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 (2), who in turn selected an old friend from the Army, William Clark (4), as second in command.  The portraits here are engravings by Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770-1852), whose engravings of noted historical figures are some of the best known of Federal-era America.

Usually thought of as a scientific enterprise, the Lewis and Clark expedition was also an important undertaking for political and commercial interests.  Jefferson hoped as much to spur the extension of 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.  Above all, the success of the expedition promised to aid in fulfilling what Americans thought was inevitable: extending American sovereignty from sea to sea.

Lewis headed west from Philadelphia in the summer of 1803.  After making final preparations, 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 (1).  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, these 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 journals here include Lewis’s Eastern Journal (7), documenting his August 30, 1803 departure from Pittsburgh on the journey westward; Codex A (6); and a facsimile of Codex J (5), displaying the sketch of the Eulachon, one of the best known and most popular Lewis and Clark images. This exhibition quality facsimile is one of several created with funding from the Pew Foundation to facilitate preservation of the original journals.

The Library’s journals were donated by Thomas Jefferson in 1817 and by Nicholas Biddle in 1818.  The Eastern Journal and John Ordway’s journal were 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.    The Map of Lewis & Clark’s Track
This map, drawn by Captain Clark, served as the frontispiece of the “Biddle edition” of the History of the Expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark. The map shows the portion of the track taken in the Western portion of the trip, from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.

The original copper plate is in the collection at the American Philosophical Society.

2. & 3. Mezzotints of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark By Saint-Mémin, C.B.J. 
These mezzotints of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were engraved by Charles Balthazar Julien Fevrét de Saint-Mémin, a refugee from the French Revolution who arrived in America in 1793, studied drawing, and taught himself engraving.  Over the next eighteen years he engraved portraits of over 1,000 American subjects, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Paul Revere.

The American Philosophical Society’s William J. Campbell collection includes proofs of hundreds of Saint-Mémin engravings.

4.    Horn Lizard, 1806
The specimens brought back from Lewis and Clark’s travels were in high demand. Many prominent artists were eager for the chance to draw the unusual creators. This drawing, by Charles Willson Peale, of a horn lizard is an example.

Codex J5.    Codex J. January 1 – March 20. 151 pages. Facsimile
Among the most popular of the Lewis and Clark images is that of Oncorhynchus kisutch, coho salmon, more commonly known as the white salmon trout.  Sketches such as these provided rare glimpses of animals previously undescribed in the forms found by Lewis and Clark. This exhibition quality facsimile was made in 1999 as part of a Pew Charitable Trusts grant to preserve key documents of American history. The original is also in the collection of the American Philosophical Society.

6.    Codex A. May 13 – August 14, 1804. 184 pages
Thirteen of the original journals of Lewis and Clark were bound in red morocco.  All were carried throughout the journey in a water-proof tin box, and most likely were removed only during those moments when the explorers actually sat down to record their observations.

7.    Lewis’s Eastern Journal. August 30 to December 12, 1803. 252 pages
This journal is Lewis' 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.