Wulsin, Frederick R. (Frederick Roelker), 1891-1961

Frederick Wulsin collected and wrote about regions in China and Africa. He collected mammal specimens as part of the National Geographic Society's Central China Expedition, 1923.

Smithsonian Institution Archives Field Book Project: Person : Description : rid_519_pid_EACP516

Wulsin was an anthropologist who collected zoological specimens in East Africa and Madagascar, 1914-1915; and in China, Mongolia, Kokonor, and Indo-China, 1921-1924. He made archaeological journeys to the Belgian Congo and French Equatorial Africa, 1927-1928; and to Persia, 1930-1931. Wulsin also served as first lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War I and taught anthropology at Boston University, 1935-1936, and Tufts, 1945-1957. He died in 1961.

From the description of Frederick Roelker Wulsin papers, 1914-1932. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 612367371

From the guide to the Frederick Roelker Wulsin papers, 1914-1932., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)

Sources: Smithsonian Institution Research Information Systems at http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!218427!0

From the guide to the Wulsin, Frederick Roelker(1891-1961) Papers, (Peabody Museum Archives, Harvard University)

Janet January Elliott was reared in an affluent family in Boston and New York, the daughter of railroad executive, Howard Elliott. Anxious to explore, Janet was tired of the "the superficial social life of her world in New York," and, in 1918, at age 24, she joined the Red Cross as a nurse in France to help out the war effort and to be near her fiancé, Frederick Roelker Wulsin, whom she married in 1919. Frederick was a lieutenant in the Army and, prior to his graduation from Harvard in 1913, spent time in East Africa collecting specimens for the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Frederick intended to become an explorer and scientist, and in 1921, the couple left New York for China.

The young couple spent the next four years on expeditions, using their Peking (now Beijing) house as a home base. In 1921, they traveled for several weeks to Shansi Province. The next trip, the "great trek" of 1923, was funded by the National Geographic Society and took them through the Alashan desert to Kansu Province (Gansu), to several monasteries (Labrang, Kumbum, and Choni), to Lanchow, and then back to Peking for several months. Janet became pregnant and left China in 1924, giving birth to Frederick Jr. the following spring. In the meantime, Frederick completed another expedition and returned to America in December of 1924. Janet and Frederick had two more children: Howard Elliott Wulsin and Janet January Wulsin. The couple divorced in 1929. Frederick married Susanne Emery in 1930, who, along with her husband Harry, had traveled in China with the Wulsins. Frederick had a long and distinguished career teaching anthropology at Tufts University; he died in 1961. Janet married Richard Hobart in 1932, and they had one daughter, Mabel "Muffie" Hobart (Cabot). Janet died in 1963.

Sources: Cabot, Mabel H. Vanished Kingdoms: A Woman Explorer in Tibet, China, and Mongolia, 1921-1925. New York: Aperture, 2003

From the guide to the Wulsin, Frederick Roelker and Janet Elliott Wulsin Papers, 1921-1924 inclusive, (Peabody Museum Archives, Harvard University)

Tureng Tepe, a site dating from approximately 3100-2900 B.C. through 1900 B.C. in northeast Iran was excavated by Frederick R. Wulsin during two short field seasons in 1931. Although the expedition was directed by Wulsin, a University Museum staff member who was a curator of Anthropology during 1930-1932, the expedition was sponsored by the Atkins Museum of Fine Arts in Kansas City, Missouri.

In 1930, Wulsin and his wife Susanne were living in Teheran where they were promoting the archaeological interests of the University Museum by making diplomatic overtures to Teheran officials. When the Iranian antiquities laws were revised in 1930, Wulsin made a preliminary survey for archaelogical sites in the Astarabad region (northeast Iran) and with E. Herzfeld in the Damgham area. Eventually, at Herzfeld's recommendation, Wulsin selected Tepe Hissar and the Citadel at Damghan as sites suitable for excavation by the University Museum (cf. Near East/Iran/Tepe Hissar). The Director of the Museum, H. Jayne, decided that another project could be undertaken in northeast Iran at Tokimakh Tepe which lies north of Astarabad. The original permit from the Persian government was for Tokhmakh Tepe, but a natural mound and that Tureng Tepe would yield more artifacts.

Langdon Warner, a colleague of Jayne, procured the financial assistance of the Atkins Museum of Fine Arts. At first Jayne intended that the University Museum would pay Wulsin's salaries as the Museum's share of the financial contribution. However, the trustees of the William Rockhill Nelson Trust at the Kansas City Museum wanted complete sponsorship of this Project and so they assumed total financial responsibility for the expadition. The University Museum contributed funds for the Wulsins' return trip to the United States and a loan of equipment and staff in return for a portion of the archaeological artifacts recovered from the excavation.

As it happened, the trustees at the Kansas City Museum were not pleased with the Tureng Tepe archaeological material and the University substituted other Near and Far Eastern art objects from the Museum collections. The University Museum also gave as a gift a small representation sample of Tureng Tepe objects (cf. General Correspondence and Reports/General Correspondence, 1967, concerning the present location of the Tureng Tepe objects). This situation may have made the field notes and indexes and catalogs more confusing since some object cards and entries in the object catalog are marked with K.C., designation since Kansas City initially refused Tureng Tepe objects. The Director's Files, Jayne (1929-1940) under Langdon Warner, Kansas City Museum and J.C. Nichols should be checked for further information concerning the financial terms of the project and the transfer of University Museum objects.

From the guide to the Tureng Tepe, Iran expedition records, Bulk, 1930-1932, 1930-1967, (University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives)