedia as a comprehensive source of information about every possible subject pertaining to the past and present of Iran, in which no aspect of life in Iranian and related cultures is overlooked. He then suggests every Iranian should have a volume set as a source of pride.

Houra Yavari, a literary critic and writer has used Simorgh, the legendary bird of the Persian epics, as an analogy. "In Ferdowsi's epic Book of the Kings (Shahnameh) she says, When the heroes Rustam and Zal reach deadlock, they seek Simorgh for guidance. Well, the Encyclopedia Iranica, like the ancient Simorgh, is our contemporary source of finding answers to our questions."

Dr. Ahmad Ashraf, the Managing Editor (formerly a professor at the U. Penn.) explained that sustained efforts are underway to make interactive the website for Iranica. Seven volumes are already accessible online; three volumes will be available online soon.

Despite the dwindling co-sponsorship of US federal funds for such projects, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the foremost sponsor of educational, academic and research projects has supported the Encyclopedia for twenty-two years. However, to ensure the completion of this monumental work, the Encyclopedia Iranica Foundation was established in 1989. Donations can either be made directly to this Foundation, or through Columbia University's Development Office, as both avenues are tax-exempt.

Fundraising efforts are steered by the Fundraising Committee, chaired by Dr. Akbar Ghahary, Treasurer of the Foundation. Dr. Ghahary, CEO of New Jersey based SAFAS Corporation who is recognized in the Community as a generous philanthropist of many noble causes, does consider the completion of Encyclopedia Iranica as of outmost significance. He cites a multitude of ways by which a person might contribute toward the full realization of Encyclopedia Iranica, summarized as follows:

• To send an email (ey4@columbia.edu) or to complete the online or print application to serve as the Cultural Steward for Iranica.
• Annual, monthly or a one-time tax-exempt monetary donation.
• Sponsorship of a Volume with a specified name or names as the benefactors).
• Recommendation to academic, research, corporate and municipal libraries for acquisition of the volumes.
• A lump sum contribution earmarked to the Foundation's endowment fund (the principle is not to be used for current expenses).
• One for one, or one-for-two corporate matching of employee contributions by one's employers.
• Estate designation and bond donation before capital gain taxes.
• Recommendation to online media and organizations to include a URL link to Iranica web site.
• Promotion of the Encyclopedia Iranica and forwarding of its website (www.iranica.com) among your extended US born American-Iranian friends, asking them to follow through with one or more of the above options.
• Recommendation to print media to write about and promote Iranica (you may send this article for further publication).
• Fund raising for the Encyclopedia at Persian related cultural or scholarly forums.
• Assist in organizing Gala/Banquets for Iranica or participating in such events
• The advance purchase of the entire set for $2,900 (plus S&H charges).

Occasionally, an investment of time and effort is equally valuable as financial support. So, please visit the Iranica website periodically, and complete the Cultural Stewardship Application or simply send an email to this author or the contact person below to offer your willingness to provide a few monthly hours of your time to promote Iranica.

For more information on Encyclopedia Iranica (acquisition, donation, gala, or becoming a cultural steward), please contact:
Sayeh Saidi
ey4@columbia.edu
(212) 851-5723
www.iranica.com

Respectfully submitted,

Davood N. Rahni, Ph.D.
nrahni@pace.edu
New York