Under the name the “American School of Oriental Study and Research in Palestine,” the organization was born.

Since the end of the 19th century, the American Schools of Oriental Research has been at the forefront of American research efforts in the Near East. Founded in 1900, the American School of Oriental Study and Research in Palestine established its first headquarters in a hotel room in Jerusalem. Charles C. Torrey, an Old Testament scholar at Yale University, served as director for that year. Twenty-one colleges, universities, and theological schools chartered ASOR, while three organizations (the Archaeological Institute of America, the Society for Biblical Literature, and the American Oriental Society) helped oversee its creation.