Iran Research
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smith, Myron Bement, 1897-1970
setName: label: See more items in
content: Myron Bement Smith Collection
label: See more items in
content: Myron Bement Smith Collection / Series 1: Papers
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1933-1937
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: FSA.A.04, Subseries 1.7
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Myron Bement Smith (MBS) received a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies to study Islamic architecture in Iran. His wife Katharine accompanied him and managed their household, which included both servants and research staff. Papers and documents include information about equipment taken or bought subsequently and dealing with Iranian customs regulations and travel requirements. Some information on MBS' proposed research methodology is included. Information on housekeeping requirements for what MBS referred to variously as the Expedition House or Staff House, a faculty residence rented from Stuart College in Isfahan, is included both here and in the correspondence of Katharine Dennis Smith [Subseries 1.8]. Several folders deal with the serious motor accident the Smiths suffered en route to Iran in 1933 and Katharine's lengthy rehabilitation from a broken back. Information about MBS' research assistants in Isfahan varies in detail; there is a lot of information about the suicide of Karl Bergner, who came to work for MBS in 1936 after working for Ernst Herzfeld at Persepolis. Also of interest are the occasional newsletters describing life in Iran witten by Katharine and circulated widely to friends back home.