Introduction
About this Exhibition
In 1995 the University of Virginia Library produced the
exhibition and accompanying catalogue of Lewis and Clark
maps entitled "Exploring the West from Monticello:
A Perspective in Maps from Columbus to Lewis and Clark.”
Since the opening of the original exhibition, the exhibition
web site has received more than 163,000 hits and library
staff have shown the maps from the exhibition to nearly
700 scholars, map enthusiasts, and school children. As the
numbers suggest, the story of Lewis and Clark’s heroic
expedition across the country remains perennially popular
among history buffs and, as the 200th anniversary of the
explorers’ departure on the expedition approaches,
the subject is steadily growing in popularity.
"Exploring the West from Monticello: A Perspective
in Maps from Columbus to Lewis and Clark,” was the
brainchild of Guy Benson, a member of the Lewis and Clark
Trail Heritage Foundation. The Trail Heritage Foundation
meets annually to celebrate the route that Lewis and Clark
followed on their voyage of discovery. In the summer of
1995, the foundation met in Charlottesville to acknowledge
Jefferson’s hometown as the beginning of that trail.
Mr. Benson wanted to create an exhibition that would display
the maps that Jefferson had owned as he planned the Lewis
and Clark expedition.
Happily, the McGregor Library in the Special Collections
Department of the University of Virginia Library already
had in its collection nearly all of the maps needed to tell
the story of the planning of the expedition. The exhibition
was very popular while it was on display from July to September
1995. But the real impact has lived on well beyond the physical
exhibition. The University of Virginia Library published
an accompanying catalogue with the support of the Library
Associates and with a grant from the Virginia Foundation
for the Humanities. Nearly 2,000 copies of this catalogue
have been distributed. Also, after the physical exhibition
came down, we created a web version of the exhibition using
the exhibition text and photographs of the maps—a
brand-new idea at the time.
Over the years, the catalogue, the web site, and, indeed,
the very subject of Lewis and Clark have remained so popular
that, as the bicentennial approached, the Library wanted
to be involved in the celebration. In 1999, University of
Virginia President John Casteen appointed a committee of
academics from around the University to commemorate the
Lewis and Clark bicentennial. Plans for the celebration
include speakers, colloquia, student involvement, and much
more, representing an interdisciplinary initiative that
has drawn together members from departments around the University
as diverse as anthropology, architecture, environmental
science, and history. The Library, for its part in the University
celebration and commemoration of the expedition, is remounting
the Lewis and Clark exhibition and republishing the catalogue.
The exhibition will be on display in the McGregor Room of
the University of Virginia Library from November 2002 through
May 2003.
Lewis and Clark: The Maps of Exploration 1507-1814
reflects a re-envisioning of the original exhibition and
catalogue. We have added some new items that were acquired
since the first exhibition and we have omitted a section
on navigational instruments that was in the original version.
In 1995, when digital technology was in its infancy, we
used black and white photographs of the maps in the catalogue
and on the web site. We have now re-imaged all of the maps
using state-of-the-art digital technology and have used
these images both in this newly designed web site and in
the book Lewis and Clark: The Maps of Exploration 1507-1814.
Our online visitors now are able to study and zoom in on
the maps in full-color detail.
Heather Moore Riser
Special Collections
University of Virginia Library
Visiting the Exhibition
Lewis and Clark: The Maps of Exploration 1507-1814 will
be on display in Special Collections in Alderman Library,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va., from November
11, 2002, through May 5, 2003. Special Collections is open
Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday and Saturday,
9a.m.-5p.m. when classes are in session.
Half-hour, docent-led tours are offered:
Tuesdays and Fridays at 11:00 AM
Through May 2
Reservations are not necessary for tours.
Tour schedules for the Spring 2003 semester are forthcoming.
Verify hours of operation during intersession and summer
session by visiting http://www.lib.virginia.edu/hours/libhoursnf.html
or call 434-924-3025 for more information.
Purchase
the book Lewis and Clark: The Maps of Exploration 1507-1814
Visit the original exhibition Exploring
the West from Monticello: A Perspective in Maps from Columbus
to Lewis and Clark