In 1916-1917, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City sent an expedition under Roy Chapman Andrews of its Department of Mammals to study the zoology
of southern China, particularly that of Yunnan Province. Yvette Borup Andrews, wife of Roy C. Andrews and official photographer for the expedition, and Edmund Heller accompanied
Andrews. The Andrews left in March 1916 and were joined by Heller at Lung-tao, China on July 20, 1916.
After spending some time near Foochow hunting tigers, the expedition left for Yunnan via Hong Kong, Hainan, Haiphong and Hanoi. The route of the expedition in Yunnan took
them through Yunnan-Fu, Tali-Fu, Chien-Chuan-Chou, Li-Chiang and the Snow Mountain, Meng-Ting, Wa-Tien and Teng-Yueh Ting. They then crossed the border into Burma making their
way to Rangoon via Bhamo and Mandalay. The expedition broke up at Bhamo with the Andrews heading for New York, via Rangoon, Calcutta, Bombay, Singapore and Japan. Heller went
on to Calcutta, Darjeeling, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canton and Shanghai.
This series includes photographs of the expedition taken by Heller and by Yvette Borup Andrews and Heller's field diary from June 4, 1916 to October 8, 1917. The photographs
of Yvette Borup Andrews are credited to the American Museum of Natural History and prints of these must be obtained from that Museum.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7179, Edmund Heller Papers
