IOR/L/PS/10/689

This file chiefly comprises: correspondence; India Office Political and Secret Department Minutes, Draft Papers and Draft Telegrams; copies of letters and telegrams; notes and memoranda; and reports.

The file relates mainly to the discussions regarding the disposal of antiquities from Samarra [Samaria, also spelled Samara and Samarrah in this volume], originally excavated by German archaeologists prior to the First World War and intended for shipment to Berlin, that were captured by British-led forces in 1917 and designated for export to the British Museum by the Army Council on apparent recommendation of the (War Office) ‘Trophies [Sub] Committee’. The file notably covers and includes:

• The divergence of opinion between the Foreign Office and India Office (who opposed the export of antiquities from Mesopotamia [Iraq], and the Army Council and Office of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, over the advisability of removing the items from Basrah [Basra], considering the political and physical risks, financial implications and prospects for scholarly access
• The decision of the Eastern Committee of the War Office to overrule the Army Council’s recommendation
• Separate expressions of interest by, and promises made to, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in respect of the Samarra items
• Discussion regarding the short and medium-term feasibility of establishing a museum in Baghdad to house those and other items
• Typescript copy of a report, 7 June 1919, by Captain Henry Reginald Hall, Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum, to the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, on his examination of the antiquities stored at the political office, Basrah (ff 148-151)
• Discussion over whether to unpack, examine and list the items in Basrah or in London and the question of obtaining the co-operation of the original German excavators in the opening and cataloguing of the Samarra and other German collections, particularly the possible involvement of Professor Ernst Emil Herzfeld, former head of the German archaeological expedition working at Samarra 1911-1913
• Copy of two draft letters, dated 21 and 25 February 1921, by Thomas Edward 'T E' Lawrence, Colonial Office, advising Sir Frederic Kenyon, Director of the British Museum, that Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies, has given authority to Sir Percy Cox, High Commissioner of Mesopotamia, to send the Samarra items to the British Museum, due to the developing political uncertainty in Basrah (ff 2 and 4).

The file also includes papers (ff 17-125) relating to measures for the ‘restoration by Turkey of articles of religious, archaeological, historical or artistic interest removed from territories to be detached from Turkey under the Treaty of Peace’ (f 25), in particular the claim of the Government of Hejaz [also spelled Hedjaz in this volume] to the Koran of Caliph Othman [Quran of Caliph Uthman ibn Affan, also spelled Kaliph Osman in this file], as well as the requirement of the Mesopotamia Government to prepare a list of articles to be restored. Includes a proof copy of the ‘Conditions of Peace with Turkey, dated 11 May 1920 (ff 39-120).

The primary correspondents are: the India Office; the Foreign Office; the Treasury; the Office of the Civil Commissioner in Mesopotamia, at Bagdad [Baghdad]; Sir Frederic Kenyon; and Cecil Harcourt-Smith, Director and Secretary of the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London.

The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (front of the volume).