The Islamic Archives
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smith, Myron Bement, 1897-1970
setName: label: See more items in
content: Myron Bement Smith Collection
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: FSA.A.04, Series 2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The Islamic Archives, known formally as The Archive for Islamic Culture and Art, was an outgrowth of Myron Bement Smith's (MBS) belief that photography is an important research tool for the study of architecture. He relied on photography for his research in Italy in the 1920s and again in Iran in the 1930s. He called his personal collection of photographs, architectural sketches and materials on Iran and other Islamic countries his Islamic archives. He wanted to expand it by soliciting written and photographic material from other scholars, travellers and photographers. In 1941 the Committee on Arabic and Islamic Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) adopted Smith's idea as an official activity. It was formally titled The Archive for Islamic Culture and Art, but generally referred to by MBS and others as the Islamic Archives. It remained largely a personal activity of MBS and was housed at the Library of Congress where he served as a consultant. In 1949 he drafted formal articles of association creating the Committee for Islamic Culture to plan and operate the Islamic Archives and to administer a $9,000 gift that Dr. James R. Jewett of Harvard University had given to the ACLS to fund its development. Although the Committee met occasionally, MBS remained the driving force for the Islamic Archives. It was a personal passion and the focus of his professional life; he continued adding materials until his death in 1970.