This online publication, By Aeroplane to Pygmyland:
Revisiting the 1926 Dutch and American Expedition to New Guinea,
aims to “revisit” a historically important scientific
expedition from today’s perspective of 80 years later.
It does this through interpretive essays accompanied by the
publication, for the first time, of two expedition diaries
by the American participants and a wealth of additional expedition
records that had never before been published, including over
700 original photographs and about two hours of original film
footage, in an annotated and inter-connected multimedia format
allowing comparison among multiple sources.
The title of this publication is based on one of several
variants of the title that Matthew Stirling (1896-1975), the
head of the American side of the expedition, gave to his film-lecture
tours from 1927 to 1932 (“By Aeroplane to Pygmyland”).
Stirling’s title set modern technology (airplanes, motion
pictures) in the most primitive and exotic of settings, reaffirming
the wider collaborative projects of scientific advancement
and collecting artifacts for the expanding national museums
of both nations, America and the Netherlands. The expedition
began small but grew to include over 400 participants including
Dutch military officers and scientists, Ambonese soldiers,
Dayak canoemen from Borneo, and Malay (Indonesian) convicts
who served as carriers. They journeyed up the Mamberamo and
its Rouffaer River tributary, then hiked upland to the so-called
“pygmy” tribal areas of what is now called the
Sudirman mountain range. This expedition was the first to
use an airplane in the scientific exploration of New Guinea
and also gave us some of the region's earliest film footage.
How to Use This Publication
Within this publication, the Interpretive
Essays are self-standing, though they were written for
sequential reading; so readers interested in one topic can
go directly to that essay. In these essays, I attempt to outline
why the publication of source materials like those presented
here contributes to current issues in history and anthropology,
and to suggest future valuable directions for this project.
Most importantly, future updates should aim to include “missing”
voices and perspectives in addition to the American records
published at the launch of this online publication. Thus this
publication should be considered part of a larger intended
project for the integrated study and publication of other
records and perspectives about this expedition. I emphasize
especially the importance of studying and including Dutch
records (which also have remained largely unpublished); and
the likely value of making this information available to people
in regions from which these records, images, and collections
were obtained, in a way that will enhance our understanding
of the documents and will give local people new access to
records of their own history.
Readers may also choose to “Browse
photos and film” – reviewing over 700 expedition
photographs and about 2 hours of film footage from the expedition,
organized in ways that relate them to the regions visited
as described in the expedition journal texts. Or, they may
go directly to “Expedition Source
Material” where they may choose several formats
in which to read critically annotated editions of the two
American expedition diaries (journals), that of Matthew Stirling
and Stanley Hedberg.
Producing By Aeroplane to Pgymyland
This online research publication is a joint production of
the Smithsonian Institutions Libraries in cooperation with
the Department of Anthropology of the Smithsonian’s
National Museum of Natural History, with financial support
from Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold.
The website was professionally designed and constructed
by Martin Kalfatovic and staff of the New Media Office, Smithsonian
Institution Libraries. The expert, meticulous, and incredibly
patient archival editorial guidance of Christopher Lotis (Publications
Director, Asian Cultural History Program, Smithsonian Institution)
has been a source of admiration from everyone who works with
him. His careful checking and correction of prior inaccurate
or incomplete transcriptions, and his ability to place documents
and images in the most meaningful context within a huge corpus
of archival text and documents, provided our model for scholarly
editing. Many others contributed to various aspects of the
project (see Credits) including
the search for and transcription of archival documents, preparation
of illustrations and maps, preparation of photographic and
film records, and suggestions for interpretation. I also thank
the anonymous reviewers of an earlier version of this publication
for their expert suggestions.
Very special thanks are due to Freeport McMoRan Copper and
Gold, particularly in the person of Dr. Jim Miller, whose
longtime support of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) studies at
the Smithsonian really made the research and publication of
these 1926 expedition records possible. Finally, the ones
most responsible for my interest in finding new ways to present
these historic records are my many friends and acquaintances
from my past research and film work in Papua and on Halmahera
Island (west of New Guinea). Their fascination with any archival
photos I managed to bring them about their ancestors convinced
me that our historic records from this region must be shared.
This publication is to be released on November 16, 2006,
at a symposium in Leiden, Netherlands, co-organized by the
National Museum of Ethnology and the International Institute
for Asian Studies (Leiden), and co-sponsored by the Papua
Heritage Foundation and the Embassy of the United States of
America to the Netherlands. The enthusiasm and encouragement
of these organizations is sincerely appreciated. This symposium
will surely lead to renewed interest in cooperatively re-assessing
the scientific contributions of this historic expedition.
Paul Michael Taylor
Washington, DC, USA
November 15, 2006
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