Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery
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Full-Text Resources | Page-Image Resources | Image Resources | Other Resources | Events | Exhibitions
Thomas Jefferson studied the history of geography from the emerging world views of the ancients to the latest exploratory charts and maps of the American West. He amassed a remarkably thorough and varied collection of explorers’ accounts, geographic works, and maps for his personal library. Jefferson’s intellectual curiosity drew him into an accelerating, three-hundred-year-old quest to find a water route to Asia, and he personally planned the successful expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark from 1804 to 1806.
Full-Text Resources
Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806;
with introduction, notes, and index by Reuben Gold Thwaites, 1904-05. History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark;
written by Nicholas Biddle and edited by Paul Allen, 1814.A journal of the voyages and travels of a corps of discovery, under the command of Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clarke;
by Patrick Gass, 2nd ed., 1810.Catalogue of Catlin's Indian Gallery of Portraits, Landscapes, Manners and Customs, Costumes, &c. &c., Collected During Seven Years' Travel Amongst Thirty-eight Different Tribes, Speaking Different Languages
by George Catlin, 1837.
Image Resources
George Catlin Indian Paintings Collection from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
George Catlin (1796-1872) abandoned a law career to pursue his interests in art. In 1830 he met William Clark in Saint Louis and with him visited tribes living near the Mississippi River, and in 1832 he traveled up the Missouri River to Fort Union, North Dakota. His portraits of the Mandans, with whom he stayed in 1832, are today among his best-known works. By 1834, after crossing the southern plains to paint the Comanche, Catlin had visited more western tribes than had any other artist of his day. This image collection contains over 400 portraits of Native Americans and cultural documentation landscapes from the exhibition (and accompanying catalog) "George Catlin and his Indian Gallery," organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2002. Of particular note is the authoritative identification of the tribal affiliations of the portrait subjects.
Illustated volumes on Westward Exploration by George Catlin:
- An account of an annual religious ceremony practised by the Mandan tribe of North American Indians (1865)
- Catalogue of Catlin's Indian gallery of portraits, landscapes, manners and customs, costumes, &c.., (1837)
- Catlin's North American Indian portfolio (1845)
- Illustrations of the manners, customs & condition of the North American Indians (1876) [Vol. 1] [Vol. 2]
- Die Indianer Nord-Amerikas und die während eines achtjährigen Aufenthalts unter den wildesten ihrer Stämme erlebten Abenteuer und Schicksale (1848)
- O-kee-pa, a religious ceremony, and other customs of the Mandans (1867)
Additional Illustrated Volumes on Westward Exploration:
- Audubon, John Woodhouse. Illustrated notes of an expedition through Mexico and California (1852)
- Catesby, Mark. The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama islands (1731) [Vol. 1] [Vol. 2]
- Choris, Louis. Voyage pittoresque autour du monde (1822)
- Collot, Georges-Henri-Victor. A journey in North America (1826)
- Duflot de Mofras, Eugène. Exploration du territoire de l'Orégon, des Californies et de la Mer Vermeille... (1844)
- Harvey, George. Harvey's Scenes of the primitive forest of America, at the four periods of the year (1841)
- Maximillian, Prince of Wied. Travels in the interior of North America (1843) [Vol. 1] [Vol. 2]
- Warre, Sir Henry James. Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory (1848)
Other Resources
- Lewis and Clark Discussion Forum
The Information Community hosts an online discussion forum dedicated to events related to the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.
- The Biddle/Allen Edition Archive
Contains letters, images, and press items that document the publication of the Lewis and Clark journals.
- Go West
Across America
A children's interactive feature from the National Geographic Society, where decisions are made about what to carry, when to advance, and which river fork to take. These are compared with decisions made by the Corps of Discovery with brief quotes from the Lewis and Clark journal.
- Journals
of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Online makes available the text of the celebrated Nebraska edition of the Lewis and Clark journals, edited by Gary E. Moulton. The project launched February 15, 2003, with approximately 200 pages from volume 4 of the journals (May 23–July 14, 1805). The project will add approximately 250 pages each month until the entire journals of Lewis, Clark, Floyd, Gass, Ordway, and Whitehouse are available.
- Lewis
and Clark Among the Indians of the Pacific Northwest
A curriculum project for the history of the Pacific Northwest in Washington State schools, developed by: Washington State University Department of History.
-
Lewis & Clark Data Consortium
A project from the National Lewis and Clark Education Center at the University of Montana, the Information System section of this site contains Landsat images and GIS resources.
- Based on the Ken Burns film, this PBS Site features biographies of the members of the Corps, a timeline, maps, excerpts from the Journals, and interviews with historians.
- An educational resource guide for grades 6-12 on the Corps of Discovery from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
- Lewis and Clark
Trail Heritage Foundation
The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation was incorporated in 1969, coordinating efforts to promote the heritage of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
- The National
Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial
The National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial is a coalition of agencies created to mark the 200th anniversary of Lewis and Clark's three-year journey. The site includes a calendar for fifteen signature events that trace the expedition's route, beginning January 18th, 2003, at Monticello, and ending September 23, 2006, in St. Louis, Missouri.
- UVa Lewis
and Clark Bicentennial Project
The University of Virginia has a particular interest in the bicentennial celebration of the expedition because both leaders were Virginians and because Thomas Jefferson, the architect of the venture, founded the University. The Project represents the University's chief effort to contribute to the national conversation and to the emerging body of scholarship on the expedition and its role in North American history, and sponsors conferences, colloquia, and lectures, as well as scholarly research.
- Jefferson's
West: A Lewis and Clark Exposition
January 14 - 19, 2003, Monticello and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
An exposition to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the expedition with six days ceremonies, exhibitions, demonstrations, and talks by performers and historians.
- Lewis
and Clark: Observations on an Expedition
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri, in conjunction with the Missouri Historical Society and the Spanish Colonial Research Center of the National Park Service, hosts a symposium to be held March 20-22, 2003. The emphasis of the sessions of this three day symposium will be on topics relating to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, their preparations, personnel, relations with European governments, relations with Indian nations, the difficulties of their journey, artifacts of the journey, and other subjects of interest.
Exhibitions
- Lewis
and Clark: The Maps of Exploration 1507-1814
The exhibition, open from November 11, 2002-May 5, 2003 at the UVa Library, examines the planning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the cartographic tradition that made the expedition possible. The exhibition shows the evolving views of the American continent and the “Passage to the Indies” as they appear in maps up to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It focuses especially on the earliest cartographic representations of America and the Northwest Passage, the results of early expeditions to the Mississippi basin in search of a route to the Pacific Ocean, and the early exploration of the Pacific Northwest.
- Honoring
the Legacy of Lewis and Clark: Native American Art and the Nineteenth Century
American West
This exhibition pays homage to Native American art and culture with objects from the University of Virginia Art Museum’s permanent collection and private loans, on view from January 11–March 2, 2003.
- Natural History Pioneers:
Flora and Fauna of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Exhibit on the plants and animals that the Corps of Discovery encountered on their journey of exploration from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. On view January 16 through December, 2003 at the UVa branch of the Virginia Museum of Natural History.
- Campfire Stories
with George Catlin
Drawing on the collection of paintings and sketches by George Catlin held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, this online exhibit and educational tool offers interpretations and commentary on Catlin's artworks from a diverse set of individuals, including those of curator Peter Matthiessen, Emery Battis (reading Catlin's own words), and several contemporary Native American leaders and artists. The site is divided into four thematic sections, including one on the conflict between the European American concept of land as contrasted with the communal resource approach taken by Native Americans. The site includes digitized images of one of Catlin's notebooks, including transcriptions of each page.
- Rivers,
Edens, Empires: Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of America
This Library of Congress exhibition, opening in late July 2003, will present a century of exploration that features the expedition of the Corps of Discovery as the culminating moment in the quest to connect North America by means of a waterway passage.
- The Ethnography
of Lewis and Clark: Native American Objects and the American Quest for Commerce
and Science
Many of the objects Lewis and Clark acquired during their expedition were directly transferred to Jefferson and Monticello and displayed in the "Indian Hall," but the collection was dispersed after Jefferson's death. Research at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University has identified some sixty objects that may be linked to the Lewis and Clark. In December 2003 the Peabody will install an exhibit showcasing some of the original Native American objects acquired by Lewis and Clark. The book Objects in History: Lewis and Clark's Indian Collection, by Peabody Associate Curator Castle McLaughlin, is due out in 2003. The Peabody is also collaborating with Monticello and with Native American artists to create objects that will replace those that once hung in Jefferson's Indian Hall. "Framing the West at Monticello: Thomas Jefferson and the Lewis and Clark Expedition" opened January 16, 2003.
- Lewis & Clark:
The National Bicentennial Exhibition
The exhibition, opening in January 2004 at the Missouri Historical Society, will follow the Corps of Discovery from the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers through the human geography of western North America.
