Carl Whiting Bishop
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Carl Whiting Bishop (July 12, 1881 – June 16, 1942) was an American
archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeol ...
who specialized in
East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...
n civilizations. From 1922 to 1942 he was a curator at the
Freer Gallery of Art The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and ...
in Washington, D.C. At his death Bishop was praised for his ability to synthesize a wide range of evidence and present them "in ordered and highly engaging fashion", which was "the best sort of popularization of prehistory". He argued for the then popular theory of
hyperdiffusionism Hyperdiffusionism is a pseudoarchaeological hypothesis that postulates that certain historical technologies or ideas were developed by a single people or civilization and then spread to other cultures. Thus, all great civilizations that engage in ...
, the theory that all civilizations originated in one place and spread to others, in this case, from the Near East to China. He was criticized, however, for going beyond the accepted evidence.


Early years

Bishop was born on July 12, 1881, in Tokyo, Japan, where his parents were Methodist missionaries. He attended the English School in Tokyo from 1888 to 1897. In 1898 he entered the Northwestern Academy, Evanston, Illinois, then attended
DePauw University DePauw University ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Greencastle, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1837 as Indiana Asbury College and changed its name to DePauw University in 1884. The college has a Methodist heritage and was ...
, in
Greencastle, Indiana Greencastle is a city in Greencastle Township, Putnam County, Indiana, United States, and the county seat of Putnam County. It is located near Interstate 70 approximately halfway between Terre Haute and Indianapolis in the west-central portion ...
, from 1901 to 1904;
Hampden-Sydney College Hampden Sydney is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census. Hampden Sydney is the home of Hampden–Sydney College, a private all-male college that is the tenth ...
in Hampden-Sydney,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, 1905–06; and Business College in
Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie is in the Hudson River Valley region, midway between the core of the New ...
, New York, from 1906 to 1907. Bishop developed his interest in anthropology and archaeology during 1907–12 when he traveled in the southwestern United States and Central America and was silver assayer in Mexico during the
Yaqui Wars The Yaqui Wars were a series of armed conflicts between New Spain, and its successor state, the Mexico, Mexican Republic, against the Yaqui people, Yaqui Native Americans in the United States, Natives. The period began in 1533 and lasted until 19 ...
there in 1905–06. He returned to DePauw University and received his
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree in 1912 and in 1913 was awarded a Master of Arts degree by the Department of Anthropology at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
. On February 24, 1909, Bishop married Nettie E. Brooks (1893–1933) in
Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Greenburgh, New York, Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, Unit ...
. The couple had six children. His second wife was Daisy Furscott Bishop (1887–1966).


Career

Bishop began his professional career as a member of Harvard University's Peabody Museum Expedition to Central America in 1913. In 1914 he became Associate Curator of Oriental Art at the
University of Pennsylvania Museum A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
, and traveled to China for the first time from 1915 to 1917. He joined the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, serving in naval intelligence. From 1918 to 1920, Bishop was lieutenant, junior grade and served as assistant naval attaché in
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
. He became a professor of archaeology at Columbia University in October 1921, and in April 1922, he joined the
Freer Gallery The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and S ...
of the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
. He served as Associate Curator, then Curator, from 1922 until his death in 1942. The Freer appointed Bishop with a mandate to undertake archaeological research and excavation in China, where he spent nine of his twenty years with the Freer. The first expedition lasted from February 20, 1923, until August 6, 1927. The second trip to China lasted from November 16, 1929, until April 11, 1934. The first tour was only partially successful but began optimistically. Shortly after arriving in China in 1923, Bishop responded to reports of the discovery of ancient ritual bronzes in
Xinzheng Xinzheng () is a county-level city of Henan Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhengzhou, the provincial capital. The city has a population of 600,000 people and covers an area of , of which is urban. ...
(Hsin Cheng),
Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...
, the legendary home of the
Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch, or Huangdi ( zh, t=黃帝, s=黄帝, first=t) in Chinese, is a mythical Chinese sovereign and culture hero included among the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. He is revered as ...
. There he met and befriended Li Ji, an American trained Chinese archeologist who had himself recently returned to China. Bishop reported to the Smithsonian that the situation in Xinzheng was "most deplorable, in that no trained investigator was present to show how the objects could be removed from their setting without injury to themselves and to note down the information brought to light in the course of the digging but now, of course, lost forever." He felt fortunate to enlist Li Ji, who he employed for the Smithsonian and provided advanced training. Bishop negotiated with the Historical Museum in Peking to be appointed an archaeological adviser to the Chinese government. According to Bishop's plan, the Smithsonian Institution was to be the sole foreign excavator and exporter of objects, though the work was to be carried out with Chinese colleagues. Unfortunately for these plans, China at this time was in a state of reaction against foreign intrusions and a foreign archaeologist could not get permission to dig. Fighting between warlord armies made the situation worse, and even Bishop's headquarters in Peking came under gunfire or air raids. Chinese were often suspicious that Westerners had come to China to dig for artifacts to take out of the country. Li Ji left Bishop to join the
Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, ; zh, t=中央研究院) is the national academy of the Taiwan, Republic of China. It is headquartered in Nangang District, Taipei, Nangang, Taipei. Founded in Nanjing, the academy supports research activities in mathemat ...
, where he went on to become one of the founders of Chinese modern archaeology, and he was one of the Chinese archaeologists who helped to draft laws that prohibited foreigners from conducting digs or exporting antiquities. Bishop wrote in his journal: :We had already long since learned that under conditions as they existed in China at that time, official permits alone were apt to have a negative rather than positive value. They by no means assured us of liberty to proceed with an enterprise unmolested; but without them we were certain to be hindered, blackmailed, or even stopped altogether. (Feb. 1925). Feeling frustrated and disillusioned, Bishop left China in 1927. When he returned to China in 1929, opposition to foreign archaeology had strengthened, and foreign archaeologists could do little useful excavation. By 1934, the directors of the Freer Gallery concluded that the benefits from Bishop's expeditions did not justify the $30,000 annual expense and abandoned the program.


Bishop as a photographer

Bishop's contributions to photography were also lasting. When he first arrived in China in 1915, he set out to record sites of interest in Peking, and succeeded in photographing most of them. His photographs of imperial sites now stand as almost unique parts of the documentary record. Bishop also used his spare time to photograph street life and social customs, architecture (especially historic buildings), and scenery. These photographs, which Bishop classified with his own system and annotated with extensive notes, were not put on display, but mounted in twelve notebooks, though the negatives were kept in storage at the Smithsonian. Some 4,000 of these images are included in the Carl Whiting Bishop Papers
Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers () is a Dutch international academic publisher of books, academic journals, and Bibliographic database, databases founded in 1683, making it one of the oldest publishing houses in the Netherlands. Founded in the South ...
microform A microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original d ...
edition.


Advocacy of hyperdiffusionism

Bishop produced a series of articles presented "in ordered and highly engaging fashion", arguing for
hyperdiffusionism Hyperdiffusionism is a pseudoarchaeological hypothesis that postulates that certain historical technologies or ideas were developed by a single people or civilization and then spread to other cultures. Thus, all great civilizations that engage in ...
, the theory that all civilizations originated in one place and spread to others. Among the scholars influenced by Bishop was
Owen Lattimore Owen Lattimore (July 29, 1900 – May 31, 1989) was an American Orientalist and writer. He was an influential scholar of China and Central Asia, especially Mongolia. Although he never earned a college degree, in the 1930s he was editor of '' Pac ...
, who was intrigued by Bishop's emphasis on geography as a shaping factor in Chinese civilization and his emphasis on field work rather than library research., p. 24
Roswell Britton Roswell Britton (1788 or 1789 – June 10, 1850) was an American politician who served in the Michigan House of Representatives in its first session after adoption of the state's constitution. Biography Roswell Britton was born in Vermont. Hi ...
, however, criticized Bishop's 1942 ''Handbook ''in the Far Eastern Quarterly for going beyond the evidence. Bishop, wrote Britton, argued that :the ingredients of progress are represented as flowing eastward into China, mostly by the steppe belt and a little (rice, chicken, metallurgy) by the southern route which coincides in part with the
Burma Road The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Lashio, Burma, in the south and Kunming, China, the capital of Yunnan province in the north. It was built in 1937–1938 while Burm ...
. China appears an outpost of the Old World civilization, a sub-center of diffusion enlightening the Far East. There is no consideration of possible westward drift in early time, notwithstanding that cases in Han time and later are well known. Britton added that Bishop was "not at ease in the Chinese language, and contributions of a decisive order are consequently missed..." But he concluded that "the serious student will prize this ''Handbook '' as Mr. Bishop's final work, and value his correlations of cultural milestones in the Near and Far East even though overworked unilaterally, and willingly allow for inconsistencies of individual interpretation with mentioned archaeological fact.


Selected works

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HathiTrust
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Hathi Trust


Notes


References and further reading

* * * * A.G. Wenley, "Carl Whiting Bishop (1881–1942)," ''Notes on Far Eastern Studies in America'' 12 (Spring 1943), 27–32. * *


External links


Carl Whiting Bishop Papers Freer Gallery Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Carl Whiting 1881 births 1942 deaths American expatriates in China Smithsonian Institution people DePauw University alumni People from Tokyo Hampden–Sydney College alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Columbia University faculty United States Navy officers 20th-century American archaeologists 20th-century American anthropologists