FBI investigates Harrison for suspicious activities

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s Marguerite continued to give speeches about her travels. According to reports she made with the Society of Woman Geographers, she gave over one hundred lectures a year to clubs and schools. She also broadcast radio shows for the United Services Organization, or USO, during World War II.24 The lectures again …

Marguerite Harrison returns to domestic life

Marguerite Harrison returned to the United States in the fall of 1925 and quietly married Arthur Blake in New Orleans in early 1926. The couple spent six months in Morocco for their honeymoon, although Marguerite didn’t completely give up her spy work. While in Morocco she passed along her observations on the Wahhabi Muslim movements …

Marguerite embarks on one last adventure

Harrison left New York in July 1925 and traveled through Paris before heading to Constantinople. This time she had no trouble getting the necessary permits to proceed to Angora, which she found greatly improved with electricity and new government buildings. The Foreign Office readily gave her permission to tour the farm communities where Turks from …

Harrison helps found Society of Woman Geographers

Back in New York, Marguerite busied herself making ready for the premiere of Grass. She tried to help write the narration for the silent film, but she found herself at odds with her partners. She disliked the melodramatic script the editors wrote, complaining that they put artificial speeches into the mouths of simple nomads. She …

Harrison returns to the U.S. and uncertain future

After more than a year of traveling throughout the Middle East, Marguerite Harrison returned to the United States find that Tommy was engaged to Margery D. Andrews, the granddaughter of one of the founders of Standard Oil. They wed on October 3, a month after Marguerite’s return. Marguerite, now forty-six, felt herself at loose ends. …

Imbrie’s murder deals blow to American oil ventures

Robert Imbrie’s murder came during an unsettled time when Muslims in Tehran were protesting against followers of the Baha’i faith. Just days before his death, Imbrie had ordered protection for two American Baha’i missionaries. Then on Friday, July 18, 1924, a crowd gathered around a well the Muslims believed was sacred. A rumor spread through …