Soon after Thomas Jefferson became President in 1801, he organized an effort to explore the West, a long-time interest of his. To lead this expedition, Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, who in turn chose an old friend from the Army, William Clark, as second in command.

Usually thought of as a scientific enterprise, the Lewis and Clark expedition was also an important commercial and political undertaking. Jefferson hoped as much to extend the fur trade further into the interior as to advance pure knowledge, and he wished to determine which parts of the country would be most amenable to white settlement. On the political front, Lewis and Clark were enjoined to cultivate alliances among the Native Americans and to blunt Spanish and British influence in the region.

Lewis headed west from Philadelphia in the summer of 1803 to prepare for the expedition. The forty-odd member Corps of Discovery set off from St. Louis on May 14, 1804, ascending the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, and then turning westward. From North Dakota to the west coast, Lewis and Clark passed largely through lands that no Europeans had ever seen before reaching their goal, the Pacific, in November, 1805. On the return leg of their journey (begun on March 3, 1806), the two improvised an even more ambitious plan, splitting their party in two for a time to cover more territory. The expedition ended with their arrival in St. Louis on September 23, 1806.

Thirteen of the original journals carried by Lewis and Clark were bound in red morocco. The remaining seventeen were either bound in other materials or were left unbound. During the journey, the red morocco journals were stored in a water-proof tin box, and were probably removed only during those free moments in camp when the explorers actually sat down to record their observations. The fact that the journals suffered no visible damage during the journey is testimony to the importance attached to their work.

The Library’s journals were donated by Thomas Jefferson in 1817 and by Nicholas Biddle in 1818. The Eastern Journal was discovered on a shelf at the Biddle estate, Andalusia, in Bucks County, PA in 1913. They were deposited at the Library in 1915 and were formally donated by Charles J. Biddle in 1949.

1.    Michaux subscription list, 1793

Ten years before Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set forth, French botanist André Michaux sought support for a westward expedition of discovery. He found a patron in Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State and Vice President of the APS. In 1793, Jefferson drafted instructions for Michaux to explore “the interior of North America from the Mississippi along the Missouri, and Westwardly to the Pacific ocean.”

In addition to the scientific benefits, the expedition aimed to provide insights into the political and economic potential of the region. Unfortunately, the expedition foundered in Louisiana’s tense political climate. Upon learning of Michaux’s efforts to aid French Minister Genêt against the Spanish, Jefferson withdrew his support for the expedition. His plans for Michaux’s expedition formed the basis of the instructions he provided to Lewis and Clark.

The bottom half of the document lists the pledges made by various supporters of the expedition, including Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Knox, James Madison, Robert Morris, and George Washington. The subscription list is the only object known to have been signed by the first four Presidents of the United States.

The Michaux subscription list sat uncataloged in the APS’s basement for about 130 years, until it was discovered in 1979. A Pew Foundation grant supported its restoration.

2.    Codex K, Meriwether Lewis, March 21 – May 23, 1806

This journal includes plans for a Chinookan house and sketches of canoes and other tools.

3.    Codex A, William Clark, May 13 – August 14, 1804

This journal includes wildlife and astronomical observations.

4.    Codex H, William Clark, October 18, 1805

Clark’s journal entry describes a meeting with Native Americans. The map depicts the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers.

5.    Eastern Journal, Meriwether Lewis, August 30, 1803

This journal is Lewis’s narrative account of the river trip from Pittsburgh to the winter camp of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, together with meteorological observations. There are also entries by William Clark. Of the 126 leaves in this journal, 31 contain questions by Nicholas Biddle, with William Clark’s replies, dated 1810.

6.    Codex E, Meriwether Lewis, ca. July 4, 1805

“Draught of the falls and portage,” a two-page hand-drawn map of the Missouri River.

Suspended is a clasp used to bind the journals in the field. It was removed in 1893 and returned to the APS five years later.