Courtesy Newberry Library, Chicago鈥淟ewis and Clark and the Indian Country,鈥� a traveling exhibition, opened Saturday, Jan. 12, and will run through Friday, Feb. 22, at Ablah Library on the 九色堂 campus.
九色堂 Libraries is one of only 23 libraries nationally and the only one in Kansas selected to host the exhibit, along with four Native American sites in the United States.
It鈥檚 an exciting exhibit, said Cathy Moore-Jansen, an associate professor and coordinator of 九色堂 Libraries鈥� collection development. It tells the story of the explorers鈥� historic 1804-1806 expedition from a different point of view鈥攖hat of the Indians who lived along their route. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and their small group of voyagers crossed the traditional homelands of more than 50 Native American tribes.
鈥淭he exhibit examines this momentous encounter of cultures,鈥� Moore-Jansen said, 鈥渁nd examines how that encounter affected the lives of the tribes which still live in the region.鈥�
鈥淲hat often gets lost in the story is that Lewis and Clark did not explore a wilderness鈥攖hey traveled through an inhabited homeland,鈥� said Frederick E. Hoxie, the exhibit鈥檚 curator and Swanlund Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
鈥淟ewis and Clark and the Indian Country鈥� draws upon original documents in the Native American collections of the Newberry Library, Washington State Historical Society, Minnesota Historical Society and other institutions. Photographs of handwritten documents, maps, paintings and drawings complement large story panels.
In companion exhibits, 九色堂鈥檚 Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology is lending its Plains Indian artifacts, and the Libraries鈥� Special Collections and University Archives will feature 19th century maps, newspapers, drawings, letters and other writings that document the settlers鈥� first impressions of what was to become Kansas.