Society for the National Heritage of Iran

Society for the National Heritage of Iran (Persian: انجمن آثار ملی ایران‎‎ "anjoman asar-e meli") or "SNH" for short, was a grass root political and archeological group created by a group of educated, and nationalistic Iranians in 1922, toward the end of the Qajar governance in Iran. The society was composed of influential Iranian figures of the time with the overall goal of preservation of Iranian artifacts, archeological sites, and protection of the Iranian culture. Iran in 1922 was influenced by internal and external forces, and the SNH reflects this tug of war between what was the external forces mainly from Europe, and internal/social factors.

Early 1900s were time of discovery and archeological exploration in Iran. It was also time of social and political change. The Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 had rocked the perception of the absolute control of the king in society. It created an Iranian Parliament and had reduced the monarch's power. The Constitutional Revolution was in some ways the first political expression of the public sphere, that the poets and the literati, now completely out of the Qajar court had drafted with diligence and steadfast determination. The foreign interest in archeology and Iranian history has also peaked with several well known scholars from France, England and Russia vying for control. France in particular was very influential in preservation of the Iranian artifacts and in fact the involved French parties exhibited both interest in Persian history, and archeology and at the same time feared that these artifacts would be dispersed and sold. France would play a critical role in protection of Iranian artifacts but ironically it also wanted an absolute monopoly for all Persian artifacts in Iran. Renown French archeologist Jacques de Morgan in fact wanted to preserve Persian art to the point that in 1897 proposed to the Naser al-Din Shah the idea of creation of a National Archeological museum in Tehran.

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