Mehmet Aga-Oglu Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Aga-Oglu, Mehmet, 1896-1949
place: label: Place
content: Detroit (Mich.)
label: Place
content: Turkey
label: Place
content: Istanbul (Turkey)
label: Place
content: Berlin (Germany)
label: Place
content: Michigan
topic: label: Topic
content: Art, Islamic
label: Topic
content: Art metal-work, Islamic
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Gift of Dorothy Aga-Oglu in 1959.
creator: label: Creator
content: Aga-Oglu, Mehmet, 1896-1949
setName: label: See more items in
content: Mehmet Aga-Oglu Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Mehmet Aga-Oglu Papers include writings and notes, photographs, and maps related to Dr. Aga-Oglu's work Corpus of Islamic Metalwork, which was never published due to Dr. Aga-Oglu's death in 1949.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Dr. Mehmet Aga-Oglu was an Islamic art historian and professor born on August 4, 1896 at Erivan in Russia Caucasia. 

In 1916, Aga-Oglu was awarded a Doctor of Letters in the history, philosophy, and languages of Islamic countries from the University of Moscow. Following his graduation, Aga-Oglu traveled through Turkistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Asia Minor studying Islamic art. Aga-Oglu returned to academia in 1921 at the University of Istanbul where he studied the history of Islam and the Ottoman Empire. 

During his time as a student at the University of Istanbul, he traveled extensively to European universities as a part of his program of study. This included studying Near Eastern art and architecture under Dr. Ernst Herzfeld in Berlin; classical and early Christian archaeology and Western art at the University of Jena; and completing his art history studies in Vienna. Aga-Oglu was awarded a Ph.D in philosophy in 1926.

Aga-Oglu was appointed curator by the Department of the National Museum in Istanbul in 1927. In 1929, the city of Detroit recruited Aga-Oglu to build the Department of Near Eastern Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts. In 1933, he was appointed as Chair of the History of Islamic Art at the University of Michigan. He joined the university first as a Freer Fellow and Lecturer and then later became a professor. 

Aga-Oglu's accomplishments during his tenure included representing the University of Michigan and the Detroit Institute of Arts at the Millennium Celebration of Firdausi and the Congress of Orientalists in Tehran in 1934; organizing an exhibition of Islamic art at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco in 1937; founding and serving as editor of the periodical Ars Islamica; and serving as a Visiting Professor at the Summer Seminar of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Princeton University in 1935 and 1938.

Following his departure from the University of Michigan in 1938, Aga-Oglu primarily focused on research and writing. His publications include Persian Bookbindings of the Fifteenth Century, History of Islamic Art, and Safawid Rugs and Textiles. From 1948 to 1949, Aga-Oglu consulted for the Textile Museum in Washington D.C.

Beginning in 1940, Aga-Oglu planned, researched, and wrote drafts of his unpublished work Corpus of Islamic Metalwork. His project was intended to be a multi-volume work, but was not completed. Aga-Oglu died on July 4, 1949.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 11 Cubic feet (consisting of 18 boxes and 9 oversized flat file folders.)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1877-1947
label: Date
content: bulk circa 1945
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: FSA.A.10
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Maps
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Notes
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The Mehmet Aga-Oglu papers are arranged in five series.


Series 1: Manuscript Drafts


Series 2: Research Files


Series 3: Printed Material


Series 4: Maps


Series 5: Photographs
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: In 2016, with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund, the Archives at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives implemented the use of minimal level processing standards to increase information about and facilitate access to more of our collections. 

The initial collection record was produced by Lara Amrod in 2011. Minimal level processing and machine-readable finding aid completed by Max Howell, 2017 August. Laura Wilson performed additional processing and updated the finding aid in 2024.
bibliography: label: Bibliography
content: Aga-Oglu, Mehmet. Persian Bookbindings of the Fifteenth Century. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1935.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Maps
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Notes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of Mehmet Aga-Oglu largely relate to Aga-Oglu's research and writings for his unpublished work Corpus of Islamic Metalwork. The papers include manuscript drafts, research files, printed material, maps, and photographs. 

The manuscript drafts include handwritten drafts, citations attached or written onto drafts, and revision notes for his unpublished manuscript. Content includes material related to metalliferous mines, precious and base metals, and traffic of metals in Islamic and non-Islamic countries, as well as unlabeled writings related to astrolabes and synthetic protective coatings for metals. 

Research material represents a majority of the records, and consists of accumulated research notes, citation lists, and object sketches. Subjects of the research material are related to metallurgy, iconography, metals commonly used in metalwork, geology and mining, and histories of metalwork in ranging locations or eras. 

Printed material contains published articles from periodicals, a bulletin from the Detroit Institute of Arts, catalogues of scholarly publications available for purchase, and reviews of Aga-Oglu's published works. 

Graphic materials present in the collection include maps depicting areas such as the Middle East, the northern Arabian Peninsula, and Northern India during different eras, and hand traced maps with marked metalliferous mine locations; and a substantial number of photographs of objects and artworks.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Aga-Oglu, Mehmet. Mehmet Aga-Oglu collection. The Arthur D. Jenkins Library at The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, Washington, DC.