From November 1981
A November Letter to Karim
A prototype example of how a letter can anchor this month’s family discoveries.
Read the letterNovember 2026
This Month in Our Family
Letters, birthdays, remembrances, and family events connected to November.
Explore
Find your way into the archive
Follow a person, move through time, or open a letter and let its connections lead you.
Thousands of pages, one place to begin
Search or Ask the Archive
Search the collection directly, or ask about a person, event, place, or relationship. Answers will be grounded in approved family material and will always show the passages they use.
5,000+letter notes to discover
15,000preserved pages
35family volumes
7family branches
Laleh Bakhtiar’s 35-volume family-letter collectionThe heart of this archive
Preserved by Laleh Bakhtiar
These letters survive as a family archive because of the extraordinary work of Laleh Bakhtiar. Over many years, she gathered and organized the original letters, photocopied approximately 15,000 pages, protected them in binders, coordinated their transcription and translation, led their digitization, and brought the collection together in 35 volumes.
Many members of the family contributed their time and care, but it was Laleh’s determination and stewardship that preserved this history for future generations.
This digital archive is created with love and gratitude by her children as a tribute to her work and to the family history she safeguarded.