Historians spend a lot of their time traveling to visit archives and libraries, or to learn new languages, conduct interviews, or do other kinds of field work. And because writing a history book or article tends to leave an enormous amount on the cutting room floor, most of the interesting things they encounter on these trips fail make it into their published output (trying to find a home for some of the miscellaneous scraps was the inspiration behind The Appendix.) I often wish I could see what the space around the archives that historians visit looks like – all the aspects of traveling to do research that don’t make it into our scholarship. So with that in mind, I’ve decided to upload a portfolio of photos I’ve taken during my research trips of the past few years.
They’re grouped according to place: so far, I have Iran, Portugal, and England. More to come.
All photos are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 license, meaning you should feel free to download them and use them for personal purposes (such as for teaching or lectures), but please properly attribute them and do not sell them.
Iran
Summer, 2017: Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, and Yazd
A street cat taking shelter from a busy main road in Tehran. 
At the Yazd bazaar. 
Shiraz 
Roya fighting Darius the Great. 
Midnight at an ice cream shop in Isfahan’s Grand Bazaar. 
Windcatchers in Yazd. 
Apartment building in NW Tehran. 
Relief carving of Shah Bahram II fighting the Roman emperor Carus, c. 276 CE, at Naqsh-e Rostam. 
Safavid mural at Chehel Sotoun palace in Isfahan, in a vaguely Italian Renaissance style. 
Safavid mural at Chehel Sotoun palace in Isfahan.
I wasn’t in Iran to do historical research, exactly, but during my time there I started exploring the option of working with Farsi-language archives, and I learned a ton about early modern Persia. Research leads often begin with a personal interest or family connection, in my experience.
Benjamin Breen 