In Memoriam Iraj Afshar

 Center for Iranian Studies and

Columbia University Seminar on Iranian Studies

Ehsan Yarshater

Cordially invites you to

Special Session of the Seminar on Iranian Studies

In Memoriam Iraj Afshar

 Friday 1 April 2011 5:00—6:00 pm

at Faculty House, Garden Room

Enter the Gate on 116th Street

between Amsterdam Ave. and Morningside Dr.

Citation from the prelims of Volume XV of the Encyclopædia Iranica:

“The Editors and the staff of the Encyclopædia Iranica note with profound sorrow the passing of

Iraj Afshar (1925-2011).

An eminent scholar of Iranian Studies, a superb bibliographer, and an outstanding expert on Persian manuscripts, Iraj Afshar was the doyen of Iranian librarians and bibliographers, a prominent biographer and historian, and an indefatigable promoter of Persian culture.

He was a very active Consulting Editor of the Encyclopædia Iranica on Bibliography, but also on many different fields of Iranian Studies. In 2006 he was presented with the first Lifetime Achievement Award given by the International Society of Iranian Studies to the most prominent scholar of Iranian Studies living in Iran. The mere list of his numerous publications amounts to a book published by his sons in 2003.

A great walker, he traveled on foot to most villages of Iran, taking notes about interesting tombstones and old buildings and mosques and shrines. He was the father of librarianship in Iran and the greatest supporter of all bibliographical efforts.

He rendered a great service to Iranian Studies as the Editor of the journals Rahnama-ye Ketab and Ayandeh and the author of annual bibliographies of Persian articles in Iranian Studies, of which seven volumes were published before he passed away.”

Vahid Noshirvani and Ahmad Ashraf

Co-Chairs, Columbia University Seminar on Iranian Studies