The Role of Scholars and Political Elites in the Formation of the National Relics Society

The National Relics Society was one of the institutions established in the late years of the Qajar era and began its activity in the early Pahlavi era. During its activity time, the Society has undertaken a variety of activities in various fields, such as preserving historical buildings, building monuments for historical figures, and publishing books on various subjects. The main aim of this article is to investigate the factors that underlie the establishment of the National Relics Society. The main question of this article is that which groups and to what extends had a role in the establishment of the National Relics Society? This research is based on the historical research method and relies on the analysis of the content of the first-hand sources of the period in question. The Findings of the research show that three influential groups had a role in the establishment of the Society: modernist scholars, political elites and orientalists. The ideas of the scholars, mainly reflected in journals such as Kaveh, Iranshahr, and Namehyeh-Farangestan, seem to provide the idea of the Society. Moreover, political elites became the practical power of this idea to founding the society, and finally, the orientalists played a significant role in outlining its activities.