A History of the Lewis and Clark Journals

by Paul Russell Cutright

When President Thomas Jefferson dispatched Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their great exploratory expedition of the lands west of the Mississippi, the journey was destined to become the most famous and significant American land expedition in history. Jefferson must have realized the timeless importance of the mission, for he urged the captains to keep multiple records of all they saw and experienced during the journey. Those records, dutifully kept from the departure of the expedition in 1803 to its conclusion in 1806, provided invaluable information about the wonders of the American West. In the next 150 years the journals were published in several versions scrupulously authentic, dubiously revised, and complacently counterfeit. This book is the first comprehensive account of the various versions and of the persons responsible for them. It tells of the dedicated scholarship, inspired judgment, and exciting discovery of new materials, as well as the misguided enthusiasm and journalistic skulduggery that marred the publishing history of the journals, field notes, and letters of members of the expedition. The author breaks new ground in his use of previously unpublished letters written by the editors of the two major editions. An appendix introduces a recently discovered manuscript version of the journal kept by one of the expedition members. The book also includes an appraisal of books and articles written about the expedition and a resume of the illustrative materials, sketches, and maps that enriched the accounts. A History of the Lewis and Clark Journals is thus itself a significant expedition into a historic period in America's past.

Genres: History

336 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2000

Reviews

[Brook Allen]

This was a surprisingly fascinating look at how the compilation of Lewis & Clark's journals, letters, maps--everything that constitutes informative material on their Western exploration--was compiled.

Frankly, in researching this material, I sort of groaned as I began reading this book. I knew it contained information I needed, but I expected Cutright's work to be dry. I was pleasantly surprised. And he did a fantastic job of approaching the material from different angles. As a fellow author, I was especially impressed at how the man organized his work to present to the reader how different men edited and put together the Journals through the past two-hundred years. Truly, writing this book was a MONUMENTAL task.

One nitpick--Cutright spend a few pages slandering historical fiction. He used a few books (my condolences to the authors!) to remark about how historical fiction changes the historical record, detracts from the true history, etc. This book was published forty or more years ago, and since then, historical fiction has become a beloved genre and one that often draws people who THINK they have no interest in history into becoming hungry for it. I happen to be an author of historical fiction, so I hope Mr. Cutright would be flattered to know that his book is an important part of my research to use FACTUAL information in my novel!

Don't get me wrong--this is scholarly stuff and this isn't an easy pleasure-read. However, if you're curious about how the different editions of the Lewis & Clark Journals came to be--THIS is the book for you.

[Josh]

After the untimely death of Meriwether Lewis, his account of what happened on his trek West with William Clark through the Louisiana Purchases became lost (to a certain degree). Bits and pieces of the journals turned up but a number of key documents weren't found for many years until someone decided to clear out there attic and found some of the documents in a desk.

This book focuses of how the various editions of the Lewis and Clark journals came to publication. I found it quite interesting (but that is probably because I am a bit of a history nerd). But I do warn you that if you don't have an interest in historiography (the history of history), this book will probably be rather dull.