From the History of the Loan and Account Bank of Persia (From the Russian Archives)

The article analyzes new Russian archival materials related to the activities of the Loan and Account Bank of Persia from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. The article illustrates how the Bank through its various activities, turned into one of the main agents of Russian state interest in Persia during that period. The performance of the Bank has been elucidated in the works of Russian and foreign researchers encompassing various aspects of the Bank’s activities. This article, however, is based on the previously unused materials from the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA, St. Petersburg) and the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (AVPRI, Moscow). Among the new materials introduced and employed in this article, two documents are of an exceptional importance: “Case of rewarding Persian subjects with Russian orders and medals” and “Case of purchasing a movie theatre”. These documents confirm that the Bank’s works in Persian were multi-faceted. Many merchants were involved in commercial relations with the Bank. At the same time, some of them were informants of the Bank and helped the Russians to monitor the situation in Persia. On avenue used by the Board in order to maintain amiable relationships with Shah and His immediate circle was to bestow fascinating gifts on them.