Dorsett-Morse Oriental Agricultural Exploration Expedition Collection

Special Collections of the National Agricultural Library (NAL) acquires, arranges, describes, preserves and makes available rare materials significant to the history of agriculture. Materials are obtained through donation or active collection in accordance with the established Special Collections collection development policy. Special Collections staff organize and describe materials according to archival principles and create descriptions and indexes to enhance access. Staff do not edit or otherwise modify the original materials. The views expressed in the collections do not necessarily reflect the policies of the National Agricultural Library or the United States Department of Agriculture.

Dorsett-Morse Oriental Agricultural Exploration Expedition History, 1929-1931

On February 18, 1929, Palemon Howard (P.H.) Dorsett and William Joseph (Bill) Morse embarked upon a plant exploration trip officially known as the Oriental Agricultural Exploration Expedition. Initiated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in response to the growing importance of the soybean as a food crop during the first quarter of the twentieth century, the primary purpose of the expedition was to collect soybean germplasm and other crops of interest. The party, consisting of Dorsett; his widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth B. Dorsett; Morse; his wife, Edna; and their daughter, Margaret sailed for Yokohama, Japan, on February 26, 1929, from San Francisco, California, via Honolulu, Hawaii. Dorsett, the veteran plant explorer for the USDA's Section of Plant Introduction and senior expedition member, collected a variety of plant materials. Morse, a soybean specialist from the USDA's Office of Forage Crops and the junior team member was charged with the collection of soybean germplasm. The expedition arrived in Japan on March 19, 1929, and promptly established headquarters in Tokyo. N. Suyetake joined the expedition as their interpreter and assistant.

The germplasm collection activities were initiated on Honshu and Hokkaido Islands, Japan from early April to mid-October, 1929. On October 21, 1929, the expedition traveled to Korea (referred to as Chosen by the expedition). In Korea, they met noted Russian botanist Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov and traveled to the Suweon (Suigen) Agricultural Research Station together. The party returned to Tokyo on December 11, 1929. From then until the end of March 1930, studying the Japanese soybean industry was the primary focus of the expedition.

On March 29, 1930, Dorsett and Morse traveled to Luda, in northeast China, where Dorsett became ill. He was diagnosed with double pneumonia and the USDA sent orders that he was to proceed to Beijing (Peiping), China for medical treatment. Meanwhile, Morse was to continue collecting soybean germplasm and studying the soybean industry in northeast China and Korea. Dorsett, who was forbidden vigorous activity, made experiments on the preservation of the persimmon and the associated industry and collected plants in Beijing. Morse spent the period from April to October 20, 1930, in China and Korea. After a brief hiatus in Beijing from October 20 to November 9, 1930, he returned to northeast China and Korea until December 18, 1930. Morse made the acquaintance of Lene Muller, a German soybean expert and collector, and the botanist B.W. Skvortzow of the Natural History Museum in Harbin, China, also known for his work with the soybean. Morse returned to Japan on December 18, 1939, to tend to the remaining administrative details of the expedition and left for San Francisco with his family on February 17, 1931. Dorsett and his daughter-in-law left from China and arrived in San Francisco on April 15, 1931.

The Dorsett-Morse Oriental Agricultural Exploration Expedition sent approximately 9,000 plant accessions to Washington, D.C. as recorded in the Inventories published by the USDA, Bureau of Plant Industry, Division of Foreign Plant Introduction. About 4,500 of these were soybean accessions. Many of the accessions from this expedition have been used to develop or improve crops and serve as conserved examples of species that are now extinct in their native habitat. Pressed herbarium specimens from the expedition were sent back to the United States, and many of the specimens still reside in the national herbarium which is now stored at the United States National Arboretum. Additionally, insect specimens, native publications, soybean food products, bamboo items, motion picture film, and over 3,000 photographs were collected or produced as indicated by expedition records. The location of most of these items is unknown; however, the photographs that comprise this collection account for nearly half of the total photographs of record.

Many significant plant contributions resulted from this expedition. Plants from this expedition were accessioned into the U.S. germplasm collection, which is administered today by the National Plant Germplasm System to facilitate continuing research around the world. Cultivars have been improved with traits from the expedition accessions and currently are part of the world food supply. For instance, Morse developed vegetable-style cultivars for human consumption directly from the expedition's soybeans accessions or as hybrids with at least one parent from the accessions. As the popularity of the soybean grew, so did instances of plant disease in the crop. The Dorsett-Morse soybean accessions were found to be resistant to many of these diseases and were bred with the cultivars for disease resistance. Soybean breeders also find characteristics such as protein content or seed weight useful from these accessions. Accessions that represent species that are now extinct in nature preserve agricultural diversity for future generations.

Series I. Journals. 1928-1931. 18 boxes.

Series I consists of 17 bound journals and 13 folders. The journals contain photographs, travel itineraries, daily textual accounts of the expedition by both Dorsett and Morse, fiber and fabric samples, maps, charts, diagrams, pamphlets, and correspondence. Volumes are housed in boxes labeled volumes 1-17 (with Volume 2 having two parts). Journals one through six are numbered consecutively, and then beginning at what should be journal seven, the journal numbering started over with number one. Therefore, journals seven through 17 have two numbers- the one that follows chronological order and the renumbered one. All of volumes are now housed in boxes labeled volumes 1-17 (with Volume 2 having two parts). The journals are arranged by date, beginning with the planning for the expedition in 1929 and culminating with its journey home to the United States in 1932. Volumes 1 -15 are arranged chronologically and each includes photographs and narrative recollections for one or two month time period. As of August 2006, Volume 16 is not in the collection. Volume 17 is a compilation of several short articles, each pertaining to a specific plant or cultivation practice. The subjects include: the white-barked pine tree, Chinese persimmon cultivation and preservation, fruit tree support practices, chrysanthemums, the peppermint industry, Ch'ing Ma, and winter forcing of strawberries. Box 18 consists of 13 folders that contain loose materials from many of the journals including receipts, itineraries, content lists, and financial records documenting administrative information from the expedition. The folders are marked with the original location of each item.

Series II. Photograph Albums and Scrapbooks. 1929-1930. 7 boxes.

Series II consists of photograph albums and a scrapbook documenting the Dorsett-Morse Oriental Agricultural Exploration Expedition. Most of the photographs are not individually dated, however, collecting activities of the expedition spanned April 1, 1929 through December 18, 1930, so researchers could assume that the undated photographs fall within that date range.

Photographs are arranged by subject areas devised by the album compiler. The title of each album reflects the subject. Topics include bamboo products and uses, agricultural landscapes and scenic landscapes, native people and architecture, common agricultural plants and newly collected specimens, Asian ornamental plants and styles, and ancient and modern temples and shrines. The albums are arranged in alphabetical order by album title. Also included in this series are two scrapbooks. The first, entitled "Soybeans and Soybean Products," contains 8"x11" images documenting soybean farming practices and a large assortment of soyfoods products. The second is a small, brief, commercially published volume depicting earthquake damage in Japan.

Series III. Official Photographs and Negatives. 1929-1931. 7 boxes.

Series III consists of seven boxes containing more than 900 photographs and negatives. Boxes 27-31 contain negatives and photographs donated by the Arnold Arboretum. They are arranged by negative number and therefore chronologically. Several negatives are permanently and irrevocably damaged, but have been kept with the collection. Box 32 contains the original, labeled envelopes created during the expedition. Box 33 contains loose photographs that were donated by Morse's family. These are numbered and identified in a different manner than those in boxes 27-31. Most of the photographs in this series are included in either the journals in series I, the photograph albums and scrapbooks in series II, or in some cases, both. Many of the photographs in series I and II, however, are not included here.

The photographs and negatives contained in this series are listed in a database detailing their subjects and quality. For assistance in locating and using this database, please contact a staff member of Special Collections.

Series IV. Personal Ephemera. 1928-1932. 3 boxes.

Series IV contains postcards, travel and tourism pamphlets, holiday cards, invitations and other personal ephemera collected by William Morse's family during the expedition.

Subseries IV.A. Postcards and Packets. 1928-1932. 1 Box.

This subseries contains postcards collected during the 1928-1931 expedition by Morse's family. Items are maintained in original order.

Subseries IV.B. Pamphlets and Stationery. 1928-1932. 1 Box.

This subseries contains travel and tourism pamphlets from Japan and Korea, including information on Japanese tea ceremonies and Japanese industry. Items are maintained in original order.

Subseries IV.C. Holiday Cards and Ephemera. 1928-1932. 1 Box.

This subseries contains a variety of holiday cards, invitations, and other personal effects from Morse's travels throughout East Asia. Items are maintained in original order.

Information for the Biographical Sketches, Expedition History, and the Scope and Content Note was taken from the following sources:

American Men of Science, a Biographical Directory, 6th ed. S.v. "Palemon Howard Dorsett."

Fairchild, David. "Award of Meyer Medal to P.H. Dorsett." Journal of Heredity 27 (1936): 307-310.

Fairchild, David. Exploring for Plants: From Notes of the Allison Vincent Armour Expeditions for the United States Department of Agriculture, 1925, 1926, and 1927. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1930.

Fairchild, David. The World Was My Garden. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1939.

Hymowitz, Theodore. "Dorsett-Morse Soybean Collection Trip to East Asia: 50 Year Retrospective." Economic Botany 38, no. 4 (1984): 378-388.

Who's Who in America, 1928 ed. S.v. "Palemon Howard Dorsett."

The USDA Plant Exploration Collection: This collection contains photographs and negatives from a variety of plant exploration expeditions which took place in the early part of the twentieth century. The images from these expeditions document the cultivation, harvesting, and usage of many plants from many areas around the world, including Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.

The Isabel Shipley Cunningham Collection on Frank Nicholas Meyer: Frank Nicholas Meyer was an important contributor to plant introduction in the United States. This collection includes materials about Meyer's life, especially his four plant gathering expeditions in Asia, and his surviving plant introductions (plants Meyer brought back from his travels and planted by various people in the United States).