Ernst Herzfeld was born in 1879 in the town of Celle, Province of Hanover, Germany. He was an archaeologist, historian, and philologist active in the Middle East. He documented many important sites in present day Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. He died in Basel, Switzerland in 1948. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

acquired a portion of Herzfeld's personal papers in 1943, while a larger portion went to the Smithsonian Institution and another group deposited in the Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin.
--Saba, Matt. "The Ernst Herzfeld Papers at the Met" The Metropolitan Museum of Art. September 24, 2014. Accessed March 09, 2015. http://www.metmuseum.org/research/libraries-and-study-centers/in-circulation/2014/ernst-herzfeld-papers.