The Myron Bement Smith collection consists of two parts, the papers of Myron Bement Smith and his wife Katharine and the Islamic Archives. It contains substantial material about his field research in Italy in the 1920s and his years working on Islamic architecture in Iran in the 1930s. Letters describe the milieu in which he operated in Rochester NY and New York City in the 1920s and early 1930s; the Smiths' life in Iran from 1933 to 1937; and the extensive network of academic and social contacts that Myron and Katharine developed and maintained over his lifetime. The Islamic Archives was a project to which Smith devoted most of his professional life. It includes both original materials, such as his photographs and notes, and items acquired by him from other scholars or experts on Islamic art and architecture. Smith intended the Archives to serve as a resource for scholars interested in the architecture and art of the entire Islamic world although he also included some materials about non-Islamic architecture.
Scope and Contents:
The Myron Bement Smith Collection consists of two parts, the papers of Myron Bement Smith and his wife Katharine and the Islamic Archives. The papers include some biographic material about Myron but little about his wife. Information on his academic and professional experience is sketchy and his diaries and appointment books often contain only sporadic entries. The papers contain substantial material about his field research in Italy in the 1920s and his years working on Islamic architecture in Iran in the 1930s. Correspondence comprises the largest and most potentially useful part of the papers. Letters describe the milieu in which he operated in Rochester, NY and New York City in the 1920s and early 1930s; the Smiths' life in Iran from 1933 to 1937; and the extensive network of academic and social contacts that Myron and Katharine developed and maintained over his lifetime.
The Islamic Archives, formally entitled The Archive for Islamic Culture and Art, was a project to which Smith devoted most of his professional life. It includes both original materials, such as his photographs and notes, and items acquired by him from other scholars or experts on Islamic art and architecture. Most of the latter consists of photographs and slides. Smith intended the Archives to serve as a resource for scholars interested in the architecture and art of the entire Islamic world although he also included some materials about non-Islamic architecture. The core collection of the Archives consists of Smith's original photographs and architectural sketches of Iranian Islamic monuments made during his field research in the 1930s. He meticulously photographed the interior and exterior of monuments, including their decorative detail. Some of the photographic materials subsequently loaned, purchased, or donated to the Archives may enable scholars to document sites over time but in many cases the materials are poorly preserved or reproduced. A notable exception to this is the glassplate negatives and prints of 19th century Iranian photographer Antoin Sevruguin.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 2 major series with further subseries. A third series inventories the outsized and miscellaneous materials.
Series 1: Papers
Subseries 1.1: Biographic Materials
Subseries 1.2: Professional Experience
Subseries 1.3: Notebooks, Journals and Appointment Books
Subseries 1.4: Correspondence
Subseries 1.5: Published and Unpublished Materials
Subseries 1.6: Italy Research 1925, 1927-1928
Subseries 1.7: Iran Research 1933-1937
Subseries 1.8: Katharine Dennis Smith Papers and Correspondence
Series 2: The Islamic Archives
Subseries 2.1: Islamic Archives History, Collection Information
Subseries 2.2: Resource Materials Iran
Subseries 2.3: Resource Materials Other Islamic World and General
Subseries 2.4: Myron Bement Smith Architectural Sketches, Plans and Notes, Iran, 1933-1937
Subseries 2.5: Myron Bement Smith Iran Photographs, Notebooks and Negative Registers
Subseries 2.6: Country Photograph File
Subseries 2.7: Lantern Slide Collection
Subseries 2.8: Myron Bement Smith 35 mm Color Slides
Subseries 2.9: Country 35 mm Color Slide File
Subseries 2.10: Myron Bement Smith Negatives
Subseries 2.11: Country Photograph Negatives
Subseries 2.12: Antoin Sevruguin Photographs
Series 3: Outsize and Miscellaneous Items
Subseries 3.1: Map Case Drawers
Subseries 3.2: Rolled Items
Subseries 3.3 Items in Freezer
Subseries 3.4 Smithsonian Copy Negatives
Biographical Note:
Myron Bement Smith was born in Newark Valley, New York in 1897 and grew up in Rochester, New York. He died in Washington D.C. in 1970. He showed an early interest in drawing, and after graduation from high school, he worked as a draftsman for a Rochester architect. He served in the US Army Medical Corps in France during World War I and on return again worked as an architectural draftsman. He studied at Yale University from 1922 to 1926, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. During summer vacations, he worked as draftsman or designer for architectural firms in New York City. After graduation, he received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation grant and spent two years in Italy doing research on northern Italian brick and stone work. He used photography as an tool for his research and published several well-illustrated articles. On return he joined an architectural firm in Philadelphia and in 1931 became a registered architect in New York. He enrolled in Harvard University graduate school in 1929 pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree.
In April 1930, Smith was appointed Secretary of the newly created American Institute for Persian Art and Archaeology founded by Arthur Upham Pope and located in New York City. He had no prior academic or work experience in Islamic art or architecture, and his job entailed designing publications, arranging lectures, organizing exhibitions and fund raising. That summer he arranged an independent study course at Harvard University on Persian art and subsequently studied Persian language at Columbia University and attended graduate courses at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. His work and academic credentials enabled him to compete successfully for a research fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies in 1933 to study Iranian Islamic architecture.
Accompanied by his new bride Katharine Dennis, Smith left for Iran in 1933. They suffered a horrendous motor vehicle accident in Iraq en route and required a lengthy recuperation in Lebanon and Cyprus. The Smiths eventually arrived in Isfahan, Iran, where they established their "Expedition House," as Smith called it, in a rented faculty house at Stuart College. Smith's research consisted of meticulous photographic documentation of Islamic monuments and architectural sketches and drawings of many of them. He concentrated on the Isfahan area but also documented monuments elsewhere in Iran. Smith outfitted his station wagon as a combination camper and research vehicle in which he and his staff traveled widely. Katharine sometimes traveled with him but generally she remained in Isfahan managing the household and logistics for the "expedition." The Smiths left Iran in 1937.
Smith published several articles about Iran's Islamic monuments based on his field research and in 1947 completed his PhD thesis for The Johns Hopkins University on the vault in Persian architecture. His professional career from 1938 until his death in 1970 consisted of a series of temporary academic positions, contract work and government or academic sponsored lecture tours and photographic exhibits. He had a long lasting relationship with the Library of Congress where he served as an Honorary Consultant from 1938 to 1940 and again from 1948 to 1970; from 1943 to 1944 he was Chief of the Iranian Section at the Library. Despite his lack of published material, Smith was well-known among academic, government and private citizens who worked, traveled or were otherwise interested Iran and the Islamic world.
Smith developed an extensive network of professional and social contacts that dated from his early student days and increased markedly during his time at the Persian Institute and later in Iran. He kept in touch with them and they touted him to others who were interested in Iran or Islamic art and architecture. This network served him well in realizing his ambition of creating a resource for scholars that relied on photographs to document Islamic architecture. The Islamic Archives began with his own collection of photographs from his Iran research and grew to include all manner of photographic and other materials not only on the Islamic world but also other areas. Creating and managing the Archives became the main focus of Smith's professional life and career. In 1967 he received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to revise his PhD thesis as a publishable manuscript but died before he could complete it.
Related Materials:
The Antoin Sevruguin Photgraphs
Ernst Herzfeld Papers
Lionel B. Bier Drawings
Lionel D. Bier and Carol Bier Photographs
Provenance:
Gift of Katherine Dennis Smith, transfered from National Anthropological Archives.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
The Myron Bement Smith Collection, FSA A.04. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Katherine Dennis Smith.
Sarre, Friedrich Paul Theodor, 1865-1945 Search this
Extent:
150 Linear feet (circa 30,000 items)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Blueprints
Journals (accounts)
Photographs
Clippings
Notebooks
Drawings
Sketchbooks
Articles
Paper squeezes
Correspondence
Diaries
Sketches
Rubbings
Place:
Turkey
Mesopotamia
Bakun, Tall-e (Iran)
Iran
Iraq
Lebanon
Persepolis (Iran)
Pasargadae (Extinct city)
Taq-e Bostan Site (Iran)
Sāmarrāʼ (Iraq)
Syria
Date:
1903-1947
Summary:
An outstanding scholar in the field of Iranian studies, Ernst Herzfeld (1879--1948) explored all phases of Near Eastern culture from the prehistoric period to Islamic times. This collection documents Herzfeld's excavations at Samarra, Persepolis, Pasargadae, and Aleppo and includes correspondence; field notebooks; drawings; sketchbooks; inventories of objects; "squeeze" copies of architectural details; and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
Papers (1899--1962) of German born archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (1879--1948), a preeminent scholar of Near Eastern and Iranian studies. The collection measures 150 linear feet (circa 30,000 items) and documents Herzfeld's work as a pioneer in the field and sheds light on his excavations at Samarra, Persepolis, Pasargadae, and Aleppo. Formats include correspondence; field notebooks; drawings; sketchbooks; inventories of objects; "squeeze" copies of architectural details; and photographs.
Arrangement:
This collection is organized into seven series.
Series 1: Travel journals
Series 2: Sketchbooks
Series 3: Notebooks
Series 4: Photographic files 1-42
Series 5: Drawings and maps
Series 6: Squeezes
Series 7: Samarra Expedition
Biographical / Historical:
The Ernst Herzfeld Papers document the career of Ernst Herzfeld (1879--1948), a German architect, archaeologist, and historian of Islamic and Pre-Islamic studies. After training as an architect he studied archaeology under Delitzch from 1903 to 1906 at the excavations at Assur in Mesopotamia. A student of Latin, Greek, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew, Herzfeld received a doctorate in Humanistic Studies at universities in Munich and Berlin in 1907. His work with Friedrich Sarre to survey the monuments of the Tigris-Euphrates valleys resulted in landmark studies in architectural history, published in 1911 and 1920.
In 1920 Herzfeld was appointed to the chair of Historical Geography in Berlin and began his excavation at Samarra. Herzfeld's work there led to a six-volume publication. He published widely throughout his life on the sources of Islamic architecture and ornament, including the Royal Palace at Persepolis.
From 1934 until the end of his life Herzfeld spent his time producing many books and articles, lecturing, and working at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (1936--1945.) Many of his works continue to be published post-humously.
1879 July 23 -- Born in Celle, Germany.
1897 -- Received diploma from Joachimsthaler Gymnasium, Berlin.
1897-circa 1898 -- Fulfilled military service.
circa 1899 -- Studied architecture at the Technical University and Assyriology, art history, and philosophy at the Friedrich-Wilhems Universität in Berlin.
1903 -- Passed exam in structural engineering.
1903-1905 -- Assistant to Walter Andrae (1875-1956) in Assur.
1905-1906 -- Traveled throughout Iran and Iraq.
1907 -- Excavation in Cilicia. Passed oral exam in February. Awarded doctorate in Humanistic Studies by Friedrich-Wilhems Universtät zu Berlin. After receiving Ph.D. traveled extensively in Syria and Iraq with Friedrich Sarre, director of the Islamic Museum in Berlin.
1911-1913 -- Field Director under direction of Sarre during expedition to Samarra.
circa 1914 -- Drafted into service in France and Poland during World War I. Sent to Iraq where he functioned as a surveyor.
1916 -- Father died.
1917 -- Appointed associate professor for Historical Geography and Art History of the Ancient Orient at Berlin. Along with Friedrich Sarre and others, founded the German-Persian Society to increase cultural and economic exchange between Germany and Persia.
1920 -- Appointed world's first full professor of Near Eastern Archeology. Begins excavation at Samarra.
1922 -- Mother died.
1923-1934 -- In Persia, where he completed many excavations and studies.
1928 -- Excavation at Pasargadae.
1931-1934 -- Appointed director of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and moved to Persepolis.
1934 -- As grandson of Jews, Nazi legislation expelling state employees of Jewish descent forced Herzfeld to retire as a professor employed by the state. Moved to London.
1936 -- Delivered Lowell Lectures. Moved to Boston. Lectured on Iranian history and appointed a member of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study.
1944 -- Retired from Princeton University.
1948 January 20 -- Died.
Provenance:
Ernst Herzfeld donated his papers to the Freer Gallery of Art in 1946.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Mary Lee Hu, 2009 March 18-19. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Mary Lee Hu conducted 2009 March 18-19, by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Hu's home and studio, in Seattle, Washington.
Hu speaks of growing up outside Cleveland, Ohio; her early interest in making objects; attending the Lawrence Art Center camp in Kansas at the age of 16 where she first experimented with metals; her like of working with tools in order to create something; taking metal smith classes at the Cleveland Institute of Art during high school; attending Miami University in Ohio for two years followed by two years an Cranbrook Academy of Art; working as a TA with L. Brent Kington at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale; her collaborative work in both textiles and metals while at Carbondale which lead to her first experimentation in weaving silver wire; creating a body of work for her Master's thesis in which all the pieces were woven wire; various works, their origins, when, where and why they were created, including her Neckpiece, Choker, Bracelet, Brooch and Ring series; her aesthetic interest in patterns, line and positive/negative space; a limited interest in and use of color in her work; the transition from silver to gold wire; a progressively larger interest in the history of jewelry and body adornment which eventually became a lecture at the University of Washington, where she taught for 26 years; numerous trips around the world to countries such as China, Tibet, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia; a strong interest in ethnic and native jewelry/body adornment practices; the various purposes which jewelry can serve in society; her involvement with the Society of North American Goldsmiths and the American Craft Council; her technique based teaching practices; the role that modern technology plays in teaching, learning, and making jewelry; the lack of support and funds for metals programs in universities around the country; her library, which includes aver 2,000 books about the history of jewelry and body adornment; her collection of jewelry from around the world; her want to create beautiful and functional jewelry; the public and private aspects to jewelry and it's role in museums; current projects and the importance to maintain interest of metals in younger generations. Hu also recalls Gary Turner, Hans Christensen, Otto Dingeldein, Heikki Seppä, Hero Kielman, Phil Fike, Patti Warashina, Gary Noffke, Elliott Pujol, Chonghi Choo, Daphne Farafo, Vicki Halper, Ron Ho, Miye Matsukata, Alma Eikermann, Mark Baldridge, Kurt Matzdorf, Eleanor Moty, Fred Fenster, John Marshall, James McMurray, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Mary Lee Hu (1943- ) is a metalsmith in Seattle, Washington. Smith was educated at Cranbrook Academy of Art and Southern Illinois University. She teaches at the University of Washington.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 43 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Occupation:
Metal-workers -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
Educators -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
The papers of landscape painter Sanford Robinson Gifford, date from the 1840s through 1900, and circa 1960s-1970s. The bulk of the papers fall between 1855-1881; material from the circa 1960s-1970s consists of photographic copy prints for which the Archives does not have the originals. The small collection measures 0.9 linear feet of scattered documentation of Gifford's life, primarily extensive biographical accounts of his travels in the mid 1850s and late 1860s in the form of bound letters to his father. These serve as detailed journals of his impressions of Europe and the Middle East, the development of his painting, and his relationships with other artists such as Albert Bierstadt and Worthington Whittredge. The collection also contains sketches by Gifford, printed material including catalogs of Gifford's paintings, and photographs of Gifford and others.
Scope and Content Note:
The collection dates from the 1840s through 1900, and circa 1960s-1970s with the bulk of the material falling between 1855-1881. Material from circa 1960s-1970s consists of photographic copy prints of original photographs from the mid to late 1800s for which the Archives does not own the originals. The papers measure 0.9 linear feet and provide detailed documentation of the life of Hudson River School landscape painter, Sanford Robinson Gifford, during the mid 1850s and late 1860s. The papers contain extensive accounts of Gifford's travels in 3 bound volumes of typewritten letters from Gifford to his father. These letters serve as travel journals and provide extensive and vivid descriptions of Gifford's work and experiences in Europe and the Middle East, and document his relationships with a variety of other artists, including Alfred Bierstadt and Worthington Whittredge, during this period.
Additional records provide scattered documenation of other periods of Gifford's life. Letters refer to his travels in the American west and his Civil War service and its effect on his painting. Printed material includes clippings and exhibition catalogs, and includes a catalogue of his paintings published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1881. Artwork by Gifford includes sketches by the artist and prints, engravings and paintings by various others. Original photographs date from 1856-1900 and include images of Gifford during the Civil War. Copyprints for which the Archives does not own the originals date from the circa 1960s-1970s and include two images of a family home in Hudson, New York, where Gifford had a studio in the mid 1860s, a portrait photograph of Gifford, and an image of Gifford on the Hayden expedition.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 4 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Letters, 1855-1874 (Box 1; 3 volumes, 1 folder)
Series 2: Printed Material, circa 1850s-1881 (Box 2; 4 folders)
Series 3: Artwork, circa 1840s-circa 1870s (Box 2, OV 3; 4 folders)
Series 4: Photographs and Copy Prints, 1856-circa 1900, circa 1960s-1970s (Box 2, 5, OV 4; 11 folders)
Biographical Note:
Sanford Robinson Gifford was born in Greenfield, New York, in 1823. He attended Brown University from 1842-1844 and moved to New York City in 1845 where he studied drawing, perspective and anatomy under the direction of the British watercolorist and drawing-master, John R. Smith. He also studied the human figure in anatomy classes at the Crosby Street Medical college and took drawing classes at the National Academy of Design. In 1846 he visited the Berkshire Hills and the Catskill Mountains, sketching from nature. "These studies," he wrote to O. B. Frothingham in 1874, "together with the great admiration I felt for the works of Cole developed a strong interest in landscape art, and opened my eyes to a keener perception and more intelligent enjoyment of nature. Having once enjoyed the absolute freedom of the landscape painters life I was unable to return to portrait painting."
The American Art Union bought and showed some of Gifford's first pictures in 1847. In 1851 he was elected an associate, and in 1854 an academician, of the National Academy of Design.
Gifford traveled widely to sketch landscapes for future paintings, recording his experiences in letters to his father which he intended would "serve the double purpose of letter and journal, and be an economy of time." He requested that his father number the letters sequentially and keep them together.
In the summer of 1855 Gifford visited England, Scotland and Paris, where he spent the winter of 1855 transforming his English and Scottish sketches into paintings. In the fall of 1856 he rented a studio in Rome and, over the course of the winter, painted pictures that reportedly pleased him "pretty well," including Lake Nemi. During the spring of 1857, Gifford spent time with fellow artists Worthington Whittredge, William H. Beard and Albert Bierstadt before leaving Rome in May with Bierstadt for a walking tour of southern Italy, where they planned to reconnect with Whittredge and Beard. Gifford ended his European tour with a visits to Innsbruck, Munich, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Berlin and Paris, before returning to the United States at the end of the summer.
On his return Gifford rented studio Number 19 in the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York City, which he retained until his death. Over the next few years he also made frequent summer trips to various northeastern locales including the Catskills, the Adirondacks, the Green Mountains in Vermont, the White Mountains in New Hampshire, Maine and Nova Scotia.
Gifford served in New York's Seventh Regiment when it marched to the defense of Washington in April 1861, and again in 1862 and 1863. Several paintings resulted from this experience, including Sunday Morning at Camp Cameron (1861), Bivouac of the Seventh Regiment at Arlington Heights, Virginia (1861) and Camp of the Seventh Regiment, near Frederick, Maryland, in July 1863 (1864).
In 1868 Gifford returned to Europe, again visiting London and Paris, where he met with friends Jervis McEntee and his wife. He then spent the summer visiting the Alps and Sicily before wintering in Rome. In 1869 he traveled to Egypt where he and a small party hired a boat to take them on a two-month voyage from Cairo down the Nile River. Subsequently, Gifford traveled to the Middle East with Alfred Craven via the Suez Canal, where his itinerary included Syria, Jerusalem, Samaria, Damascus, Greece and Turkey. Gifford arrived in Venice in June 1869 and sailed for the United States at the beginning of September.
In 1870 Gifford visited Colorado with Worthington Whittredge and John Frederick Kensett, and accompanied a United States Geological party under Dr. Hayden in the exploration of Wyoming, Utah, and the Colorado Territories. In the summer of 1873 he visited California, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska.
Gifford married in 1877 but in 1880 became ill and died of malarial fever and pneumonia at the age of 58. That same year he was honored with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's first monographic retrospective and a memorial catalogue of his known pictures.
Related Material:
Five sketchbooks were loaned by Vassar College in 1966 and the originals were returned to the donor after microfilming on reel D254.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels D254 and 688) including twenty-one sketchbooks, photographs, passports and certificates, an 1888 European travel diary of Mary Louise Willard, wife of Gifford's nephew, Harold, and a 1966 letter. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Edith Wilkinson first donated the Sanford Robinson Gifford papers in 1955 and 1957. James C. Gifford donated copy prints of photographs in 1964. Five sketchbooks were lent for microfilming by the Vassar College Art Library in 1966 and George and Frances Gifford Cummings donated additional material in 1973. In 1974, sixteen sketchbooks, photographs, and other materials were lent for microfilming by Dr. Sanford Gifford, Gifford's great-nephew.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Items pertaining to the spiritual, economic, and artistic history of modern India and its princely states. Parts include: fiscal philately from the princely states of India, documents pertaining to Indian medicine (6 linear ft.), paintings, medals and coins, map of Baroda and other princely states, postcards, the collector's research files, genealogical studies of Majarajas, and memorabilia on the history of Jews in Southern Indian. Robbins document Indian society, particularly court nobles. One photograph album and three photographs comprise this collection. The photograph album documents the Silver Jubilee celebration of Mahabat Khanji Rasukhanji Babi Bahadur, the last Nawab of Junagadh in 1945, including entertainment, events, and formal and informal portraits of participants. The Nawab is shown being saluted by government officials, being weighed in silver, and receiving a gift. Performances by dancing women and marching bands are documented, as are sports such as horseback riding, rock lifting, and running. People portrayed include government officials, prisoners in chains, the Nawab, the Nawab's son, nobles such as Kau Mull Ladha wth his daughter in a limousine, prominent citizens of Junagadh, and uniformed men marching.
Arrangement:
1139 postage stamps: organized in 5 boxes ; arranged numerically by item catalog number and alphabetically by region
Biographical / Historical:
Dr. Kenneth X. Robbins of Potomac, Maryland, psychiatrist, M.D., collector of south Asian art, and author, assembled a collection of various types of materials documenting Indian society particularly in the second quarter of the 20th century, focusing on the noble courts.
Kenneth X. Robbins Photograph Collection, FSA A1990.01. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Kenneth X. Robbins, 1990, 2014, 2015, 2016.
Identifier:
FSA.A1990.01
Archival Repository:
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
3609 Cyanotypes (photographic prints) (b&w, 16 cm. x 21.7 cm)
343 Copy prints (b&w)
3,890 Glass plate negatives (b&w, 13 cm. x 18 cm)
42 Lantern slides (color, 10 cm. x 15 cm)
8,541 Photographic prints (b&w, various dimensions)
Type:
Archival materials
Cyanotypes (photographic prints)
Copy prints
Glass plate negatives
Lantern slides
Photographic prints
Glass negatives
Place:
Asia
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Lebanon
Syria
Turkey
Mesopotamia
Aleppo (Syria)
Bakun, Tall-e (Iran)
Baʻlabakk (Lebanon)
Bīshāpūr (Extinct city)
Bisutun Site (Iran)
Damascus (Syria)
Fīrūzābād (Iran)
Ḥimṣ (Syria)
Iṣfahān (Iran)
Luristān (Iran)
Nahāvand (Iran)
Naqsh-i Rustam (Iran)
Paikuli (Iraq)
Palmyra (Syria)
Pasargadae (Extinct city)
Persepolis (Iran)
Petra (Extinct city)
Sāmarrāʼ (Iraq)
Sīstān va Balūchistān (Iran)
Taq-e Bostan Site (Iran)
Tripoli (Lebanon)
Date:
1903-1947
1899-1947
Scope and Contents:
The prints are from three sources: (1) those from glass negatives; (2) those from cut film; and (3) those for which there are no negatives.
The Archive contains Herzfeld's glass negatives, numbered from 1 to 3850. Of most of these he had blueprints made which he had arranged in 16 binders by general categories--i.e. Prehistoric pottery, bronzes, stone; Persepolis; Sasanian monuments; Syrian monuments, Persian architecture and landscapes, etc.--irrespective of the number on the negative. These formed the nucleus for the preparation of the Photo Files. The 16 binders of blueprints have been replaced by Photo Files, Nos. 1--6. The prints in each File are arranged in the same order as the blueprints; and the number of the negative is enclosed in parentheses. Following a brief identification, is a reference to the place where the print has been published, if that is the case and such publication has been located.
In addition to the blueprint binders there were three Albums - Photo Files 25 (Sasanian buildings), 27 (Parthian and Sasanian sculptures) and 28 (Pre-Achaemenian monuments and Pasargadae)--in which Herzfeld had arranged prints in a sequence for study or publication purposes. The order in those Photo Files retains that in the Albums.
In addition to the glass negatives, there is an even larger number of cut films. On his archaeological study trips, Herzfeld was accustomed to supplement his photographs on glass plates with photographs on cut film--sometimes of the same subjects, often of other subjects. Some prints to these negative were identified on the back or could be identified from other prints; but in many instances, especially of landscapes, it has not been possible to place them, except in general categories.
Prints from the cut films have been organized, so far as feasible, in groups of related material and placed in the Photo Files of similar subject matter. The negative number appears in the Photo File. Herzfeld also collected prints from many sources for study purposes. Of those there are no negatives, So far as possible, the prints have been identified and placed in the appropriate Photo File.
The Samarra material, Photo Files 19--23, is in a special category. Files 22 and 23 were arranged in Albums labeled "Paläste und Moscheen-I and -II", respectively. The only identification was written on the backs of the prints, glued to the pages of the Albums. These notations have been transferred to the captions in the Photo Files. These two Albums apparently were arranged by Herzfeld with a view to a publication of the architecture of Samarra which was never prepared. The drawings for such a publication are in this collection.
With such a large number of prints, especially in view of the fact that some were arranged in different fashions for different purposes, it is inevitable that there should be some duplication and that related material may be found in several Photo Files. The only way a user can be sure he has not missed material concerning his particular interest is to examine the Photo File Lists where every print is recorded. Inasmuch as scholars study the same monument from different points of view, the fact that a photograph has been published in one context does not diminish its value in another context.
Note: Photo Files 35--42 consist of Oriental Institute prints of which the negatives are in Chicago. The prints may be published only with the written permission of the Oriental Institute.
- "Ernst Herzfeld Papers, Series 4: Photographic Files," which is composed of b&w glass negatives, color lantern slides, b&w photographic prints (both modern and original), b&w cyanotypes, large format b&w films, and b&w duplicate prints (both modern and original), iwas originally organized into three subseries, the glass n and covers Herzfeld's travels and surveys of the most major archaeological sites in Persia, Mesopotamia and Northern Syria, from 1923 to 1931. It also covers the field activities at Pasargadae (Spring 1928) and of the Persepolis Expedition (1931).
- The Herzfeld Papers in the Archives contains 3,890 glass negatives (FSA A.6 04.GN.0001- to FSA A.6 04.GN.5075), which includes eight sketchbooks (Skizzenbücher I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII), covers Herzfeld's travels and surveys of the most major archaeological sites in Persia from 1923 to 1924.
The Herzfeld Papers in the Archives contains 3,890 glass negatives, numbered from 1 to 5,066, without any apparent organization. Of most of these, Herzfeld had blueprints made which he had arranged in 16 binders by general categories—i.e. Prehistoric pottery, bronzes, stone; Persepolis; Sasanian monuments; Syrian monuments, Persian architecture and landscapes, etc.—irrespective of the number on the negative.
In addition to the glass negatives and blueprints, there are a series of 16 binders made of photographic prints (Photo Files, Nos. 1-16) and three albums (Photo Files, Nos. 25, 27, and 28). As well, approximately 1,069 photographic prints, which have no negatives, arranged in Photo Files 19-23, are in a special category. In File 19, prints of illustrations in Die Ausgrabungen von Samarra, vol. 1: Der Wandschmuck der Bauten von Samarra und seine Ornamentik. In File 20, prints of illustrations in Die Ausgrabungen von Samarra, vol.2: Die Keramik von Samarra von F. Sarre, supplemented by unpublished photos of ceramics. In the same file, prints of illustrations in Die Ausgrabungen von Samarra, vol.6: Die Geschichte der Stadt Samarra. In File 21, prints of illustrations in Die Ausgrabungen von Samarra, vol.3: Die Malereien von Samarra. At the end of the file, there are unpublished photographs. Files 22 and 23 were arranged in Albums labeled "Paläste und Moscheen-I and -II", respectively. These two Albums apparently were arranged by Herzfeld with a view to a publication of the architecture of the palaces, mosques and private houses of Samarra which was never prepared. The only identification, written on the backs of the prints which were glued to the Album page, had a first number in red crayon used in the captions as the negative number. In some cases, an additional number is given in blue crayon, possibly indicating a revision of the list or an alternative negative. The encircled number on the margin gives the position in the Album.
In addition to the glass negatives and the Photo Files, there is an even larger number of cut films and a package of duplicate prints which are, for the most part, unpublished. On his archaeological study trips, Herzfeld was accustomed to supplement his photographs on glass plates with photographs on cut film—sometimes of the same subjects, often of other subjects.
Arrangement:
- Glass Negatives, numbered from 1 to 5,075, originally stored in 80 wooden boxes of approximately 50 photographs each, are housed in document boxes and stored on shelves.
- Prints are organized in sequential number following publication series, "Die Ausgrabungen von Samarra." They are arranged in photo file folders which are housed in document boxes, and stored on shelves.
Biographical / Historical:
"Ernst Emil Herzfeld (1879-1948) was an orientalist whose many talents led him to explore all phases of Near Eastern culture, from the prehistoric period to Islamic times and from linguistics and religion to art and architecture." [Margaret Cool Root, 1976: "The Herzfeld Archive of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 11, pp. 119-124."]
Local Numbers:
FSA A.06 4
General:
Titles are provided by Xavier Courouble, FSg Archives cataloger, based on Ernst Herzfeld's publications and on Joseph Upton's Catalogue of the Herzfeld Archive.
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
The Papers primarly relate to Herzfeld's survey of the monuments, artifacts, and inscriptions of Western Asia between 1903 and 1947 and particularly to his excavations at Istakhr (Iran), Paikuli (Iraq), Pasargadae (Iran), Persepolis (Iran), Samarra (Iraq) and Kuh-e Khwaja (Iran), as well as various archaeological expeditions throughout Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Northern Syria, and Persia. Additional research material, probably collected by Moritz Sobernheim and Max Freiherr von Oppenheim but preserved by Ernst Herzfeld, was part of a broader project, that of Max van Berchem's "Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum."
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
1 Diary (1 volume (68 pages), 20.5 cm. x 17.1 cm.)
Type:
Archival materials
Diaries
Notebooks
Place:
Asia
Azerbaijan
Iran
Turkey
Date:
1905 November 20–1906 January 5
Scope and Contents:
- FSA A.6 01.03, on which Joseph Upton's classification mentions "N-82", provides an account of an expedition (November 20, 1905 to January 5, 1906) from Shiraz (Iraq) to Tehran (Iran), then finally to Constantinople (Turkey).
- Original handwritten title on cover reads: "Ernst Herzfeld; von Schiraz nach Teheran and Constantinopel, 1905"
- Barm-i dilak (Iran): Three Sasanian reliefs and [sketch depicting presention a flower], November 23, 1905, (pp. 3-4).
- Qasr-i Abu Nasr (Iran): Notes and sketch of top section of standing door frame, November 23, 1905, (pp. 4-5).
- Persepolis (Iran): Notes and sketches of general site of terrace (p.10), hole for roof timbers (p.11), traces of balustrade on stairs (p.12), and lotus buds in King's hands as well as plan and elevation of southern tomb (p.14), November 24, 1905, (pp. 9-15).
- Naqsh-i Rustam (Iran): Sasanian reliefs and Achaemenian tombs, detail sketch of king's crowns (pp.16-17); elevation of Darius' tomb; Kaaba(p.18); dune-like mound in front of tombs, November 24, 1905, (pp. 15-31).
- Pasargadae (Iran): Sketch of section of old rock-cut road from Sīwand (p.22); plan of immediate area of tomb of Cyrus (pp.23-24); plan of anten of palace (p.29), November 25-26, 1905, (pp. 22-31).
- Yazdikhāst (Iran): Sketch of plan of site of town; tile of caravansarai, November 29, 1905, (pp. 41-42).
- Isfahān (Iran): See also Chehel Sutūn and Hasht Behisht. Discussion of tilework in Isfahān (pp.59-60); sketch of rug pattern (p.61); description of rugs for sale (pp.70-71) with sketch of lily design (p.71), November 29 to December 7, 1905, (pp. 44-75).
- Isfahan (Iran): Sketch of plan of Hasht Behisht, December 1, 1905, (p. 47).
- Isfahan (Iran): Sketch of lion column base of Chehel Sutūn, December 1, 1905, (pp. 49-50).
- Sketch of plan and location of tile panels with detailed description of subjects and colors, December 4, 1905, (pp. 55-58).
- Julfa (Iran): Two churches, December 6, 1905, (pp. 67-69).
- Teheran (Iran): Herzfeld's first visit, December 14-16, 1905, (pp. 81-93).
- Ray (Iran): Tower of silence and ruins, December 16, 1905, (pp. 88-89).
- Rasht (Iran): December 27, 1905, (p. 93).
- Baku (Azerbaijan): Trip from Baku via Elizawetpol, Batum, Platana, Tripolis, Tiflis. Mention of Sinope, Kerazunt, Trapezunt, Sinob, Ineboli, Philippopel to Constantinopel, December 19 to January 2, 1905, (pp. 96 ff).
- Sinope (Turkey): Sketch of plan of harbor (p.110), enroute from Persia to Germany, December 28, 1905, (p. 110).
- Constantinople (Turkey): Visits to Aga Sofia and the Museum, January 3, 1906, (p. 122 ff).
Ernst Herzfeld Papers, Series 1: Travel Journals; Diary of Expedition from Shiraz (Iran) to Constantinople (Turkey)
Arrangement:
In the original arrangement of the Ernst Herzfeld Archive, Travel Journals were included in a larger body of diverse material acknowledged by Ernst Herzfeld as his study collection. In the early 1970s, Joseph Upton, for research purpose, rearranged the collection and created a specific series (Ernst Herzfeld Papers, Series 1: Travel Journals, 1905-1928) for eight travel journals. For some reason, Upton has given this journal an accession number related to the series he created for the notebooks (Ernst Herzfeld Papers, Series 3: Notebooks, 1904-1946, 1957, n.d.), probably following Herzfeld's original organization.
Local Numbers:
Ernst Herzfeld Papers, N-82
FSA A.6 03.082
FSA A.6 01.03
General:
- Additional information from staff reads, "The handwritten text of the Journal in Gothic script was first transliterated by Mrs. Franz Pariser and later reviewed by Ernst Herzfeld's former collaborator, Friedrich Krefter. Please contact the Archives for digital access to the transliterated copy."
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
The abbreviations used in captions of published drawings are:
IAE -- Iran in the Ancient East, Herzfeld
AMI -- Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran, Herzfeld
Corpus -- Materiaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum. Part II, Tome II (Aleppo), Herzfeld
ID -- Iranische Denkmä, Lieferung 3/4 Niphauanda, Herzfeld
SA-I -- Ars Islamica, IX, "Damascus:Studies in Architecture, I. The Mukarnas Dome. The Madrasa," Herzfeld
SA-II -- Ars Islamica, X. Same study, II."The Cruciform Plan. Syrian Architecture, Period of Nur al-din," Herzfeld
SA-III -- Ars Islamica, XI--II. Same study, III. "The Ayyubid Madrasa. The Turba," Herzfeld
SA-IV -- Ars Islamica, XIII--IV. Same study, IV. "The Mosque," Herzfeld
TA -- Am Tor von Asien, Herzfeld
Drawings D-405 through D-485 (water-colors) are mounted on mats numbered PI.XXXIII through PI.LXI. They were apparently prepared for some publication not yet located. Other water-colors have similar notations. The large numbers, such as No.3445, apparently refer to a catalogue or inventory, not located.
- Approximately 1,562 drawings and plans that reflect Herzfeld's fine draftmanship and architectural training , with observations on topography, landscape, archaeological remains, architecture, and artifacts. Renderings are in pencil, ink, and watercolor. The published and unpublished drawings reveal Herzfeld's working methodology, in which he often employed tracings to rework his original field sketches. In addition, there are drawings by Friedrich Krefter, the architect who worked in association with Herzfeld for many years, and by drafting assistant Karl Bergner and Donald E. McCown.
- Approximately 70 maps dating from 1899 to the 1930s, including original maps prepared by Herzfeld, Karl Bergner or Friedrich Krefter, as well as various maps from German archaeologists such as Moritz Sobernheim and Max Freiherr von Oppenheim.
Arrangement:
Drawings are arranged roughly by size and then in number sequences, housed in document boxes or in flat file folders and stored in map case drawers.
Biographical / Historical:
"Ernst Emil Herzfeld (1879-1948) was an orientalist whose many talents led him to explore all phases of Near Eastern culture, from the prehistoric period to Islamic times and from linguistics and religion to art and architecture." [Margaret Cool Root, 1976: "The Herzfeld Archive of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 11, pp. 119-124."]
Local Numbers:
FSA A.06 05
General:
- Title is provided by Xavier Courouble, FSg Archives cataloger, based on Joseph Upton's Catalogue of the Herzfeld Archive."
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
The Papers primarly relate to Herzfeld's survey of the monuments, artifacts, and inscriptions of Western Asia between 1903 and 1947 and particularly to his excavations at Istakhr (Iran), Paikuli (Iraq), Pasargadae (Iran), Persepolis (Iran), Samarra (Iraq) and Kuh-e Khwaja (Iran), as well as various archaeological expeditions throughout Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Northern Syria, and Persia. Additional research material, probably collected by Moritz Sobernheim and Max Freiherr von Oppenheim but preserved by Ernst Herzfeld, was part of a broader project, that of Max van Berchem's "Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum."
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
