The project was launched at Harvard's Centre for Middle East Studies. It provides scholars endeavouring to study the contemporary political history of Iran with primary source material, consisting of personal accounts of 132 individuals who played major roles in important political events and decisions in Iran from the 1920's to the 1970's; or witnessed these events and decisions from close range. Fatemeh Pakravan was the daughter of Javad Farifteh and Olya Brilevski, who was half Polish and half Russian. Mrs Pakravan maintained a diverse career while raising four children. This practice was highly unusual for an Iranian woman in the 1940s. She was director of the Najmiyeh Hospital and head of maternity at the Bank Melli Hospital, teacher of French at the Institute for Foreign Languages of Tehran University, head of planning and development of the National Tourist Organization, and an active member of the Red Lion and Sun Association (Iran's Red Cross). Hassan Pakravan, son of Fathollah and Emineh, was born in Tehran on 4 August 1911. He began his career at the Tehran Military Academy, and served in a number of military, political, and diplomatic posts including adjutant in the Intelligence Department of the Second Division, military attache in Pakistan (1949-50), chief of army intelligence (1951-53), deputy chief of the State Intelligence and Security Organization in charge of external affairs (1957-61), deputy prime minister and chief of the State Intelligence and Security Organization (1961-65), minister of information (1965-66),ambassador to Pakistan (1966-69), ambassador to France (1969-73), and senior counsellor to the Ministry of Court (1974-79). He was executed by the revolutionary court in 1979