Items

• Long Ferryboat on the Min River
  This ferryboat is a long wooden boat with an upward curving stern and large rudder at the back. The boat is just off the rocky shoreline and full of people and baggage. The Min River is smooth and wide. The opposite shore can be seen in the background, with mountaintops off in the far distance.
• Boats Loaded for Mt. Omei
  This image shows five small houseboats or junks on the bank of the Min River. They are loaded up with the Willmott family's belongings for their Mt. Omei summer vacation. There are two boys in the foreground who may be servants or boat workers.
• Donald Earl Willmott's Blue Brocade Album
  Photograph album with jacket made of blue silk brocade with gold thread and motif of auspicious signs. The pages of the interior are blue paper with photographs attached with black corner brackets. Some of the photographs have captions written in blue ink. The album is in very poor condition. The cover is fraying and coming apart at the seams. The pages have become detached and are out of order. The paper is fragile and breaks at the touch. Another almost identical album was in the possession of Richard Curtis Willmott, which is now housed at the Mount Royal University Archives in Calgary, Alberta.
• 1930s Willmott Family Mt. Omei Journeys
  This series of images depicts trips the Willmotts took from Chengdu to Faerymorn, their summer cottage in the Mt. Emei region, down the Min River and up the mountain with trunks and baskets full of their summer gear.
• Scene of Mt. Omei in the Distance, 1925
  Color tinted view of Mt. Omei in the distance. In Diary 2, Graham describes taking this photograph from Kuan Yin Bang [Guanyingzhen], 28 li south of Kiating (between Suifu and Kiating) on the Min River.
• Bronze Pagoda at Huazang Temple, Mt. Omei
  Pagoda with a base, four tiers of hexagonal panels, a cap, and a pinacle with three spheres. A lone monk stands beside the pagoda and is dwarfed by it. In the background one can see a circling path leading to nearby mountaintops. There is also a distant mountain range behind that. The caption list refers to another photograph of the same subject, but with 3 year old Margaret Graham in the photo instead of the priest.
• Main Shrine with Incence Burners, Mt. Omei
  Rather oddly framed image that shows the left half of an altar with a bowl at center and a three-footed incence burner (or ting) at left. Behind the altar platform are square panels, almost like windows. Above it is a horizontal cloth hanging with Chinese characters on it. In the left background is an elaborately carved doorway.
• David Crockett Graham at the Jinding, Mt. Omei
  Full figure profile of David Crockett Graham standing in silhouette next to a railing against the background of a blue sky. Graham wears hiking gear that includes heavy laced knee high boots, loose trousers tucked into the boots, a white shirt, and a notebook case slung across his shoulder. He gazes down towards the "Buddha's Glory" in the clouds below.
• Mummified Priest, Mt. Omei
  Human figure with black face and dressed in robes is seated in a raised alcove. It is flanked by two or more small doll-like figures, one of whom wears an imperial gown. There is also a small human face on the figure's lap. There is a sculpture in front of the figure whose name and purpose cannot be determined.
• Priest with Lotus Flower Relic
  A Buddhist priest stands next to a relic said to be a petrified lotus flower. This should not be confused with the Buddha's Tooth relic pictured in a different photograph (that is published in Religion in Szechwan). He wears light colored robe with wide sleeves and holds a set of prayer beads. He is bald and has a short beard. The relic appears to be carved with a lotus motif around the bottom. In the background is a temple doorway with Chinese characters written on the frame.
• Gilded Kuanyin at Fuhu Temple, Mt. Omei
  Gilded statue of androgynous Kuan Yin with multiple long arms. Graham estimated the height differently in several different captions; however, it is certain he was unable to take exact measurements in the temple. Kuan Yin's two pairs of arms in the front are forming mudras. The top one is the Anjali mudra, which unites the two sides of the body over the heart, bringing one into unity with the divine and, as a greeting gesture, welcomes others into divine communion. The lower one is likely the Bhairava mudra, representing harmony of body and mind, outer and inner. For the Bhairava mudra, the right hand would be placed on the left hand. This is how I received the digital version of this image; however, in its published version, it is reversed. When the left hand is placed on the right, it is called Bhairavi, and has the effect of activating consciousness and manifestation. It seems likely the standard form is correct. Kuanyin is flanked by smaller deities in red robes.
• Huayan Pagoda at Fuhu Temple, Mt. Omei
  This structure is called the Huayan Pagoda at Fuhu Si. It stands within a wooden structure with open railings. The front of the base has an opening for burning paper money. Around the sides of the base and up the column there are "a thousand buddhas" carved in rows.
• Deity with Tusks in Temple Near Mt. Omei
  A fierce-looking deity statue with a grimace expression and large protruding tusk-like teeth. He stands in a fighting posture with his right arm raised, probably holding a spear or sword not visible in photo. His left hand holds a snake and his right foot rests upon a small animal, probably a species of large cat. He wears armour and a crown-like headdress. There is an incense burner in front of him.
• Large Buddha in Temple, Mt. Omei
  A serene looking Buddha statue sits cross-legged upon a lotus flower with an arched background representing light behind him. His hands are forming a variation of the Uttarabodhi mudra of Supreme Enlightenment, the index and middle fingers pointing to the sky, respectively representing air and ether.
• 1924-1926 David Crockett Graham Mt. Omei Treks
  By 1924, DC Graham was working as a field collector for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. The 1925 and 1926 field collecting seasons were adversely affected by the turbulant political climate in China, so Graham was not able to travel very far to make his natural science collections. He didn't let this slow him down. Instead, he collected nearby the missionaries' summer cottages at Mt. Omei (Emeishan). The images in this event series represent the beginning of Graham's systematic study of religion in Sichuan, which he would publish for the Smithsonian in 1926. However, while Graham published some of these images in his monograph, Religion in Szechwan, he didn't actually discuss them much in that publication.
• Yangtze Gorges Steamer
  Steamers could not navigate the Yangtze above Yichang before 1918, so Graham must not have taken this photograph on his first trip up the river in 1913. By 1918 or 1919, various countries including Germany and Japan had developed specially constructed small steamers such as this one to navigate the turbulent water of the Yangtze Gorges. One can see the two small smokestacks on top of the middle of the boat. The entire boat is dwarfed by the massive cliff face behind it.
• Study of Rock Formation on Yangtze River
  David Crockett Graham was well familiar with scientist explorers' publications as he traveled around Sichuan. Even on his first trip up the Yangtze, he had read accounts of the rock formations when he took this photograph documenting a seismic moment in earth's evolutionary history. The photo shows layers of rock strata seemingly crushed together to form two curves.
• Golden Sand Temple and Cave
  Because Graham describes this location as "south of Suifu," it is most likely that he took this photo while he was stationed at Yibin (Suifu). This portion of the river is now called Jinsha River, but was then considered the Upper Yangtze. This image shows the two buildings of the temple from a direct front view. The upper temple is accessed by an almost perpendicular staircase carved out of the rock between the two temples. Trees grow on the top of the rock face. In the foreground, straw or grass can be seen on the shoreline opposite the temples.
• Golden Sand Temple with Tent
  Because Graham describes this location as "south of Suifu," it is most likely that he took this photo while he was stationed at Yibin (Suifu). This portion of the river is now called the Jinsha River, but it was then considered the Upper Yangtze. The image shows the shoreline of the Yangtze River with a small temple, a tent and three men on the beach. Timber can be seen in the temple and the tent. There is an almost perpendicular staircase hewn from the solid rock cliff that leads to the temple built around a natural cave.
• Chicken-Footed Deity at Lichuang
  This image shows two deity statues inside a temple. The subject of the image is a statue that has a long protruding tongue and chicken feet. He holds a string between his hands upon which petitioners hang objects to entice his spiritual help. The other deity statue wears and crown and bears his teeth in a grimace. Lizhuang is on the Yangtze River very close to Yibin (Suifu).It is most likely that Graham took this photo while he was stationed at Yibin (Suifu).
• Men Sifting Gold Dust on the Yangtze
  Gold dust is found in the sands along the shores of the Yangtze River. These men employ a sifting device to separate the gold dust from the sand on the rocky shoreline. A small junk passes by on the river in the background. It is most likely that he took this photo while he was stationed at Yibin (Suifu).
• City Gate on the Yangtze River
  Three men with turbans frame the foreground of this photo of a city gate with wide and tall steps leading up to it. One can see the boat stuffed in the entranceway to block any passage into the city by that route, supposedly because the gate's fengshui is bad, so doing so would cause catastrophe. There appears to be a major lumber operation with stacks of logs and beams on the beach and on racks ready for transport. The poles in the foreground may be the kind of bamboo tubes used for salt mining. Unfortunately, Graham did not include the city name in his caption. It is most likely that he took this photo while he was stationed at Yibin (Suifu).
• Precious Stone Buddhist Temple on the Yangtze
  In the foreground one can see the tiled rooftops of houses with laundry hanging to dry on ropes strung between them. Behind these is a sheer rock face with a multistoried temple on its face. The temple is formed like a pyramid with a terminal point at the top of the cliff.
• 08 Chongqing Shoreline with Houses on Stilts
  The large brick and stucco buildings of Chongqing can be seen on the top of the hill in the background. The main subject of the image are the houses on stilts on the Yangtze River harbor. One can also see laundry hanging to dry in front of these houses' windows. Chinese wooden houseboats or junks are parked along the shoreline in the foreground.
• 07 Wind-Box Gorge on the Yangtze
  Two other images of this location note that this photograph is taken looking downstream as the Yangtze flows from Sichuan to the coast. The Wind-Box Gorge is located between Fengjie Xian (Kweichowfu), Sichuan, and Wushan, Sichuan. It is the shortest and narrowest of the three gorges, providing the most dramatic views and the most dangerous houseboat rides. As a travel narrative by Edward Wallace shows, it is possible to see and photograph this view when travelling upsteam by simply looking off the back of the boat.