Myron Bement Smith (MBS) published very little material based on his 1920s field research on Italian stone and brick work or his 1930s field research on Islamic architecture in Iran. His Italian research, undertaken as a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellow before and after graduation from Yale University, resulted in several journal articles. The results of his Iran research, while a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), appeared as a series of journal articles from 1935 to 1940. At the time of his death, MBS was reworking his 1947 Ph. D. thesis on the vault in Iranian architecture in anticipation of publishing it as a book. During his field research in Iran, MBS photographed and made architectural sketches of many Islamic buildings and monuments. Much of his subsequent scholarly work resulted in photographic exhibits and illustrated lectures. He lectured at academic venues in the United States and abroad, the latter hosted by the United States Information Service (USIS).
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.
