Asia Institute, was founded in 1928 in New York under the name of the American Institute for Persian Art and Archaeology. Later, it continued its activity in Shiraz between 1965-79. In its affiliation, functions, and publications, the Institute has had a complicated and eventful career, illustrating some of the vicissitudes of Iranian studies during the twentieth century.
Arthur Upham Pope was the founder of the institute , who had organized an exhibition and the First International Congress on Persian Art in Philadelphia in 1926. Its charter authorized it to promote research and interest in Persian art and archaeology through exhibitions, lectures, congresses and publications, and to assist in the excavation and conservation of monuments in Persia.
Due to close contacts with the royal family of Iran, Pope and his wife moved to Shiraz in 1966, where the Asia Institute was reestablished as a part of Pahlavi University. The Institute was housed in a magnificent Qajari mansion, called the Nāranjestān.
The institute was closed after the Islamic revolution in 1979 and its library was transferred to the central library of Shiraz University. [1]