Examples (Details)
Collections found using the Guide to the Manuscript Collections in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Phillips and Phillips, 1963.
Eyre, Manuel, 1837-1912, collector. Paintings of Chinese plants and animals, 1733? 149 items.
Chinese paintings done in pure tempora colors, bound in two volumes of 118 and 141 pages, respectively. The first volume contains 77 botanical plates while the second has 20 plates of mammals, 23 of insects and 28 of birds.
Coll. 476
Stearns, Frederick, 1831-1907. Annotated list of mollusks, 1891-93. 1 item.
An amateur shell collector from Detroit, Mich., visited Japan in the season of 1889-90 and again in 1892, prepared a list of his findings…Under Pilsbry’s supervision and editorship the List of Mollusca and other forms of Marine Life collected in the Years 1889-1890, in Japan was published.
Coll. 610
Chinese Fish in Original Watercolors, 1794?. 12 items.
This is a collection of numbered watercolors of fresh-water Chinese fishes, the plates bound together in a large cover, 46 cm. tall. They have no names, descriptions, artist’s signatures, nor dates.
Coll. 624
Schauensee, Rodolphe Meyer de, 1901- Papers, 1932-33. 2 items.
During his Third Expedition, this time to Siam and north, de Schauensee, primarily an ornithologist, collected fishes for the Academy as a special favor to H.W. Fowler. A fieldbook record of the list, with dates and localities was kept, with 4237 specimens noted.
Coll. 628
Kuroda, Tokubei. Mollusca of Kii (Wakayama prefecture) Japan, 1948. 1 item.
An unpublished typewritten manuscript dated 1948 and consisting of some 220 pages with maps…
Coll. 644
Kuroda, Tokubei. The Marine Mollusca of Japan, 1947. 1 item.
This is an unpublished manuscript of two volumes, the first devoted to bivalves, the second to Gastropoda. The volumes are of approximately 300 pages each.
Coll. 645
Dolan, Brooke, II, 1910?-1945. Papers, 1931-46.
The papers include slides of:
- Animals
- The Dalai Lama sitting on his throne, before exile
- A bridge using architecture that no longer exists
- Tibetan Warriors in traditional dress
Note that there is no full finding aid for this collection. There are hundreds of pictures on 35 mm film in hundreds of individual folders. These pictures are of both Tibet and China. The librarian may not want to hand out the whole box full of film, because it is so valuable, but at the same time there is no centralized list of which folder contains what picture (each folder has a list of pictures IN THAT FOLDER, but there isn’t one master list) so it may be difficult to find specific pictures without browsing. If you have a particular picture in mind, ask her and she will help look for that particular picture, rather than having you go through them all. There are five boxes like this, all full of pictures (over 2,000 negatives in all).
Some excerpts of a cursory review of the folders is below:
Coll. 64 C II (a)
DOLAN FILM STRIPS D1-D22
Folder:
Coll. 64 C II (a); Dolan/Tolstoy negatives; Information about [first folder]
Folder:
Coll. 64 C II (a); Dolan 35mm negs, p. 15; D 15
- The Kashag (cabinet) of Tibet
- Surkhang Dsasa the Senior Foreign secretary and his youngest son
- The Dalai Lama’s summer palace, Norbhu Lingka.
Expeditions of The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1812-1962.
51. Manchuria and China, eastern Mongolia. George L Farnum, Dr. A.D. Smith, J. Edward.
57 bird specimens presented to Academy in 1897. Coll. 113 Id.
92. 1927 or 1928
Members of subscription trips as follows:
Shantung Province, China. Rufus LeFevre.
Yangtse delta, China. Lacey I. Moffett. Ornithology.
Coll. 113 I-III, printed publicity maps for all trips above.
103. 1929
Pacific Ocean, China, Java, and Australia. Henry W. Fowler.
Ichthyology.
Coll. 113 I-III, printed publicity maps.
138. 1931 Foster Indo-China Expedition
139. 1931 Legendre Indo-China Expedition
Indo-China. Sidney J. Legendre, Mrs. Legendre, Carter.
Coll. 113 III, memoranda. Perhaps 1932
140. 1931-1932 Dolan-West China Expedition
Western China. Brooke Dolan, II, Ernst Schafer, Hugo Weigold, Gordon Bowles, Otto Gneiser. General Zoology, pandas and golden takin, photography.
Coll. 64, Dolan Papers; 113 III, memoranda. Proceedings, 1933: 165-222. Also, see Mammalogy Department catalogue.
Materials collected: Giant panda and golden takin, for dioramas.
188. 1934-1936 Dolan West China-Tibet Expedition
China and Tibet. Brooke Dolan, II, Mrs. Dolan, Ernst Schafer, Marion Duncan. General Zoology, motion pictures.
Coll. 64, Brooke Dolan papers; Coll. 113 II, news release. Also see motion pictures film in Archives Central Film Collection. Frontiers, 1936 (10):5-9.
Materials collected: wilk yak, wild horse, ammon sheep, snow leopard, gazelle, bear, kiang (Tibetan wild ass), 3100 birds, 140 mammals.
234. 1936 Siam, southern peninsula. Rodolph Meyer DeSchauensee. Ornithology, Icthyology, Mammology.
Coll. 628, regarding collection of fish for Fowler to replace those lost from 1932-1933 expedition. Also see unprocessed DeSchauensee field notes. Also check photo collection for negatives of Siam trip; some are glass plates.
325. 1942-1943 Brooke Dolan OSS Mission to Tibet.
Tibet. Brooke Dolan II, Ilya Tolstoy.
Frontiers, Annual 1980, 2:2-5.
FRONTIERS
Annual of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
[Page 2]: Short Biography of Brooke Dolan’s:
- Went to China under the auspices of the Academy to collect specimens (twice).
- The second time he brought back 310 mammals, 2,615 bird specimens, and 2,600 mollusks.
- Then, as a member of the Office of Strategic Studies (OSS) he made two more journeys, the second of which involved him infiltrating (disguised as a coolie, with his skin dyed) enemy lines and attempt to lead downed allied flight crew members to safety. It was during this mission that he died in 1945.
Across Tibet: Excerpts from the Journals of Captain Brooke Dolan, 1942-1943
LHASA, December 17, 1942
This morning the younger brother of the ex-Regent of Tibet, Reting, called on us with gifts of higher value than we have so far received. In addition to several mule loads of supplies, he presented both Bill and me with bolts of dark gold embroidered Chinese silk, beautiful material for a gown of a quality worn by the officials.
Reting was a regent of progressive spirit and liberal policy, very popular with Tibetans and foreign representatives alike; he retired at the surprising age of 27, giving place to the present incumbent, Ngawang Sungrab Thutob Tempe Tyalken, who is a pronounced reactionary, antipathetic to any ideas or developments extra-Tibetan in origin. Among the developments upon which he has pronounced tabu [sic] are motorcycles, English saddles, Homburg hats (very much favored formerly), football, certain types of women’s headdresses, and cigarette smoking. The presence and word of the Regent are of extreme sanctity and neither may be taken lightly.
LHASA, December 20, 1942
The great day is over and we have no occasion to be anything but jubilant, having it from Ringan verbally and convincingly, and from the Foreign Secretariat by letter that our meeting with the Dalai Lama and Regent was a great success…
The throne room opens from a roof penthouse upon which the monks were seated in rows. We lined up behind a dozen laymen and monks who were to be blessed; Bill, myself with the Presidents letter in its casket, and Sentrup with the Presidents photograph which I was to present.
Silently the line moved into the throne room, a large ill-lighted alter chamber, toward a high dais-throne at the rear, dimly seen at first. In front of us the layment shuffled slowly ahead kneeling before the throne that the infant God-king might tough their foreheads with a wand in blessing. When we reached the Dalai Lama, Bill presented the President’s letter into his hands with a katag, then as they were passed to him he placed in the child’s hands the four sacred offerings: a sacrificial cake, an image of Buddha, a book and a chorten (all miniature and furnished by the monks), then saluted. Sentrup behind me had had the photograph taken from him by a priest, so that I simply put a ceremonial scarf into the Dalai Lama’s hand and saluted. Passing to the left, Bill presented the four sacred offerings to the Regent, who was seated on a lower throne. We both presented katags, saluted and took seats prepared for us in the center of the floor…
Fifteen minutes later we were summoned to a private audience with the Dalai Lama and Regent which was less formal and in every way delightful. It was held in a small, exceptionally well-lighted alter room in which the God-king and priest sat on low thrones covered with brocades. Before the Dalai Lama was a Chinese tea table deeply carved and hand painted, with a marble top on which stood a wondrous cup of pale green jade with a gold stand and golden cover. Behind him hung a tapestry on which peacocks and Tibetan cranes flew across a pale gold sky. Above the tapestry was a mural of Amitabha, the Celestial Buddha, surrounded by the bright pavilions of Sukharati, the “western paradise.”
The little Dalai Lama was robed in splendid but not brilliant brocade. He made substantially the same inquiry after the Presidents health and thereafter sat alert gazing from one to another of us, smiling frequently as Bill addressed our prepared remarks to him and to the Regent through Ringan. It was most interesting to regard Ringan, an official of fourth rank, as he carried on the interpretation. While addressing us he was almost normal in behavior, that is to say, at ease. As he submitted our remarks to the Regent, he spoke slightly bowed from the hips with arms extended toward the high priest and between sentences kept his tongue protruding slightly, symbolizing obeisance.
Bill’s remarks were very well received. He spoke of religious tolerance and love of independence as shared by America and Tibet and pointed out that we were now engaged in a war to preserve not only our freedom but that of nations less powerful. The Regent replied that he thought very highly of this motive, and it is reasonable to believe that the speech made a favorable impression…
In the house Ringan [their Tibetan translator] has eight servants, a modest compliment for an official of the fourth class. No servants in Tibet are paid, but they are well clothed and fed and live and die in the family. Intelligent servants assume considerable responsibility for their masters and are privileged to offer advice on family or estate matters regardless of the company. They are far better off says Ringan than if set adrift in the world to make their living. When, through marriage or outside it, the servants grow too many in the house, the surplus is sent to one estate or another. They are not sold away from the family or off the land. When an estate changes hands the serfs go with it.