Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

Three Roads to Urga, [typescript]

Summary

Collection ID:
FSA.A1996.02
Dates:
circa 1920s
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
1 Item
75 pages of typescript
79 Items
silver prints
black and white
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
A detailed account of uncertain authorship recalling travel to and from Urga (presently known as Ulaanbataar, Mongolia) in Outer Mongolia. The author is perhaps Georg Soderbom; a member of Sven Hedin's expedition who often worked under Frans Larson Soderbom is pictured in many of the collection's silver plates. The account is replete with descriptions of travel conditions and methods, ethnographic notes, an encounter with "the Andrews expedition" (likely the Central Asiatic Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History led by Roy Chapman Andrews from 1922-1925), and the natural ecosystem. 79 silver prints adorn the text, depicting Soderbom, peoples encountered, vehicles, buildings, and so forth. For the purpose of this collection, all relevant silver prints are numbered as attachments to the appropriate page of the transcript; i.e., the second print affixed to page 32 of the transcript becomes 32b.
While exact provenance of the collection is unclear, it is believed the collection was owned by the Asian art dealer Abel William Bahr (1877-1959). Bahr was born to a German father and a Chinese mother in Shanghai, and became an avid collector of Chinese paintings, jades, and porcelains. He would become a prominent collector and, in 1908, helped to host the first exhibition of Chinese art under the auspices of the Royal Asiatic Society in Shanghai.

Arrangement

Arrangement
Organized in the original manner by the creator.

Administration

Custodial History
Donated by Silvio A. Bedini, 1996

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
Three Roads to Urga [typescript]. FSA.A1996.02. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

More Information

Local Numbers

Local Numbers
FSA A1996.02


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Mongolia Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Travel diaries Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Travel diaries Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Prints Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mongolia -- Mongolia -- Urga (Ulaanbaatar) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
National Museum of Asian Art Archives
Washington, D.C. 20013
Business Number: 202-633-0533
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