The Lewis and Clark Expedition through Primary Sources

I've written several times about the amazing primary sources that are available online through the Library of Congress. Other great resources that you shouldn't ignore are the local libraries, museums, and historical societies hold primary sources that can help students uncover local history.

You can definitely make the argument that the Lewis and Clark Expedition isn't "local history", but if you visited downtown Historic St. Charles, like our fourth grade, and look at our Missouri-focused fourth grade curriculum, you would understand why most educators in the St. Louis and St. Charles area think of Lewis and Clark as "local".

Last week we had a chance to add to that local feel by incorporating primary sources into student learning that are available at the Missouri History Museum Library and Research Center. Our fourth grade teachers initially asked me about bringing primary sources into the student learning around the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Through a collaboration with librarian Emily Jaycox and Archivist Molly Kodner, we have developed a field trip that highlights essential elements of Lewis and Clark's expedition through the use of primary sources.

Prior to the field trip, experience revolves around the June 20th, 1803 letter from Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis. I broke the letter up into six parts. Prior to the field trip, students summarized each part in small groups and shared out to the class. The letter gives an incredible overview of the key goals of the expedition as well as how important it was to Jefferson that their findings be documented and copied. The danger of the expedition comes out as well with Jefferson suggesting they bring surgical equipment and providing safeguards for the information in case of their death.

At the Library and Research Center, Emily Jaycox gives an introduction to the Library and Research Center's mission as well as some history of the building. Molly Kodner then shares letters from Meriwether Lewis to William Clark and from Clark to Lewis that were written prior to the expedition. In addition, she shares a letter of credit from Thomas Jefferson for the men on the expedition. They both do an incredible job of introducing the space and setting the stage for the learning. Students are always in awe of the primary sources, especially the letter with Jefferson's signature.

From there, students, divided into groups, rotate through three stations, each one meant to focus on a major element of the expedition.

Molly Kodner shares speech and transcript for students to analyze

Focusing on Native Americans, students analyze a speech read by Lewis to Native American tribes as well as a list of questions posed to the nation tribes. Students groups typically react to Lewis describing the Native Americans as Jefferson's "red children" as well as him asking questions about whether the Native Americans murder each other. Several students perceive the interactions to be disrespectful or inconsiderate on the part of the Corp of Discovery and it is common for students to wonder about how the color of the Native Americans' skin impacts how they are viewed by men on the expedition and others in the U.S.

The focus on maps looked at how these maps were made and how limited resources forced them to be creative in how they documented all of their findings. Students notice how the maps focus on the water ways and discussion by students typically leads to them talking about how people used those rivers as a main means of travel. Students also compare those maps to earlier maps of North America, noticing how much the U.S. and European countries did not know about the land and waterways west of the Mississippi River.

Students investigate ways Clark described flora and fauna

At my station, analyzing the journal entries that focus on flora and fauna, students are first asked to describe Lewis and Clark in one or two words. Typical answers are "Explorers", "Brave", and "Adventurers". I then ask students to look carefully at the journal entries and them to look for evidence that Clark uses observation and description to help others in the U.S. picture these plants and animals in their minds. Students typically point out Clark's use of color, measurement, comparison, description of texture, detailed counting of things like fin points or tail feathers, and location of the animal or plant. If a student doesn't wonder out loud, I usually model the wondering of how they had time to achieve such detail. Students talk about the time it would take to make the detailed drawings,  infer that the animals were killed at some point so that Clark could make such detailed observations, and wonder aloud if animals like the fish described were later eaten. I end by asking other ways Lewis and Clark could be described in one or two words. In our last visit, students described Lewis and Clark as "Scientists", "Writers", and "Artists" and I shared that while we don't talk about Lewis and Clark and the Expedition in science, writing, or art, these men really were all of those things.

Viewing an actual journal from the expedition

While we don't use a formal analysis like the Library of Congress' Primary Source Analysis Tool, students do much more than simply look at these primary sources. They make careful observations, reflect on those observations to come to understanding, and ask questions about the expedition and time period. Most important to me, this experience with primary sources allows thinking and learning that can not happen in any other way. I have not seen a textbook, movie, or web site that leads students to question how Lewis and Clark viewed the Native Americans, to discover how critical mapping the journey was, or to describe these people as artists, writers, and scientists. The use of these primary sources allows student to take their own journey of discovery as they learn about the discoveries of Lewis and Clark.