Erich Friedrich Schmidt Personal Papers

Archaeologist Erich F. Schmidt was born in Baden-Baden, Germany, in 1897. He studied political science at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin after serving in the German army in World War I. In 1923, Schmidt came to the United States, completing a Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1929 under the tutelage of Franz Boas. While at Columbia, Schmidt joined the staff of the American Museum of Natural History and, in 1925-26, participated in several archaeological expeditions in Arizona (e.g., Picket Post) where he gained valuable field experience. Schmidt's position with the Museum introduced him to Gertrude H. and William B. Thompson, who were to become long-term benefactors of his work in the American Southwest, as well as at Damghan. From 1927–29, Schmidt was co-director of the Oriental Institute's expedition to Alishar Hüyük, a site in central Turkey discovered by Hans H. von der Osten in 1926. His systematic excavation and recording methods, as well as his overarching interest in elucidating the cultural history of a region, aided his identification of the site's various Hittite levels.

Schmidt was also acquainted with Fiske Kimball, Director of the Pennsylvania Museum of Art, co-sponsor of the Damghan Project in Iran along with the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He was appointed head of this Joint Archaeological Expedition to Persia and in 1931 set about excavating the Bronze Age site of Tepe Hissar and a nearby Sasanian palace. It was here that Schmidt and his team of photographers took many of the images that fill 15 oversized albums in the Penn Museum's Archives. He directed further excavations in Iran: at Rayy (1934–36), Persepolis (1935–39), and Luristan (1935, 1938). A pioneer in aerial photography, he and his wife also established the Aerial Survey of Iran.

Schmidt became Professor, and eventually Professor Emeritus, at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. At the time of his death in 1964, Dr. Schmidt was writing the third volume in a series on Persepolis.

Erich Schmidt was hired by the Penn Museum in 1931 to direct the excavations at Tepe Hissar and other sites in Iran. He joined the Oriental Institute (now the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures) in 1939. Schmidt's personal papers are a miscellany of records from before coming to Penn, including personal documents and records from his excavations in Arizona (for the American Museum of Natural History) and at Alishar Huyuk, Turkey (for the Oriental Institute).

Additional Schmidt records are housed with the Tepe Hissar, Iran excavation records and the Rayy, Iran excavation records.

Publication Information: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives,

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• Correspondence