Ba'th Party Records Collected by the Iraq Memory Foundation

Ba'th Party Records Collected by the Iraq Memory Foundation

More than ten million digitized page images and fifteen hundred video files collected by the Iraq Memory Foundation (IMF) from the Ba'th Regional Command headquarters and other sources are housed in the Hoover Archives. This vast array of digital files illuminates political conditions in, and governance of, Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime.

The materials are divided into two collections according to origin. The larger collection, which consists of documents created by the Regional Command of the Hiẓb al-Ba'th al-'Arabī al-Ishtirākī (Ba'th Party) and other administrative and security agencies during the Ba'th Party’s reign in Iraq,  is accordingly titled the Hiẓb al-Ba'th al-'Arabī al-Ishtirākī records, 1968–2003. A smaller set of video files and printed matter was created by the IMF and other parties after the fall of the Ba'th Party and thus was assigned to a second collection, Iraq Memory Foundation issuances, 2003–2009. 

The Hiẓb al-Ba'th al-'Arabī al-Ishtirākī records contain digitized copies of correspondence, reports, membership and personnel files, judicial and investigatory dossiers, administrative files, school registers, and video recordings. The Iraq Memory Foundation issuances are chiefly videoed oral histories of survivors of Ba'th Party repression and, from Iraqi television, videoed proceedings of Saddam Hussein's trial before the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal.

The vast majority of the Ba'th Party records and all of the Iraq Memory Foundation issuances are open for research. Access is obtained via a custom portal on computer workstations in the Hoover Archives reading room, with some printed matter of the Iraq Memory Foundation available as hard copies. Researchers must sign a user agreement before being granted access to these collections. More information is available in the documents listed below.

-Guide to the Hiẓb al-Ba'th al-'Arabī al-Ishtirākī records
-Guide to the Iraq Memory Foundation issuances
-Getting started with the IMF portal
-Access criteria and use agreement