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Learning expedition

Written on: August 6th, 2009 by: in Learning Journeys

I took the afternoon off today to visit the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia- one of the best museums in the area, in my opinion. I have a friend there who arranged for ‘back stage passes’ for my daughter to see some Lewis and Clark Expedition-related items in their collection, since she has been interested in this voyage since doing a third grade reading assignment on it- Seaman: the dog who explored the West with Lewis and Clark– I guess that she’s starting her learning journey early! We’re fortunate to live in an area that has such a wealth of cultural institutions covering every aspect of human ingenuity and interest- this gives us the ability to take the topics that interest us in our reading and create incredibly memorable, tangible experiences around them. I think that this sort of process is important in how kids find their creative path and perhaps their lifelong interests- becoming interested in a subject or observation, reading about it, having that interest manifested in some concrete way that drives them to find out, talk about, or read more about it.

We were able to see some amazing things in the Academy’s library and its botany collection- Dr. Alina Friere-Fierro showed us the Lewis and Clark Herbarium (part of which shown in the picture), which consists of the plant specimens collected by the expedition as it passed from St. Louis to Oregon. Part of the reason for the expedition was to document the range of plant and animal life in the newest regions of the U.S., so while outfitting the expedition in Philadelphia, Lewis took time to learn how to mount and preserve plant specimens, and upon their return the noted European botanist Frederick Pursh examined the collection and created the first survey of American plant life, Flora Americae Septentrionalis. Scientists continue to use the herbarium today- Dr. Friere-Fierro explained how one recent researcher measured the levels of carbon dioxide in some of the samples as part of an investigation into global warming. In the library, we were able to see a map of the expedition, still bound in the original 1814 edition of the History of the Expedition, as well as some collections of minerals collected by members of the expedition. The map had been another thing that had originally piqued Lucy’s interest, after seeing another copy appraised at $50,000 on Antiques Roadshow!

Meriwether Lewis wrote an account of the expedition, which has been republished either in its entirety or in any number of abridged or edited versions, and there are a number of great books about the expedition, including Stephen Ambrose’s very popular Undaunted Courage, and I Should be Extremely Happy in Your Company, a fictionalized account of the expedition as seen through the eyes of Sacagawea.

I’ll have to start planning another Philadelphia trip, this time to the American Philosophical Association- the actual journals from the expedition are currently on display there. We won’t be able to get quite as close to the items as we did today, but it will be amazing to see them.