The University of Chicago Press publication entitled Persepolis and Ancient lran, containing 999 photographs printed from the original field negatives, gives a comprehensive pictorial chronicle of archaeological sites in ancient Iran. Some of the photographs were taken during 1931–34 under Professor Ernst Herzfeld, but most date from 1934–39, when Professor Erich F. Schmidt was field director of the Oriental Institute’s expeditions to Iran.

A large number of photographs have never before been published. Others have been included in Oriental Institute publications.

The material is organized according to the order of the following Oriental Institute publications:

  • Erich F. Schmidt, Persepolis I: Structures, Reliefs, Inscriptions , OIP LXVIII (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953);
  • Erich F. Schmidt, Persepolis II: Contents of the Treasury and Other Discoveries , OIP LXIX (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957);
  • Erich F. Schmidt, Persepolis III: The Royal Tombs and Other Monuments, OIP LXX (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970);
  • Alexander Langsdorff and Donald E. McCown, Tall-i-Bakun A, Season of 1932 , OIP LIX (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942);
  • Erich F. Schmidt, The Treasury of Persepolis and Other Discoveries in the Homeland of the Achaemenians , OIC 21 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939);
  • Erich F. Schmidt, Flights over Ancient Cities of Iran (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1940).