TGR2ndQ2000

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The Granger Report-2ndQ/2000

nd Quarter - April 17, 2000

Masthead photos: Walter and Anna Granger, ca

American Museum of Natural History

Exposed!

Kenn Harper's Give Me Back My Father's

Body (Steerforth Press, 2000) is a must read. Itis the gripping account of the American Museum

of Natural History's outrageous treatment of

Minik Peary Wallace, his fellow Eskimos, his

American family, and the tragedies that followed.

It also details other infringements by the Museum.

While our own project does not involve anything

as appalling as what befell Minik, the rest of what

Harper relates is all too familiar to us.

You will never forget this story. It is about truth

and abuse. Kenn Harper deserves a medal, as does

Steerforth Press.

Link to Steerforth Press's summary ofGive Me

Back My Father's Body may be found below.

SO WHICH IS IT: - CAE (1922-1930) or CAE

(1921-1930), CAE or CAE (formerly TAE)?

You and I know that the Central Asiatic

Expeditions began in 1921 and ended in 1930.

Right? They went from 1921 to 1930, not 1922 to

1930. Right?

SMART PERSON'S GUIDE TO BONE

CABIN QUARRY. Fact: Bone Cabin Quarr

was discovered by Walter Granger in 1897.

To be sure, imprecise, inaccurate or even wildlconflicting accounts of the Bone Cabin discove

near Medicine Bow, Wyoming have been

published throughout the years, some of them

AMNH's own. Nevertheless, ourtright distortio

contained in a recent childrens' book by Brook

Astor, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Barnum Brown

(Troll Books, 1999) are truly disturbing.

Solid historical accounts of paleontology, as was the factual and documented record, establish

that Walter Granger discovered the Bone Cabi

site in 1897. Before obfuscation in later versio

even Edwin Colbert's original presentation of

this event inDinosaurs: Their Discovery and

Their World(Hutchison, 1962) held that Bone

Cabin was discovered in 1987 by Walter

Granger. As Colbert wrote it:

In 1897 [Osborn] sent Walter

Granger...to Como Bluff.

...Granger found that the old

Marsh quarries were pretty poor

picking--they had been cleaned

out. He therefore scoured the

countryside several miles to the

north of Como Bluff, and one fine

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Right! So, why do most sources get it wrong?

They almost always cite the Central Asiatic

Expeditions as having occurred from 1922 to

1930, never 1921 to 1930.

Why? Herdism -- lack of original research.

Despite all the years of paleontological,

paleoanthropological, anthropological,archaelogical, herpetological, and zoological

work done throughout China during the 1920s by

various members of the Central Asiatic

Expedition, most "histories" deal only with the

five seasons in the Gobi beginning in 1922, since

that is what made them famous.

But in 1921 a few Expedition members carried

the flag and spent equal time in much moredangerous parts of China, with much less

protection. Walter Granger, for example, spent

four winter seasons in the warlord-torn Yangtze

Valley, as well as all five summers in the Gobi.

Herpetologist Clifford H. Pope never made it to

the Gobi, though he spent five years in southern

China. Archaeologist Nels C. Nelson joined

Granger's work in the Yangtze Valley for twowinters, as did Anna Granger (who published on

it inNatural History magazine) and Mrs. Nelson.

This China work was actually termed the Chinese

Branch of the Central Asiatic Expeditions.

Several Chinese assistants who worked with

Granger in the Gobi also worked with him in the

Yangtze Valley. Buckshot (Kan Chuen Pao), Liu

(Liu De-Ling), Liu Hsi-Ka (Liu Hsi Ku), Chow,

Chih (Hsiao Luen), and the American-educated

James V. Wong.

Regrettably none of Roy Andrews' books

formally lists the Chinese and Mongolian

members of the Expeditions. Dr. Chang Xiti

(Zhang Xi-ti), for example, was the co-leader of

the 1930 expedition. C.C. Young (Yang

day he found what he wanted. In

the middle of an open plain was a

small, solid cabin, built by a

sheepherder as his own domicile.

Granger found to his amazement

that the cabin was built out of huge

dinosaur bones! And all over the

ground around the cabin weremore bones, weathering out of the

rocks in which they had been

entombed for so many millions of

years.

Colbert got it a bit wrong even here. Osborn

didn't send Granger alone to Como Bluff. Jaco

L. Wortman led a 5-person field party which

included Granger as his second-in-command.How Colbert and others have managed to

seriously muck up the BCQ facts in later

accounts (eg., see Colbert's recent chapter in T

Complete Dinosaur, Indiana Press, 1997) is

another story which I'll tell someday.

Even the AMNH can't get it right (but then, se

Kenn Harper's Give Me My Father's Body). Th

last time I visited their website blurb on Walte

Granger (which was quite some time ago, I'll

admit), they had him working at Bone Cabin

Quarry in 1894 -- 3 years before he discovered

it! M. Norell'sDiscovering Dinosaurs (Knopf,

1995) isn't any clearer either, except that at pag

186 in the upper left hand corner Norell does

acknowledge that Jacob L. (Norell incorrectly

noted "I.") Wortman and Walter Granger led th

work both at Como Bluff and Bone Cabin

Quarry (Wortman through 1898 and Grangerfrom 1899 forward). At page 187, however,

Norell glosses over the fact that Brown wasn't

the vicinity at all in 1898 and after and general

confuses the chronology.

The AMNH party scouring the old O.C. Marsh

sites at Como Bluff in 1897 was led by Jacob L

Wortman. Walter Granger was Wortman's


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Zhongjian) was a member who became very well

known in later years.

This decade-long exploration was also composed

of members from Sweden, France, Canada, and

[still secret]. It actually began as Third Asiatic

Expedition; the name change to Central Asiatic

Expeditions was ordered by Henry Osborn toenhance its image. That's why you see "TAE"

(Third Asiatic Expedition) in some of the original

materials and "CAE" (Central Asiatic

Expeditions) in others.

By the way, Granger didn't like Osborn's change

so he kept right on using the fossil specimen

labels originally printed "Third Asiatic

Expeditions." Hey, maybe that's why it took solong for the modern types to "rediscover"

Granger'sMononykus specimen in AMNH's

basement where it lay unnoticed for so many

years. They looking for the wrong label?

--Vin Morgan

TRIVIA

We sometimes hear it suggested that since Walter

Granger never finished high school, let alone

college and beyond, his rapid rise to lasting pre-

eminence in the field of paleontology nevertheless

carried a "blue collar" taint -- he lacked formal

schooling. You know, the whole ph.d. thing, as in

"credentials."

Well, Granger had something else going for him

that gave him great confidence: he came from a

long ancestral line of good blood, common sense,

and natural smarts. Granger's family tree was a

delicious mix of accomplished and prominent

Grangers, Haynes, Perrys, and Morgans including

Launcelot Granger (arrived America in 1650s),

Launcelot's wife Joanna Adams (cousin of John

second-in-command. The other members of th

party that season were H. William Menke and

Barnum Brown. Thus, the field crew list for

Bone Cabin Quarry in 1897 was:

Jacob L. Wortman

Walter Granger

Albert "Bill" ThomsonH. William Menke

Barnum Brown

Of AMNH types, only William D. Matthew,

Handel T. Martin, and Henry F. Osborn visited

Como Bluff in 1897 and it was for just a brief

time earlier in the season -- well before Grange

was to ride off to discover Bone Cabin. Albert

"Bill" Thomson and H. William Menke were tfield hands: Barnum Brown was then simply a

AMNH intern just out of college working part

time for the summer and hoping to begin

graduate school at Columbia that fall. Althoug

he had some field experience, Brown was in fa

still about as green as one could get -- he was t

helper, the helper to field veterans Wortman,

Granger, Thomson, and Menke.

Toward the end of the 1897 season, as Como

Bluff appeared to be playing out, Wortman

decided to send Granger to reconnoiter nearby

outcrops they'd spotted. Granger did so by

horseback and within an hour came upon the

remnants of a sheepherder's cabin built out of

dinosaur fossil chunks. Granger immediately

realized that the entire area of rubble surround

it was rich in dinosaur fossil chunks. Since the

were so near the end of the 1897 season,

Wortman and Granger decided to wait until ne

season, 1898, to open and quarry the Bone Cab

locality. They felt that commencing excavation

of the site that late in the 1897 season would

leave it too exposed and enticing to poachers

after they'd departed for the winter. Hence the

distinction between the discovery of Bone Cab


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Quincy Adams), Gideon Granger (U.S.

Postmaster General under Jefferson and

Madison), American Revolutionary War veteran

Adolphus Haynes (Battle of Bennington), and

Justin Morgan (breeder of the Morgan horse).

READERS' FORUM

E-mail:

Dear Vin and Kay Morgan:

This is a unique and interesting site! I have

always found Walter Granger appealing, based on

[various] books, and George Gaylord Simpson's

eulogy. Walter Granger most certainly deserves abiography, and I look forward to yours. Thanks

for preserving his legacy.

Sincerely,

[T]

CREATION OF WALTER GRANGERMEMORIAL AWARD

The Walter Granger Memorial Award honors any

person who, like Walter Granger (1872-1941),

makes significant, steady and selfless

contributions to paleontology throughout the

course of their work while setting aside any need

for overstatement or self-promotion.

as a fossil locality in 1897, and the

commencement of excavating it as Bone Cabin

Quarry in 1898.

That is, actual quarrying at Bone Cabin was no

begun until the commencement of the 1898

season, by which time Barnum Brown was sen

elsewhere far, far away. Thus, not only was BoCabin undiscoverable in 1898 because it had

already discovered by 1897 -- Brown was not

even in Wyoming in 1898!

Here is the field crew list for Bone Cabin Quar

in 1898:

Jacob L. Wortman

Walter GrangerAlbert "Bill" Thomson

H. William Menke

Again, if you're looking for Brown, he wasn't

there.

Jacob Wortman left the AMNH before the 189

field season commenced; Walter Granger took

his place. Granger personally led the excavatioat Bone Cabin Quarry for the next 6 years and

during this time Brown never once ventured on

the Bone Cabin Quarry. (Granger was, in fact,

the leader of the Department of Vertebrate

Paleontology's fieldwork in general. Between

you and me, he and Wortman were never too

keen to have Brown around which is why Brow

was always elsewhere beginning in 1898. I'll te

that story someday too.)

Brown also had nothing to do with finding the

Allosaurus or theApatosaurus. It was Peter

Kaisen, working under Walter Granger, who

found theAllosaurus. And it was Granger who

found theApatosaurus.

The errors and omissions that now abound are


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design by John R. Lavas

Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska was announced as the

first recipient on November 7, 1998, the 126th

anniversary of Walter Granger's birth. Future

awards will be made when merited.

ITEM OF INTEREST - OUR SISTERPROJECT "THE CHINA YEARS"

Our website designer Kathleen Fetner has her

own wonderful collection of 1920s China letters

and photographs from her grandparents Donald

and Erma Smythe. Don was a geology professor

at Tienstin University and Erma was a journalist.

Their letters and photographs are splendid.

It just so happens that the Smythes also mingled

professionally and socially with some of the

members of the Central Asiatic Expeditions, a

fascinating connection between our projects that

came to light because of the Internet!

FACTOID 1: The Granger Papers Project was

featured inExpedition News more than threeyears ago (see December 1997 issue).

FACTOID 2: The CMNH's excellent, frequently

hilariousNotes From the Fielddescribes our

fabulous experience at Bitter Creek, Wyoming

last summer (1999) and may be read here.

truly demeaning to the achievements of men li

Wortman, Granger, Thomson, Menke and

Kaisen -- as well as to those of us who strive to

keep this history straight and who care about

what and how our children are taught. I think

you'll agree that fabrication, no matter how

intended, unintended, couched and/or sourced,

not fact or truth.

It is quite sad to see this happening in our

country. Even the Aussies know our history

better. The following is excerpted from an e-m

request we received from the Museum of

Victoria only a year ago:

Dear Sir/Madam,

...I am [from] the Museum of

Victoria, Australia. We are

currently developing a new

exhibition, entitled "Fossils -

Travelers in Time". In this

exhibition, we have an

'Apatosaurs' bone on display, from

Bone Cabin Quarry, and we are

interested in using an image of'Bone Cabin' to illustrate how

common dinosaur bones were in

the area. As Walter Granger

discovered the site, I was hoping

that The Granger Papers Project

would have some photographs of

'Bone Cabin' which would be

available for use in the Museums

non-profit exhibition for a period

of 5 years. If you do have

photographs, could you let me

know whether they are recent or

old; eg) black and white or colour?

Also, it would be helpful if you

could let me know what the terms

and conditions of use are....Thank

http://macintosh%20hd/Desktop%20Folder/TGPP%20-%20up/TGPP-NEWSARCHIVES/1strecip.htmlhttp://www.webniche.com/china/grandparents.htmlhttp://www.microship.com/Expedition_News/Archives/EN9801.htmlhttp://www.clpgh.org/cmnh/research/wyoming/notesfromfield.htmhttp://www.clpgh.org/cmnh/research/wyoming/notesfromfield.htmhttp://www.microship.com/Expedition_News/Archives/EN9801.htmlhttp://www.webniche.com/china/grandparents.htmlhttp://macintosh%20hd/Desktop%20Folder/TGPP%20-%20up/TGPP-NEWSARCHIVES/1strecip.html

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LINK to Steerforth Press on Give Me My Father's

Body.

you for giving this matter your

attention.

Yours sincerely,

Of course we have vintage black and white

photographs of Bone Cabin, etc., and of course

we gave the Museum of Victoria what it wante- gratis.

--by Vin Morgan

The Granger Report is published quarterly (on or about the 15th of the first month) and is a gradual

random, assemblage of items acquired through cumulative selection. To inquire about prior issues of

The Granger Report, simply e-mail us. You may fax us at 603-868-5321 (USA). Copyright by Vincen

Morgan for The Granger Papers Project. All rights reserved. Information may not be republished or redistributedwithout our prior written authorization.

The Granger Papers Project is an independent research, editing and writing project featuring the personal expedition

diaries and letters of American paleontologist and explorer Walter Granger (1872-1941) and his wife Anna (1874-195

In several significant respects, this is the first treatment of Walter Granger's era based on a significantly more comple

documentary record. In addition to paleontology, the study of evolution, and Granger's pioneering fieldwork in the

Faiyum of Egypt in 1907, in China and Mongolia from 1921 to 1930 (Central Asiatic Expeditions), and in the Americ

West throughout his life, research topics include: American foreign policy; western civilian, missionary, and military

interests in Asia; the First and Second Asiatic Expeditions; The Explorers Club; the American Museum of Natural

History; and previously published accounts of, by, or about the aforesaid. Address interest or inquiry to us at

[email protected]

Please note the following limits on use of any of The Granger Papers Project written matter and/or images contained

throughout this website:

1) We believe information is freedom. Any person may use, store, manipulate, project, reproduce, and display the

recorded images for any purpose associated with their own educational purposes. Images may be incorporated into

educational exercises for students enrolled in the user's own classes at any institution of learning any where located. W

would appreciate notice of your use; and

2) No image may be displayed, reproduced, stored, transmitted or manipulated for sale or profit by the user, including

training sessions and continuing education programs, without the written consent of The Granger Papers Project.

Permission of The Granger Papers Project is required for inclusion of images in papers for publication, company

reports, derivative works, or compilations. A royalty may be assessed.

The Granger Papers Project website was launched on 1 February 1997. We thank Kathleen Fetner for this website

design.

http://www.steerforth.com/books/give_me_my_fathers_body.htmmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.steerforth.com/books/give_me_my_fathers_body.htm

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To the memory of Dr. Norman Charles Morgan (1919-1969) and Jonathan Patrick Morgan (1945-1966).

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