American Museum Congo Expedition (1909-1915)
Dates
- Existence: 1909 - 1915
Summary
Abstract:
The American Museum Congo Expedition (1909-1915) was sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and made possible through the support of the Belgian government. The expedition party consisted of just two men. Herbert Lang, a German-born taxidermist and mammalogist was Expedition leader and photographer; James Paul Chapin, a student and ornithologist who worked at the Museum was selected to be his Assistant. The main goal was to expand the Museum’s collection of African zoological specimens, but Lang was also tasked with acquiring ethnographic material. The Museum was particularly eager to obtain specimens of the recently discovered (1901) okapi and the square-lipped, or white, rhinoceros. Lang and Chapin successfully traveled throughout the Congo region in central Africa (Modern day Democratic Republic of the Congo) to ultimately collect a massive fifty-four tons of material and over 9000 photographs for the Museum. (1)
Places
- Congo (Democratic Republic) (Associated Country)
Topics
Found in 6 Collections and/or Records:
Africa: Exploration and Expedition exhibition photographic slides, 1998
Views of the temporary exhibition, Africa: Exploration and Expedition, held at the American Museum of Natural History, 1998, Library Gallery. Includes rare books, artifacts, portraits, and maps as well as items from the Chapin Lang Congo Expedition 1909-1915. Curated by Roscoe Thompson, then Assistant Director of Library Services.
American Museum Congo Expedition correspondence, 1917-1920.
American Museum Congo expedition photographs
Field photographs of Congo Expeditions from 1909-1915.
American Museum of Natural History Congo Expedition field book on fish
Contains one field book titled "Fishes".
Congo Expedition records, 1909-1925-1909-1914
Microfilm copies of archives and manuscripts from central archives and other Science departments.