We report the results of near-IR imaging in J and H , of I Zw 36 ( \approx Z _ { \odot } /14 ) with the Hubble Space Telescope .
Whereas imaging with the pre-COSTAR Faint Object Camera ( FOC ) previously resolved hot and massive stars in the near-UV , the NICMOS data furnish a census of the cool , intermediate- and low-mass stars .
There clearly was star formation in I Zw 36 prior to the activity which earned it its Blue Compact Dwarf/Wolf-Rayet galaxy classification .
The detection of luminous , asymptotic giant branch stars requires that stars formed vigorously several hundred Myr ago .
The well-populated red giant branch indicates stars with ages of at least 1-2 Gyr ( and possibly older than 10 Gyr ) .
We use the tip-of-the-red-giant-branch method to derive a distance of \geq 5.8 Mpc .
This is the third in a series of papers on near-IR—resolved Blue Compact Dwarf galaxies .
We notice that the color-magnitude diagrams of VII Zw 403 , Mrk 178 , and I Zw 36 do not exhibit the gaps expected from an episodic mode of star formation .
Using simulated color-magnitude diagrams we demonstrate for I Zw 36 that star formation did not stop for more than a few 10 ^ { 8 } yrs over the past 10 ^ { 9 } yrs , and discuss the implications of this result .