Tate joined the Day Roraima Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History and in 1938 became head of the New York office of Archbold Expeditions.
Archbold financed and participated in various expeditions and collecting trips for AMNH, leading the first three of the New Guinea expeditions. His Archbold Expeditions maintained a position and collection in the Department of Mammalogy until after his death in 1976.