(Illustration from Karl Bodmer's Travels (1839), Rare Books & Special Collections, USC Columbia)

An Exhibition from Rare Books & Special Collections
at Thomas Cooper Library, USC Columbia 

Medford Library, University of South Carolina at Lancaster
April 10 - May 12, 2008*
including
Tuesday, April 22, at 6:30 pm:  
An Illustrated Lecture by Dr. Patrick Scott

See sample images from Karl Bodmer's Travels in the Interior of North America (1839)

Just over 200 years ago, two young men, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, led a small group of explorers on an epic journey to find a land route across the American continent to the shores of the Pacific.   Gathering first in St. Louis in the fall of 1803, the "Corps of Discovery" set out in May 1804, reached the Pacific coast in November 1805, and returned in triumph to St. Louis in September 1806.  They had traveled more than 8,000 miles, by boat and horse and on foot, over a period of 864 days.  They mapped their route in detail, brought back much new scientific and geographical information, and made the first European contact with several groups of Native Americans.

Many of the earliest books about the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the American West, were acquired on first publication for the newly-founded South Carolina College library, which opened its doors to students in 1805, while Lewis and Clark were still making their journey.  This exhibition draws from those books and later gifts to tell the story of the expedition.   Alongside Thomas Jefferson's report to Congress on their success, and the maps and reports from the expedition itself, the exhibition includes illustrated books from later explorers who followed the same routes and encountered some of the same Native American peoples. 

Major items on display include McKenney and Hall's folio History of the Indian Tribes (1836-1844), and John James Audubon's Birds of America (1827-38) and Audubon and Bachman's Quadrupeds of North America (1845-48).  Of special importance is Karl Bodmer's Travels in the Interior of North America (1839), because Bodmer provides detailed images of life among the Mandan and other peoples, in the very places that Lewis and Clark had wintered.

*In connection with the exhibit, the Friends of Medford Library and USC Lancaster are hosting an illustrated lecture about Lewis and Clark and the books in the display by Dr. Patrick Scott, Director of Special Collections at USC Columbia, in Medford Library on Tuesday, April 22, at 6:30 p.m. The winner of the Elliott White Springs Contest for Fiction will also be announced at this event. For further information, contact Medford Library, 803-313-7060.