Synopses & Reviews
The official companion volume to the Congressionally mandated
Lewis and Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition
Two hundred years ago Lewis and Clark, two men shaped by Jefferson's Enlightenment ideas, encountered an Indian world they only partly understood. Their discoveries and the artifacts from their journey reveal the contrasts, similarities, and creative exchange of ideas that occurred when different worlds met each other face-to-face. Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide expands and transforms a familiar story by exploring fully for the first time the cultural landscapes the expedition traversed.
Author and exhibition curator Carolyn Gilman draws from 50 different lending institutions to reassemble for the first, and likely the last time the authentic artifacts of Lewis and Clark's journey across then-Indian lands. The result is a breathtaking new view of both the equipment the expedition used and the color, complexity, and diversity of the cultures they encountered. Because of the fragility of artifacts, the book documents more fully than the exhibition itself the equipment Lewis and Clark carried and the rich diversity of what was collected in this historic encounter of two worlds. To complete the picture, Native Americans share their experiences since Lewis and Clark's visit, and embrace a hopeful vision for the future.
Lewis and Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition tours nationally from 2004-2006.
About the Author
Carolyn Gilman is the curator of Lewis and Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition, organized by the Missouri Historical Society. James P. Ronda is the H.G. Barnard Chair in Western American History at the University of Tulsa.
Series Description
Lewis and Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition dates:
- January-August 2004: Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, MO
- November 2004-March 2005: Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA
- May-September 2005: Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, CO
- November 2005-March 2006: Oregon Historical Society, Portland, OR
- May-September 2006: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC