THE AMERICAN SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL
The American Institute of Iranian Studies commemorates the 250th birthday of America with a seminar series recognizing over a century of scholarly ties between the United States and Iran. From the American explorers and missionaries who traveled to Iran at the start of the 19th century to the growth later in the 19th century of American museum collections of Persian art, to the early 20th century archaeological excavations in Iran by American universities and the establishment of Iranian studies programs in universities across the United States, American institutions have been at the forefront of scholarship on Iran in numerous disciplines across the humanities.

For the past fifty years, the American Institute of Iranian Studies has been central to the support of Iranian studies through its fellowships and grants programs. The Institute is honored to present its America250 seminars during the country's historical year of 2026, and concurrently celebrate the publication of its volume documenting the history and development of Iranian studies in the United States and the Institute's role in that endeavor, The American Institute of Iranian Studies: Half a Century of Foundational Research (Eisenbrauns/The Penn State University Press, 2025):

https://www.eisenbrauns.org/books/titles/978-1-64602-307-3.html

The first seminar in the series, "The History of Persian Language Studies in the US," will be presented by Dr. James D. Clark, University of Nebraska Omaha History Department, and former Overseas Director of the American Institute of Iranian Studies:

February 5, 2026, 3:00PM EST

Register to join via Zoom:

cas.unomaha.edu/persian-language