In the spring of 1938, two young American explorers, Wilbur L. Cummings, Jr. (1914-1943), and F. Bailey Vanderhoef, Jr. (b. 1913) set off on an expedition into Tibet. Leaving from the small Indian hill station of Kalimpong, they crossed the Himalayas - their principal goal, to document the religious art and the famous "lama dances" at the monastery of Palkhor Chöde, located in the city of Gyangtse in western Tibet. Their photos of the yearly festival of the unveiling of the monastery's famous massive silk thangka appeared in the June 12, 1939 edition of Life magazine, some of the first color images of Tibet to appear in the American popular press. Mr. Cummings and Mr. Vanderhoef compiled narratives of their journey. Their memoirs, along with their extraordinary collection of photographs from the expedition, are here made available to the public for the first time. The website also celebrates the opening of an exhibition, A Tibet Expedition 1938: Selected Gifts from Two Explorers, at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. That exhibition, commemorates the gifts of paintings, sculpture and ritual objects made by Mr. Vanderhoef's and Mr. Wilbur L. Cumming, Jr. to the museum. These gifts comprise an important part of the SBMA's permanent Tibet collection. Finally, this project coincides with a special academic quarter focusing on Tibetan and Himalayan art at UC Santa Barbara, made possible by a generous grant from the Shelly and Donald Rubin Foundation. THIS PUBLICATION IS A JOINT PROJECT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA AND THE SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.