A.T. "Arch" Steele Photographs
In 1939, A.T. "Arch" Steele, an American foreign correspondent for the Chicago Daily News who was living in China, traveled to the Kumbum Monastery in Northern Tibet to see the 4 year old child from Amdo who was being examined for signs as proof of his claim to the throne of Tibet as the fourteenth Dalai Lama. In 1944, Arch was granted a passport to Lhasa to again visit with the now enthroned fourteenth Dalai Lama, who was then 9 years old.
These photographs were taken by Steele in 1939 at the Kumbum Monastery and in 1944 during his travels to Lhasa; they were subsequently donated to the Center for Asian Studies at Arizona State University in Tempe.
E48. The Father and brother of the Dalai Lama.
F55. A yak caravan carrying supplies to China. The Tibetan drivers have attached a prayer flag to the back of one of the animals.
F56. Two of the Tibetan drivers in our caravan talk over the situation.
G67. Yak caravan with supplies for China.
G74. A great caravan of yaks.
F52. The headman of a village and two attendants bring a gift of mutton and eggs to Sir Basil Gould, the British representative during his visit to Lhasa. The man on the left holds a whole dried sheep. The second man carries a tray full of eggs.
F53. Sir Basil Gould gets the customary greeting of Tibet. A Tibetan official presents him with a white scarf, signifying "purity of friendship". On the trail to Lhasa.
Performers dancing, during a party given by the regent of Tibet, at his home outside Lhasa.
G70. A yak-skin boat on the upper Brahmaputra River, central Tibet.
G72. Looking down the length of our boat on the journey down the Brahmaputra River.
Skirting the northern rampart of the Himalayas, on the trail to Lhasa, in Tibet.