American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

Jacob H. Schiff Chinese Expedition (1901-1904); American Museum of Natural History. Expedition to China (1901-1904); China Expedition; Jacob H. Schiff Expedition (1901-1904); East Asiatic Expedition
birth: 1901
death: 1904
The American Museum of Natural History's 1901-1904 Expedition to China was one of the first American attempts to study the history and culture of a literate, technologically sophisticated civilization. Led by Berthold Laufer, the expedition was intended to be a holistic anthropological study, documenting the industrial and social life of the Chinese people. Laufer's work encompassed ethnology, archaeology and physical anthropology; his collections included books, paintings, inscriptions, bas-reliefs, bronzes, pottery, metal mirrors, theater puppets and musical transcriptions.(1)
Berthold Laufer (1874-1934) was a young German scholar of Asian languages and scripts when Franz Boas recruited him for fieldwork on Sakhalin Island and the Amur River as part of the American Museum of Natural History’s Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897-1902). Having proven his aptitude for ethnographic fieldwork, he was asked by Boas to undertake a second substantial expedition on the Museum’s behalf. The Jacob H. Schiff expedition (1901-1904) sent Laufer to China to “carry out scientific investigations in Eastern Asia” (Laufer to Boas, January 7, 1900) and to make “collections which illustrate the popular customs and beliefs of the Chinese, their industries, and their mode of life.” (Boas to Jesup, December 27, 1902)
Laufer studied and documented all manner of Chinese enterprise, and at the same time amassed a collection that would serve as the foundation for a nascent Asian studies enterprise in New York. This would link Columbia University, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and cement New York City’s reputation as a premiere hub of knowledge on China. The timing was excellent, for after the disastrous anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion in 1900, the Manchu government became more progressive. Chinese students were encouraged to come to the United States, and many studied at Columbia. Although the project ultimately failed, it established the foundation for Asian Studies at Columbia University and brought a wealth of China-related material to AMNH (4). Indeed the Museum’s holdings in Asian ethnology comprise the finest collection in the Western hemisphere, with Laufer’s collecting representing roughly half of today's total Chinese collections.
1900 April 11Franz Boaz proposes AMNH China Expedition to Columbia University President Seth Low, New York.
1900 November 27Jacob H. Schiff writes to President Low saying he would consider supporting the expedition, New York.
1900 December 24Schiff pledges $6,000/year for three years and suggests committee members
1901West and Southwest Halls on the second floor of AMNH “contain at present a portion of the material sent from China by Dr. Laufer.” (5, p. 18)
1901 February 16AMNH Committee votes to employ Berthold Laufer
1901 April Washington
1901 AprilLaufer departs from his home in Cologne, travels to London, then Washington DC, where he interviews the Chinese minister
1901 JuneLaufer orders “apparatus for recording inscriptions”
1901 July 25Laufer departs San Francisco by ship, stops in Honolulu
1901 August 20Laufer arrives in Shanghai, Shanghai.
1901 August 30Laufer’s first letter from Shanghai arrives at the Museum. He stays in Shanghai three weeks, makes major purchase of encyclopedic Tu shu shi cheng for $135, Shanghai.
1901 OctoberLaufer embarks on ambitious five-week tour of Southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, visiting Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Putuoshan, and Haimen. He travels alone and manages all aspects of collecting himself. Travels by junk, horseback, palanquin, and small boat, “totally like a Chinese.”
1901 October 1First shipment of collections arrives in Chicago, en-route to AMNH, New York.
1901 November 8Laufer returns to Shanghai, stays in Mrs. Clark's boarding house, complains of injury to right hand slowing his work, stays three weeks, Shanghai.
1901 DecemberLaufer takes boat to Beijing, settles in for major collecting and study, finds local tutor, Beijing.
1902“Early in the year, Dr. Laufer moved to Peking.” (5), Beijing.
1902 JuneLaufer travels north of Beijing to major sites including Ming Tombs, Great Wall, temple complexes, Beijing.
1902 AugustLaufer visits Lamaist Temples in Jehol, Chengde.
1902 December 2Laufer begins travels in western and northwestern regions, with a brief stop in Nanjing, where he sees the Taiping rebellion-ravaged city
1903 JulyLaufer travels to Xian, Shaanxi Province
1903“Chinese collection placed temporarily in the cases in the corner gallery of the west wing…” “Dr. Laufer actively pushing the work in China…very extensive collections, referring specifically to the industrial life of the Chinese, have been received by the Museum…[he] is expected to return to New York during the spring of 1904, and will give his personal attention to the installation of these collections.” (3, p. 21, 23)
1903 MarchLaufer travels to Hankou
1903 April Hankou
1903 AprilLaufer receives a gift of forty-four Chinese bird skins from Albert Frank, a western collector, on behalf of the AMNH (6, p. 53)
1903 AugustLaufer travels to Xianfu, Shensi Province
1903 August 16Laufer makes inquiry into making ink rubbings of a stone vault tomb complex in Chengdu, this does not come about
1903 SeptemberLaufer packs collections into a seven mule cart caravan, Xianfu overland to Tianjin
1903 OctoberLaufer finally arrives in Tianjin after travelling overland by donkey for 31 days
1903 OctoberLaufer arrives back in Beijing, spends two months collecting, then embarks on a five-week tour of Qingdao and Shandong Province
1903 December 1Laufer “completes Mrs. Robert W. de Forest Collection of Pottery, 541 pieces ($275).” I Hsing Tsien
1904 SummerThe last shipment of collections arrives at the Museum, 305 cases, New York.
1904“Fieldwork closed in China, all collections received by the Museum, and installed in the Southwest Gallery” (3, p.19)
1904 February
1904 February 10Laufer arrives back in Shanghai, Shanghai.
1904 February 23Expedition Committee offers Laufer a one-year position of Assistant, Ethnology, at a salary of $1,500/year
1904 April 15Laufer returns home by way of Shanghai, Suez, Cologne
1906Museum President Morris K. Jesup decides that there will be no more collecting in China; AMNH is to be a natural history museum only. (7, p. 34)
1907Laufer takes position at the Field Museum, Chicago, Chicago.