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Guide to the French Motor Expedition to China, Tibet, Mongolia, and the Gobi Desert Regions Photograph Album
Bernath Mss 81
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Title: French Motor Expedition to China, Tibet, Mongolia, and the Gobi Desert Regions Photograph Album
Dates: ca. 1914-1916
Collection number: Bernath Mss 81
Extent:
.3 linear feet
(1 oversize box)
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Dept. of Special Collections
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010
Abstract: The album, containing 282 uncaptioned black and white photographs ca. 1914-1916, is a record of a journey undertaken by a
French expedition via automobile through China, Tibet, and Mongolia.
Physical location: Del Sur Oversize.
Language:
English.
None.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
French Motor Expedition to China, Tibet, Mongolia, and the Gobi Desert Regions Photograph Album. Bernath Mss 81. Department
of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Purchase, 2003.
Scope and Content of Collection
A cloth-covered, oblong album containing 282 b/w photographs [n.d. ca 1914-6, uncaptioned]. The album is a record of a journey
undertaken by a French expedition via automobile through China, Tibet, and Mongolia. Photographs appear to be in sequential
order of the journey from its beginning in Peking (Beijing) to various destinations in Tibet, Mongolia, and the Gobi desert
areas. The first large photo shows a compound flying the French flag. In others, the various members of the expedition pose
with a number of Chinese, along with their early Model T Ford touring cars loaded with expedition supplies. The photos record
various sights, people and unusual things that the members of the expedition saw including: Tibetan Lamas, camel caravans,
entertainers on tall stilts, dusty towns, including one fort-like compound flying the French flag. The expedition progress
to the Great Wall, with photographs of Mongolian yurts, a team of Mongolian ponies extracting one of the cars which was apparently
stuck in the soft sand, visits among the Mongols showing people in traditional costume.
The next series of photos shows the arrival at a desert oasis and an elaborate walled compound. Also featured are views of
desolate and isolated towns, photo-portraits of Mongolian horsemen, lots of scenery and panoramic views, the cars being ferried
across a river, Buddhist lamaseries, poses with Lamas, holy temples, walled cities, Buddhist priests, and areas of snowy terrain.
There are also photos of Mongolian families in elaborate costume before their yurts. Finally there is a series of photos showing
the expedition's arrival at the "Pioneer Inn" in an undisclosed location. Other photos include Mongol archers, "Devil Dancers,"
religious ceremonies and gigantic painted
thankas displayed in a grand festival. Also, great mounds of yak skins for sale, camel caravans, musicians and men praying, a large
drum cart, lion dances, photos a Lama with family members, large Buddhist altars, and tents.
There is no container list for this collection.
- Chavannes, Edouard, Mission Archéologique dans la Chine Septentrionale
- Easton, Robert Olney, China Caravans: An American Adventurer in Old China
- Hardin, Sven, Across the Gobo Desert
- Hedin, Sven, Central Asia and Tibet
- Hopkirk, Peter, Foreign Devils on the Silk Road
- Hopkirk, Peter, Trespassers on the Roof of the World
- Lattimore, Owen, Mongol Journeys
- Pelliot, Paul, Mission Paul Pelliot Documents Archéologiques
The above titles may be found via searching Pegasus, the UCSB Libraries' online catalog.
The following websites contain information and additional images relating to early twentieth century expeditions in China.
- The Musée Guimet
http://www.museeguimet.fr/gb/pages/page_id18180_u1l2.htm - Sinologie Française
http://www.umass.edu/wsp/french/front/sinologie.html - The J. Paul Getty Museum (Mogao consevation project)
http://www.getty.edu/
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
China -- Pictorial works.
Tibet (China) -- Pictorial works.
Mongolia -- Pictorial works.