Four passport documents granted to journalist Archibald T. Steele (1903-1992) for his journey to Tibet in 1944.

Each framed separately. Sizes are 20 1/4″ x 16″ (28 1/4″ x 21 1/2″ framed); 29″ x 26 1/2″ (36 1/2″ x 34″ framed); 32″ x 26 1/2″ (40 3/4″ x 33 3/4″ framed); 32″ x 24 1/2″ (framed 39 3/4″ x 31 3/4″)

Published in the Chicago Daily News in 1944: ” A passport for Lhasa is hard to obtain. I had wanted for 12 years to visit…not until this year did the time seem propitious to make an application to the Tibetan government. The reply came more promptly than had expected and was favorable. The passport was an impressive document two feet square and of a tough native made paper. Dated in the Fifth month of the Wood-Monkey year, the dozen lines of neat calligraphy fixed the route I was to follow and ordered headmen along the way to accord every reasonable facility to the American visitor. The seal of the Tibetan government- the Kashag – gave authority to the document . From the 1993 publication In the Kingdom of the Dalai Lama: I guess the question most often asked of a foreign is: “What was the most exciting experience of your career? “The experience that made the deepest and most lasting impression was my journey across the Himalayas into forbidden Tibet. My journey was a time of peaceful reflection and acceptance of the differences in religious beliefs and ways of worshiping. All countries and races are attempting to achieve a more perfect life and after-life. This is the underlying quest of all of the people of the world. My purpose in distributing this story is to renew interest in solving the continuing problem of this beautiful, gentle country.”  Archibald T. Steele