cover image VANISHED KINGDOMS: A Woman Explorer in Tibet, China & Mongolia 1921–1925

VANISHED KINGDOMS: A Woman Explorer in Tibet, China & Mongolia 1921–1925

Mabel H. Cabot, . . Aperture, $35 (192pp) ISBN 978-1-931788-08-3

Part photographic catalogue and part historical travelogue, this book presents the life of Janet Elliott Wulsin (1894–1963), who went where very few women of her society had ever gone before. In 1923, she and her husband, Frederick, set out, under the auspices of the National Geographic Society, to explore China, Mongolia and Tibet with 28 camels, six horses, four Mongolian camel drivers and 10 Chinese "specimen collectors." Together, they collected 1,400 botanical and zoological specimens and documented Buddhist rituals. Cabot, director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology of Ethnology at Harvard, showcases 144 illustrations (34 in color) and provides a wealth of details, down to the provisions the Wulsins carried on their travel through the Chinese desert: "marmalade from Fortnum and Mason, syrup, hardtack, dehydrated vegetables, malted milk, and even canned baked beans." She uses letters from Janet and Frederick to supplement her storytelling; one from Janet to her mother-in-law notes, "I feel as if we might be going to Mars—with just as much probability of return." While the subtitle implies no men were involved, Wulsin's travels are compellingly reconstructed from her perspective. (Apr.)