Telling the story : changing perceptions of the Lewis and Clark journals

Graduation Date

2006

Document Type

Thesis

Program

Other

Program

Thesis (M.A)--Humboldt State University, Social Science, Emphasis - Teaching American History, 2006

Committee Chair Name

Delores Nason McBroome

Committee Chair Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Perceptions, Lewis and Clark, Humboldt State University -- Theses -- Teaching American History

Abstract

The collective journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition have been objects of fascination and interpretation ever since the Corps of Discovery's homecoming in 1806. Despite President Thomas Jefferson's direction that Meriwether Lewis prepare the journals for publication, Lewis' untimely death in 1809 left the editing of the expedition's records – and much of the storytelling – to a series of writers and editors of varying interests, abilities and degrees of integrity. Understandably the several major editions and many other versions of the story have reflected the lives and times of the editors. For instance, ornithologist Elliott Coues was the first – 89 years after the fact – to acknowledge the expedition's many scientific and ethnological observations. Successive generations of activists have – for their own purposes – appropriated iconic expedition members, emphasized or even invented anecdotes, and supposed discoveries. Scholarly and public interest in the journals has peaked during this bicentennial period, as often happens around the times of major anniversaries of the expedition. Past cycles of interest have encouraged more scholarship and occasionally have led to amazing discoveries of previously lost or forgotten journals, collections of letters and papers of the principals, and other documents related to the expedition. Most recently this has culminated in the completion of the edition of the journals generally recognized as the most complete and accurate to date, Gary E. Moulton's thirteen-volume Definitive Nebraska Edition.

https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/theses/j3860932j

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