The Louisiana Purchase now seems like one of the biggest steals in history.
But when the treaty was ratified in October 1803, not everyone thought it was such a good idea.
People wondered what the United States would ever do with all that land, and worried that trying to govern such a vast expanse could turn the young country into an empire at odds with its democratic beginnings.
The Lewis & Clark Expedition failed in many key ways, but it did convert public opinion about the $15 million land purchase and spurred a massive westward expansion that transformed the nation.
“The report that they brought about what was out there so whetted the American appetite and imagination that suddenly the West turned not into a problem but into an opportunity,” said Missouri Historical Society historian Carolyn Gilman. “It was the beginning of Manifest Destiny. It was the beginning of the idea of an America that went all the way to the Pacific.”
While other explorers of the Americas are largely forgotten by everyone except history buffs, the Lewis & Clark Expedition still looms large in the popular imagination. Not for nothing has it been called the moon landing of its day: The logistics of crossing an uncharted continent – and returning – were nearly as daunting.
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The bicentennial of the overland trek, which began in May 1804 and ended in September 1806 with the group’s return to St. Louis, has become something of a historic event in its own right, spawning a host of celebrations.
Among the most important is “Lewis & Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition,” which opens today at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and runs through Aug. 21. Officials expect the $7 million exhibit to draw more than 200,000 people, putting it on a par with some of the museum’s blockbusters.
What sets this exhibit apart is its incorporation of 130 artifacts connected to the expedition or owned by its participants. In fact, this is the largest assembly of such objects since the expedition itself. Their presence imbues the exhibit with historical legitimacy and gives it almost palpable emotional power.
The Missouri Historical Society organized the exhibit in collaboration with seven other institutions housing major expedition holdings, including the Library of Congress and American Philosophical Society.
Many institutions vied to be stops for the touring exhibit; the Museum of Nature & Science was one of five lucky enough to land it.
“We had to beat them off with a stick,” said Gilman, who served as the exhibit’s curator. “And we finally decided we had to develop some criteria to limit the number of institutions that we could consider.”
In the end, the organizers selected only lenders to the exhibit and museums that could meet the unusually demanding security and environment requirements. And they tried to achieve as broad a geographical mix as possible.
Denver is the exhibit’s third stop. It will be seen next at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, Ore. (November-March), and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. (May-September 2006).
It is a smartly curated show.
In the many cases where the original artifacts are missing or simply not available, the organizers have substituted pieces that are as close as possible to what the expedition members would have have used or encountered in their travels.
In many cases, these selections in their own way are every bit as rare and important. This is especially true of many of the superb American Indian pieces, such as a famed bear-claw- patterned shield from about 1820.
The exhibit proceeds more or less chronologically, with the objects divided into themed sections. Enlarged reproductions of drawings and paintings by such early explorer-artists as Karl Bodmer and Alfred Jacob Miller do much to set the scene.
Because of the massive scope of the expedition’s mission and the range of equipment and materiel needed to pull it off, this exhibit cuts across an extraordinary number of fields.
Visitors with a passion for plants, guns, maps, American Indians or Western history, just to name some of the areas covered, will find plenty of interest in this exhibit.
Best of all, it is not some musty gathering of old objects. It is a chronicle of an almost unbelievable adventure, an undertaking of mythic proportions.
“I think it’s one heckuva of a story,” Gilman said. “It’s got drama. It’s got men pitted against the wilderness, but also it’s got some wonderful human moments. It’s just a story that people will never get tired of telling.”
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
WEBSITES
Check out these on-line resources for information about Clark & Lewis:
Missouri Historical Society-includes fantastic images of the artifacts in the exhibition, essentially an on-line version of the exhibit. A version of this is in the CDRom in the press kit.
University of Nebraska, Lincoln-Online, searchable text of nearly all of the journal entries.
Links to information and events around the country.
National Park Service-good background on the Corps.
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Library of Congress-documents related to the expedition
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Smithsonian-searchable information and images of the plants and animals discovered.
Smithsonian-background on the mapping techniques
Includes background information on the IMAX film.
Background related to the Ken Burns documentary.
Non-profit educational group, some good background on the expedition.
Private educational site, with several interesting, in-depth articles.
Lewis and Clark: recommended books
Recommended by DMNS staff
Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide. Carolyn Gilman, ed.
(Exhibition catalog)
Lewis and Clark for Dummies, by Sammye J. Meadows and Jana Prewitt Sawyer. (A thorough, general introduction)
The Journals of Lewis and Clark.
(There are many editions available, ranging in price from $4-$100. The 13 volume set, edited by Gary Moulton is considered the most complete and authoritative.)
Scenes of Visionary Enchantment: Reflections on Lewis and Clark by Dayton Duncan. (a number of excellent essays on the impact of the expedition)
*Lewis and Clark: Doctors in the Wilderness. Bruce C. Paton
(Another good overview in with a focus on the medical aspects of the expedition)
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. By Stephen Ambrose.
Recommended by the Missouri Historical Society (in-depth on the themes of the exhibition)
See their website http://www.lewisandclarkexhibit.org/9_0_0/ for detailed list.
Gilman, Carolyn. Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books and Missouri Historical Society Press, 2003.
Adler, David A. A Picture Book of Lewis and Clark. New York: David A. Adler, Holiday House, 2003
Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.
Blumberg, Rhoda. The Incredible Journal of Lewis and Clark. New York: Rhoda Blumberg, Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1987.
Brown, Joseph Epes. Animals of the Soul. Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1992
Caduto, Michael J., and Bruchac, Joseph. Keepers of Life: Discovering Plants Through Native American Stories and Earth Activities for Children. Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing, 1994.
Corbett, Katharine T. In Her Place: A Guide to St. Louis Women’s History. St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press, 1999.
Cotter, John L., Michael Parrington, and Daniel G. Roberts. The Buried Past: An Archaeological History of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.
Cutright, Paul R. Contributions of Philadelphia to Lewis and Clark History. Philadelphia Chapter Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Inc, 2001.
Cutright, Paul Russell. Lewis and Clark, Pioneering Naturalists. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1969.
DeVoto, Bernard, ed. The Journals of Lewis & Clark. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1953.
Foley, William E., and C. David Rice. The First Chouteaus: River Barons of Early St. Louis. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983
Herbert, Janis. Lewis and Clark for Kids. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2000.
Hobbs, Christopher. Handmade Medicines: Simple Recipes for Herbal Health. Loveland, Colorado: Interweave Press, Inc., 1998.
Jackson, Donald. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents 1783-1854. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978.
James, Caroline. Nez Perce Women in Transition, 1877-1990. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1996.
Kroll, Steven. Explorers of the American West. New York: Steven Kroll, Holiday House,1994.
Medicine Crow, Joseph. From the Heart of the Crow Country. New York: Orion Books, 1992.
Moulton, Gary E., ed. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 10 vols. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Plants on the Trail with Lewis and Clark. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2003.
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Animals on the Trail with Lewis and Clark. New York: Clarion Books, 2002.
Primm, James Neal. Lion of the Valley: St. Louis, Missouri, 1764-1980. 3d ed. St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press, 1998.
Rolston, III, Holmes. Environmental Ethics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988.
Ronda, James P. Finding the West: Explorations with Lewis and Clark. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2001.
Ronda, James P. Lewis and Clark among the Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
Slaughter, Thomas P. Exploring Lewis and Clark: Reflections On Men and Wilderness. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.
Spamer, Earle E., and Richard M. McCourt. The Lewis and Clark Herbarium. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (PH-LC): Digital imagery study set. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Special Publication 19. 2002.
Standing Bear, Luther. My Indian Boyhood. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.
Warhus, Mark. Another America: Native American Maps and the History of Our Land. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.
Weiley, Russell F., ed. Philadelphia: A 300 Year History. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1982.
