About the Exhibit
Purdue University Libraries will be hosting the Lewis & Clark and the Indian Country traveling exhibition from October 12-December 14, 2007, in the Hicks Undergraduate Library. Purdue will be the first to host this 1,000 square foot exhibition, which will visit a total of 23 libraries, spending six weeks at each. The Tippecanoe County Historical Association, the West Lafayette Public Library, and the Tippecanoe County Public Library will be partnering with Purdue Libraries to host programs and events coordinating with the exhibit.
Based on original documents in the rich Native American collections of the Newberry Library and other institutions, the exhibit examines Lewis and Clark’s expedition to the Pacific Ocean and back, its encounter with more than 50 native tribes along the way, and the long term effects of that encounter on the Indian country and United States history. The Corps of Discovery’s interactions with Native Americans brought together cultures with very different world views, motivations, and expectations, and resulted in two centuries’ of dramatic change in the region.
Frederick E. Hoxie, Swanlund Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, curated the exhibit.
Click here to download a listing of related events as a PDF file.
"Lewis & Clark and the Indian Country: Two Hundred Years of American History" was organized by the Newberry Library, Chicago, in partnership with the American Library Association. The traveling exhibition is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: great ideas brought to life. Other major funding has come from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Sara Lee Foundation is the lead corporate sponsor; Ruth C. Ruggles and the National Park Service provided additional support.
The traveling exhibition is based on a major exhibition of the same name mounted by the Newberry Library to mark the 200th anniversary of Lewis and Clark’s expedition.
