Arthur Upham Pope papers

1921-1951

Pope was an American authority on Iranian art and archaeology. He began his work on Iran during the 1920's, making many expeditions to Iran from the 1920's until his death; serving as Honorary Art Advisor to the Iranian government beginning in 1925; advising the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum, and the Textile Museum of the District of Columbia on Iranian art during the 1920's and 1930's; acting as a middleman between dealers and purchasers of Iranian art objects and antiquities; serving as organizer, director, or co-director of international exhibitions of Iranian art in Philadelphia, 1926, London, 1931, and Leningrad, 1935; editing the important multi-volume Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric to the Present Times (first published in 1938 by the Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Institute of Persian Art and Archaeology); conducting, beginning in 1929, a photographic survey of Iranian Islamic architecture in Iran, as well as in Armenia, the Caucasus, Turkestan, Afghanistan, India, Iraq, and the African coast; founding, in 1930, the American Institute for Persian Art and Archaeology; and writing and lecturing in his field.

Pope's wife, Dr. Phyllis Ackerman, 1893-1977, was also an Iran specialist. Her work was on early and prehistoric myths and symbols in Iranian culture, and art and textiles of Iran and other Asian and European cultures. She was on the faculty of the American Institute of Persian Art and Archaeology, and was the Assistant Editor of Pope's Survey of Persian Art....

The American Institute for Persian Art and Archaeology, whose records make up a large part of the collection, was founded in order to carry out research, publication, and instruction in Iranian languages, art, and culture. Pope was the first Director. In 1937 the name was changed to the American Institute for Iranian Art and Archaeology to reflect current usage; the Institute was also known by the shorter "Iranian Institute". The Institute opened its School for Iranian Studies, with Pope as Chancellor, in the Spring of 1939, offering courses for academic credit. In 1942 the School's name was changed to the School for Asiatic Studies, and its program was expanded to offer courses in other. Asian languages and cultures. In 1947 the Institute's name was changed to the Asia Institute, reflecting its new focus on the languages and cultures of all of Asia. The new Asia Institute was composed of the Iranian Institute (carrying on the Iranian work of the original organization), the School for Asiatic Studies, and the Institute of Asiatic Economics.

The Institute had a museum, library, archives, and bookstore; its publication program produced a semi-annual Bulletin, a reprint series, Pope's Survey of Persian Art..., and other books and publications; it organized archaeological expeditions, either independently, or jointly with other institutions, to Kish, Barghouthiat, Rayy (Rhages), North and South Luristan, Astarabad, Damghan, and other sites in or important to Iran; it sponsored projects and expeditions to document and preserve the traditional arts and crafts of Iran producing, among other things, a film documenting carpet weaving techniques, late 1930's; and offered lectures, concerts, and other presentations of Iranian and, later, Asian culture.

During World War Two the Institute helped train Office of War Information field representatives, and also offered its special skills to the Office of Strategic Services, the State Department, and the United States Army.

During the Nazi years, the Institute received grants from the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars to finance the salaries of some of its faculty.

Pope retired from the Institute in 1953.