Myron Bement Smith's (MBS) papers contain only limited information on his career as an architect before and after his time at Yale. His activities as Executive Secretary of the newly created American Institute for Persian Art and Archaeology (1930-1933) are documented to some extent as is his period as chief of the Iranian section at the Library of Congress (1943-1944). Before and after he was employed by the Library of Congress, he served there as an Honorary Consultant for Islamic art and archaeology. In the 1960s he had a contract with the Office of Education that resulted in a published study on the value of photodocumentation in teaching and research, the philosphy that underlay development of the Islamic Archives.[For published report see Subseries 1.5] The paperwork and administrative oversight procedures by the Pratt Institute are well documented. In the late 1960s MBS received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to fund revising his Ph. D. thesis on the vault in Iranian architecture for publication. Documents and correspondence with NEH and potential sponsoring institutions cover MBS' effort to produce a manuscript and Katharine's (KDS) attempt to complete the project after his death.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Collection Citation:
The Myron Bement Smith Collection, FSA A.04. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Katherine Dennis Smith.
