Synopses & Reviews
When Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the Corps of Discovery on their epic journey across the American West, they were acting not only as territorial explorers but also as diplomatic emissaries from Jefferson's U, S. government to the Indian peoples they encountered. This fresh examination of the rare and beautiful Native American objects related to the Corps' expedition brilliantly challenges the conventional wisdom about Lewis and Clark and places their journey in the context of a complex process of mutual discovery between representatives of very different cultures.
In Arts of Diplomacy, anthropologist Castle McLaughlin demonstratesthat Native Americans were active participants in these historic encounters. Selecting objects of significance to bestow as gifts or use in trade, they skillfully negotiated their own strategic interests in their dealings with the exploring party. McLaughlin and her team of researchers tell a story of Native peoples who were sophisticated traders and cultural brokers already engaged in a global exchange of goods and materials decades before the captains' arrival on the scene.
The vehicle for this analysis is the extraordinary collection of late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Native American objects from the Prairie, Plains, and Pacific Northwest that is housed at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. Long thought to represent the only remaining ethnographic items acquired by Lewis and Clark, some of the pieces are shown to belong to a newly identified collection of early Native American materials that was assembled in the 1820s by Lt. George C. Hutter, Clark's nephew by marriage.
Hillel S. Burger's exquisite color photography and contributions by art historian Gaylord Torrence, anthropologist Anne-Marie Victor-Howe, objects conservator T. Rose Holdcraft, Wasco fiber artist Pat Courtney Gold, and Mandan-Hidatsa community activist Mike Cross enrich this ground-breaking analysis.
Social anthropologist Castle McLaughlin is associate curator of Native American ethnography at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
Review
"Arts of Diplomacy reveals for the first time how important American Indians were to Lewis and Clark's expedition. Castle McLaughlin shows us that Native objects of diplomacy and exchange were and are alive, and that they are meant to teach our children in generations to come." Gerard A. Baker, Mandan-Hidatsa, Superintendent of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
Review
"[L]avishly illustrated and well-written....[A] big, beautiful book about beautiful things and wondrous people." Great Falls Tribune
Review
"This groundbreaking art book is a dazzling addition to Lewis and Clark libraries....There is a stunning power in seeing the actual objects collected by the explorers two centuries ago. And this book is also an important testament to the vibrant Indian cultures flourishing in the territory when the expedition passed through." Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Review
"This book is superbly done. It will be of interest to historians of Native America and Lewis and Clark, as well as to those curious about the process and politics of collecting." Pacific Northwest Quarterly
Review
"Essays by McLaughlin...delve into the importance of trade to the expedition and describe the objects lovingly and in great depth." Library Journal
Review
"[T]he authors so thoroughly unpack the 'text' of each object...that its owner emerges from the historical mists, if not as an identifiable individual, at least as someone whose personal and cultural life readers can vicariously appreciate." Booklist
About the Author
Castle McLaughlin is Associate Curator of Native American Ethnography at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.
Hillel S. Burger is a professional photographer.