Langdon Warner Report
odd: label: Local Numbers
content: FSA A1994.07
name: label: Creator
content: Warner, Langdon (1881-1955)
label: Names
content: Warner, Langdon (1881-1955)
place: label: Place
content: China
label: Place
content: Japan
label: Place
content: Angkor Wat (Cambodia)
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
label: Topic
content: Art, Asian -- Collectors and collecting
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Gift 1994
creator: label: Creator
content: Warner, Langdon (1881-1955)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Langdon Warner Report
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Langdon Warner was an archaeologist and historian of Asian art in the first half of the 20th century. He was born on August 1, 1881 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and educated at Harvard University, which he graduated from in 1903. Between acting in various positions at museums across the country, most notably the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Nelson-Atkins Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Harvard Fogg Museum of Art, he travelled extensively in Asia. Including an 1913-14 trip sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution to explore the possibility of founding an American School of Chinese Archaeology in Beijing. Accompanied by his wife, their journey included visits to Europe, Japan, Korea, China, and Indochina. He spoke with scholars, administrators, and officials, and travelled to museums and archaeological sites. He compiled a two-part report: a summary of his travels and a series of recommendations for the proposed school. 

During World War II, Warner taught a course on Japanese language, culture, and history to Civil Affairs Officers and acted as a Special Consultant for the U.S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives program, the so-called "Monuments Men." He created the Official List of Monuments for Japan, China, Korea, and Thailand. Warner spent the summer of 1946 working as an Expert Consultant to the Arts and Monuments Division of the Civil Information and Education Section under the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. Upon his return to Massachusetts, he resumed working at the Fogg Museum of Art until his retirement in 1950. During his career, he wrote numerous books on Asian art such as The Enduring Art of Japan, The Long Old Road in China, and Japanese Sculpture of the Tempyo Period: Masterpieces of the Eighth Century. Warner died on June 9, 1955 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was posthumously awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasures by the Japanese government for his efforts to preserve Japanese art and monuments during and after the war.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Copies (Two copies: one bound and one loose., 29 x 22 cm.)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1915
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: FSA.A1994.07
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Copies
label: Type
content: Reports
label: Type
content: Photographs
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: This report is also available in the Freer Gallery Library Call No: 907.51 .A5W21 with a copy of the December 5, 1914 minutes of the Executive Committee of the proposed American School of Archaeology in Peking.
bibliography: label: Bibliography
content: Langdon Warner Through his Letters. Edited by Theodore Bowie. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1966. 
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Reports
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: A report prepared by archaeologist and art historian Langdon Warner on his travels of 1913-1914 to investigate the founding of an American school of Chinese archaeology to be established in Beijing. Warner's travels included Europe, Japan, Korea, China and Indo-China. Warner spoke with scholars, administrators and officials, and travelled to museums and archaeological sites. Warner traveled with his wife. The report contains two parts; the first being a summary of his travels, and the second, a series of recommendations for the proposed school.
relatedmaterial: label: Other Archival Materials
content: Landon Warner Papers, circa late 18th century-1987 (bulk 1900-1959). Houghton Library, Harvard University  

Langdon Warner Photograph Collection, 1903-1950. Houghton Library, Harvard University.  

Langdon Warner Records, 1916-1929 (bulk 1917-1923). Philadelphia Museum of Art Archives.