Website: http://www.asor.

org

The American Schools of Oriental Research

P.O. Box 15729
Boston, MA 02215
Tel: (857) 990-3139
Email: asorsubs@bu.edu

Name:
American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR); formally named “American
Schools of Oriental Research”

Mission:
ASOR’s mission is to initiate, encourage, and support research into , and public
understanding of, the cultures and history of the Near East and the wider
Mediterranean, from the earliest times.

ASOR Facts:
- 1900: Founded with the name “The American School of Oriental Study and
Research in Palestine, first headquarters in a hotel room in Jerusalem
- 1901: ASOR’s first excavation had begun at the tombs at Sidon, first grant
was awarded to the organization.
- 1914: Director James Montgomery close the school after the outbreak of
World war I, reopened in 1919.
- 1919 publication of the first volume of the Bulletin of the American Schools
of Oriental Research (BASOR), more volumes to follow on a regular basis.
 - 1921 The organization was incorporated in the United States and began to use
the name The American Schools of Oriental Research.
- 1923: opening of Baghdad School.
- 1925: the main buildings of the Jerusalem headquarters were completed
- 1996: ASOR’s central office moved to Boston University, remained for 21
years.
- 2019: ASOR purchased a building in Alexandria, VA, the James F. Strange
Center, to serve as its new and permanent headquarters.

Members:
Approximately 2,150 individual members, 55 institutional members, 15,800 Friends,
and 3 affiliated overseas research institutes

Publications:
Three journals (Bulletin of ASOR, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, and Near Eastern
Archaeology), two e-newsletters (News@ASOR and The Ancient Near East Today),
and three book series (ASOR Annual, Archaeological Report Series, and Journal of
Cuneiform Studies Supplement Series).

Annual Meeting:
The conference has in-person and virtual components with approximately 1,200
attendee. The in-person component begins eight days (on a Wednesday) before
American Thanksgiving. A virtual component follows about 3 weeks later in
December. The in-person location varies.

Professional Personnel:
ASOR has 9 full-time team and 3 part-time team members and 8 continuing
contractors.

Volunteers:
ASOR’s work is supported by more than 280 volunteers, some serving in multiple
roles.
Scholarships, Fellowships, and Grants:
$86,200 awarded in 2019.

President:
Sharon Herbert, University of Michigan

Notable Excavations:
- 1901: tombs at Sidon
- 1909: excavations at Samaria led by George Reisner.
- 1920: excavations in the Levant and Iraq throughout the 1920s and 1930s
- 1950s: Kathleen Kenyon’s dig at Jericho, excavations of Nippur. By 1958,
ASOR scholars were involved in the long-term dig at Sardi.
- 1970s: numerous ASOR-affiliated excavations taking place around the
eastern Mediterranean, at Carthage from 1975 to 1979.

Further reading:
https://www.bu.edu/asor/about/history.html
https://www.jstor.org/publisher/asor