It’s possible to live in Beloit and not know who Roy Chapman Andrews is, but it’s not likely if you live in Mongolia. An inspiration for the character of Indiana Jones, Andrews was a past president of The Explorers Club, director of the American Museum of Natural History, and according to Shannon Fie, professor and co-chair of anthropology, “the only Beloit person to appear on the cover of Time Magazine.”

Andrews made multiple expeditions to the Gobi Desert, and he saw it all – bandits, sandstorms, and the most beautiful views in Mongolia – all through his binoculars, which are, Fie would learn, as iconic as Indie’s hat and whip. In her role as President of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society, Fie didn’t hesitate to apply for the two-week expedition led by Bob Atwater. She was one of thirty people working on five research teams – archaeology, biology, geology, paleontology, cultural heritage – with local Mongolian collaborators.

In preparation for the trip, Fie packed Andrews’ binoculars in a bright pink case from TJ Maxx, along with her sun umbrella and sleeping bag. Sara Appelbee, Andrew’s granddaughter, recently donated the binoculars along with other materials to Roy Chapman Andrews Society.

 

“Everyone wanted to recreate photos of Roy,” Shannon says with a smile. “See it through his eyes.”

Despite being President of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society, Shannon had to convince Bob Atwater she wanted to go on the expedition. Her enthusiastic response to being chosen, “Liberal arts education gets you far.” On the streets of Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, Fie happened to meet Kiernyn Orne-Adams ’16. Kiernyn, a creative writing major and anthropology minor, was assigned to the paleontology team, which found and cast a fossil of a small dinosaur.

Working on Pottery Hill, a thirteenth-century settlement and likely spur of the Silk Road, Fie got a glimpse into Andrews’ world, no binoculars needed. Able to speak only the language of ‘archaeology’ with Urta, their in-country lead, she reconnected with the feelings her students experience in their field work. “I was able to be fully present. I had no responsibilities. We would find things, hold them out in our hands, and then ask Urta ‘bag it or toss it?’”

As the two weeks ended, new beginnings were already taking place – another expedition was being planned, and the first-ever chapter of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society was being established in Mongolia. The purpose of the brief expedition wasn’t new discoveries, but to honor Andrews and contribute more data to known sites. Andrews’s expeditions to the Gobi remain significant, especially for the discovery of the first dinosaur egg nest (Beloit College has a cast on display in the Center for the Sciences).

Back on campus, Fie carefully removed the Roy Chapman Andrews’ binoculars from a new leather case she bought at the Black Market in Ulana Bataar. “Liberal arts education takes you to the end of the world,” says Fie exuberantly, and after one hundred years or two weeks, no view ever remains unchanged.