Diary, 1917-1918

The diary is dated from October 9, 1917 to January 12, 1918, with undated addenda and address lists. It contains Heller’s personal reflections and daily activities on his solo return trip from the First Asiatic Zoological Expedition. He discusses the sites and architecture, the flora and weather, as well as the culture and his impressions of the people of each country. He writes of goods for sale, with a particular interest in lantern slides and fur-skinned merchandise. Many of his notations also relate to social invitations and events and individuals he met in his travels, as well as academics and scientists he visited when he returned to the United States. Most of these individuals are only mentioned very briefly and cursorily, and include Roy Chapman Andrews, Harvey Hall, Wilfred Osgood, Carl and Mary Akeley, and G.E. Morrison. He refers to his association with Theodore Roosevelt as well. Locations visited include Shanghai, Peking, Seoul, Yokohama, Tokyo, and Honolulu. In the United States he traveled to Berkeley, Stanford, and San Francisco, California, where he meets his future wife Hilda Hempl, as well as Chicago and finally New York, briefly visiting the various institutions he has been associated with, such as the Field Museum, Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley and the American Museum of Natural History.