The Great American Plunder of Persia’s Antiquities, 1925-1941

Using recently declassified State Department records, Mohammad Gholi Majd describes the manner in which the U.S. government guided and assisted American museums in acquiring vast quantities of Persian antiquities and archaeological finds. Majd also documents the looting of Persia's mosques and shrines, the transfer of these religious artifacts to London, and the subsequent acquisition of some of the objects by such museums as the Metropolitan of New York. In the evolution of American-Persian relations, the importance of the antiquities story has remained unrecognized.