Journal article
On the Paper Trail in the Lewis and Clark Herbarium
Bartonia, (62), pp.1-24
01 Jan 2004
Abstract
The Lewis and Clark expedition produced a series of journals of more than one million words, and in the two centuries since the expedition in 1803 to 1806 a flood of books and articles has detailed their travels and travails. In this paper we explore a neglected portion of the expedition: the labels and notes associated with the Lewis and Clark Herbarium, a collection of 222 dried, pressed plants housed in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia herbarium (PH). We also comment on an additional 10 specimens of Lewis that reside at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. This residue of written records includes notes by Meriwether Lewis (primary plant collector on the expedition), Frederick Pursh (German botanist who first studied the plants), Thomas Meehan (Academy of Natural Sciences botanist who re-discovered the plants in Philadelphia after nearly a century of oblivion in storage), and several other nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first century botanists and other researchers who have found occasion to annotate the specimens. The notes reveal insights into the collection, curation, taxonomy, and research uses of the Lewis and Clark Herbarium during the 200 years since Lewis made his gatherings. Much remains to be learned from a closer study of this littleexamined part of the paper trail of Lewis and Clark.
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Details
- Title
- On the Paper Trail in the Lewis and Clark Herbarium
- Creators
- Richard M. McCourtEarle E. Spamer
- Publication Details
- Bartonia, (62), pp.1-24
- Publisher
- Philadelphia Botanical Club
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Identifiers
- 991019319239604721