The earliest records of the Daily Illini in 1907 shows enrollment of an unidentified student in college of Agriculture from Persia, since then Iranian students have been attending the University of Illinois. Since at least 1961, Iranian students have formed at least 6 student organizations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The earliest records shows establishment of Iranian Student Association (1961-1982) which was a resource group for students from Iran. Since then other organizations, Iranian Moslem Student Organization (1978-1985), Iranian Cultural Association (1988-1991), Iranian Student Association (1989-1995) ,Persian Cultural Association (1999-2012), Iranian Cultural Association (2012-2022), Iranian Music Heritage (2020-2022) and currently Iranian Heritage Foundation (2022-current) promotes the awareness and exploration of Persian or Iranian arts and cultures.