San
Francisco, CA - February
15, 2006 "Since 1999 a series
of annual gala benefit dinners have been organized by Friends of the
Encyclopaedia Iranica in New York, Washington D.C., Los
Angeles, Miami, Long Island, London, and Houston. These have not only been prominent
fundraising events and unique occasions to highlight the achievements of
Iranians around the world, but have also served as a rallying point for Iranian
communities living abroad," said Professor Ehsan Yarshater, the founding editor
of the Encyclopaedia Iranica project. He went on to say "The next fundraising
gala for the Encyclopaedia Iranica will be held on May 13th, 2006 in San Francisco, California. I am pleased to announce that a
group of prominent Iranian-American philanthropists of Northern California have joined together to undertake this
grand event with Mrs. Maryam Rahimian serve as the Chair of the Fundraising
Committee." Professor Yarshater
continued, "With a history dating back to 3000 B.C., the Iranian culture needs
over 3,000 international scholars, and 35-40 volumes to tell its story."
"The Encyclopaedia Iranica has always been very important to my family.
The Rahimian family has been a supporter of the project ever since they learned
about it. So when we were asked to organize the San Francisco Gala we regarded
it as our duty and accepted it with pleasure." said Maryam Rahimian "Certainly
we had to ask for help from our friends in the community, and everyone we have
asked has offered his or her participation." She added. The current committee
members are (in alphabetical order): Mr.Reza Abbaszadeh, Dr. Elahe Ensani, Mr.
Shan Fazeli, Mr. Kamran Ghiasi, Mrs. Azadeh Hariri, Mrs. Fazilat Jalili, Mr.
Salar Kamangar, Ms. Ziba Marashi, Ms. Akhtar Motamedi, Mr. Majid Rahimian, Mrs.
Maryam Rahimian (Chair), Mr. Arash Rad, Mr. Mehdi Safipour, Ms. Sharzad Salour,
Mrs. Homa Sarshar, and Mr. Saeed Shakeri."
About The
Encyclopaedia Iranica: - A
Monument 3,000 Years in the Making
The Encyclopaedia Iranica is a project of Columbia University and is prepared for publication
by its Center for Iranian Studies. It is the most extensive compendium ever
conceived on the past and present cultures of the peoples who speak or spoke an
Iranian language, and has been repeatedly called the "identity card" of the
Iranian nation. Scholars have variously acclaimed it as, "a treasure-house of
reliable information," "a work of monumental proportion," "an unprecedented
undertaking," "the greatest scholarly project of the twentieth century in the
field of the entire Near and Middle Eastern studies," and simply "a
masterpiece."
The Encyclopedia Iranica aims at answering any pertinent question about
Iran, from the biographies of notable
figures in every field of endeavor to descriptions of cities and monuments, from
oil installations to major financial institutions, from Zoroastrian scriptures
to Jewish and Christian shrines to Islamic rituals, from Persian classics to
modern novels and films, from mysticism to science. No aspect of Iranian culture
is neglected.
The Encyclopaedia Iranica is published in Print as well as Online. To date twelve Printed volumes
have been published in alphabetical order. The Online program attempts to take
advantage of the research and scholarship of Iranologists worldwide, before they
become unavailable, and invites entries irrespective of alphabetical order. This program has facilitated a more
rapid progression for the Encyclopaedia, cutting two third of the time otherwise
required for the completion of the project. . Among the most interesting or
instructive articles, posted in our website www.iranica.com are the articles on Mithra, Nowruz, the Sasanian dynasty, the Safavid
dynasty, Satrapies of the Achaemenid empire, city of Kabul, the poet Sa'eb, the
Sasanian king Shapur I, diplomatic and political history of the Caspian Sea in
recent times, Mazandarani dialect, a series of articles on Manichean religion,
complete coverage of the culture of Gilan from its arts and crafts to its
special foods to its dialects, among other aspects of the culture, weights and
measures in pre-Islamic Iran, and life and time of a number of outstanding
Iranologists such as Speigel, Justi, Reichelt, Meillet, Bailey, Benveniste,
Henning, among many others.
The Encyclopaedia Iranica has been partially supported, for 26
consecutive years, by the National Endowment for Humanities (USA), praised by
the American Council of Learned Societies, and sponsored by the International
Union of Academies. However, the
bulk of the financial support is provided by the individuals and organizations
that are committed to the recording, preservation, and dissemination of Iranian
heritage.
The Encyclopaedia Iranica is a resource that no home or office of anyone
interested in Persian art, literature, or science should be without.
Contact: Neda
Rahimian
Email:
neda@iranica-sf.org
URL: www.iranica.com & www.iranica-sf.org
