Survey of Professor Arthur Upham Pope’s Archive
In Naranjestan Museum of Shiraz, Iran
Afshin Ariafar Photographer and Researcher
Shiraz University
Introduction
Arthur Upham Pope was born in 1881 in Phoenix, United States. He founded the Institute of Orient ology in New York and then developed it into Institute of Asian Studies in 1947. In the same year the building of Naranjestan Museum in Pahlavi University of Shiraz was put at Pope’s disposal as Center of Iranian and Oriental Art Studies (figure.1). There he spent 22 years studying art in Iran and east until 1969 when his body was buried on the banks of the Zayanderud according to his will. A great proportion of the objects that are currently in the museum belong to Pope’s archive and all the documents related to his scientific and research activities were as an archive given to University of Shiraz and are kept there (Gluck & Siver 1996).
Figure 1. Professor Arthur Upham Pope standing on a car while taking photo of Ali Mosque in Isfahan
Objectives
My interest in history of Iranian art and architecture led me to realizing the significance of this archive in Naranjestan. As no studies had been conducted on the archive I got eager to do the research. First I got familiar with style in taking photos of ancient buildings and his works and researches. I increasingly got more interested and affected by his creativity and efforts for recording a large number of ancient buildings and Iranian art works. Finally in 2010 I got the authorization from Shiraz University to begin studying on this archive which still is in progress (Ariafar 2012).
Method of Survey
The archive remained from institute of oriental studies in Naranjestan of Ghavam museum include pictures (slides, negatives and photos), documents (letters, telegraphs, financial documents, personal notes etc.), cultural objects and materials (potsherd, carpet, metal and glass objects etc.) office and workshop equipment of the institute (photography lab, chairs and desks, furniture etc.), Professor’s personal library (over 7,000 books) and his personal stuff.
Considering the large quantity of documents and cultural materials I decided to focus on pictures and documents in first phase of the study. At the beginning all shelves, files and envelopes containing documents were searched. Meanwhile I came to realize that the documents were scattered and moved from their places after the institute was closed. So I tried to find out the original order of the archive and return documents to their original files. After that the documents were dusted and put in new covers. In next stage the photos were scanned by two high tech scanners with DPI 9200 quality and TIFF format, I also took photos of the documents by a Nikon D800 camera with MP 36.6 quality. Some of the documents and photos had notes and information on their back which were recorded and documented carefully. After scanning and taking photos the documents were restored to their original files (figure. 2).
Figure 2. The photo of myself while working on Professor Pope Archive in Naranjestan museum
Surveying and documenting
Pictures: in this stage some 25,000 pictures were scanned and documented including Negatives of various sizes, slides and photos printed on paper which were of great variety. Some of the scanned pictures have already been published in Pope’s books and articles but a considerable number of them have not been published yet.
The pictures of this archive could be divided into different groups: A- picture of ancient buildings/archaeological sites in Iran which include overall and detailed views of each building. B- pictures of different decorative arts (fretwork, inlaid work, latticework, metalwork, glassware, plaster molding etc.). C- pictures of natural landscapes and beautiful places from around the world which professor had taken in his personal trips. D- pictures sent to him by photographers and archeologists or from world museums according to professor Pope’s request in order to use them in his researches. E- pictures of natural scenery from Iran and other parts of the world. F- pictures which have anthropological and ethnographical aspects from peoples of Iran and other parts of the world (figures 3 & 4).
Figure 3. Professor Pope and his colleagues in Takht-e Suleiman with mapping and photography tools.
Figure 4. Scanned negative of a square in city of Lisbon.
Documents
The documents which are the main part of the archive include about 7,000 correspondence documents dating from 1927 till institute of Asian studies ended its activities in Naranjestan. This archive may be categorized as follows:
A- Professor Pope’s official correspondence with various institutes, museums and universities around the world. B- professor’s telegraphs in about 42 years of his activities. C- his personal notes (daily planning, diary etc.). D- postal cards sent to professor in various occasions. E- financial documents including bills etc. F- Drafts of his books and articles either printed or handwritten. G- personal notebooks(figures 5 & 6 ).
Figure 5. Part of the correspondence archive
Figure 6. Two pieces from archive of professor Pope’s correspondence
Conclusion
In first phase of studying professor Pope’s archive in Naranjestan museum of Shiraz which took 5 years, 32,000 items were surveyed and documented. First phase of the study on the archive was a beginning step in clarifying five decades of activities done by this institute in Naranjestan museum. Studying these documents can lead to understanding important issues including: method of photography and documenting monuments, Pope’s connections with other parts of the world so that he could conduct his researches better, developments and expansions in activities of the institute through his correspondence with universities, museums, institutes, people and experts who could somehow help him in research, equipment and tools he used and methods he applied in studying buildings and art works, his method in categorizing his archive and also his research stages. Further studies on this valuable archive require careful and methodological planning. As most of the documents of this archive have never been published, studying and publishing them could reveal valuable information about Pope’s activities at Asian Institute in Naranjestan museum.
References
Ariafar, A. 2012
Study, Classification and documenting of professor Pope’s archive in Naranjestan museum, Archive unit and library of Shiraz University (unpublished).
Gluck, J. & N. Siver. 1996
Surveyors of Persian Art: A Documentary Biography of Arthur Upham Pope & Phyllis Ackerman, Ashiya, Japan, SoPA.