Author Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Sea of Glory, describes the U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842, in which six ships of explorers and scientists, commanded by Charles Wilkes, set out to explore the Pacific Ocean and eventually discovered Antarctica. Philbrick also covers the story of the whaling ship Essex's shipwreck and related shipwrecks, to lead into the story of the Exploring Expedition
Landon Y. Jones, vice president of the National Council for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, covers the life history of William Clark, including his life after the expedition, when he took part in the seizing of the West from Native Americans.
Author and performer Clay S. Jenkinson gives an in-character presentation of the life and explorations of Lewis Meriwether, focusing particularly on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He follows the presentation with an in-character question-and-answer session.
French-Canadian reporter Richard Hetu details the roles of French Canadians in the Louis and Clark Expedition. Hetu focuses particularly on Toussaint Charbonneau, husband of Sacagawea. The presentation includes slides.
The lecture's audio is also available for download as a mp3 file.
Professor Joyce E. Chaplin covers Benjamin Franklin's creation of one of the first accurate charts of the Atlantic Gulf Stream in 1768 and the history of scientific research in the British colonies, both by Franklin and other scientists, that allowed the creation of such a chart.
The escarpment's scenic canyons were home for Indians of several cultures, including the Folsom culture of more than 10,000 years ago. The region's historic era began when Spanish explorer Coronado traveled across the plains in 1541. After Spanish colonies were established in New Mexico around 1600, two-way trade between Plains Indians and New Mexicans began and gradually increased. The Plains Apache acquired horses and became proficient buffalo hunters. They were displaced by the Comanche, who arrived in the early 1700s and dominated northwestern Texas, until they were finally subdued in the 1870s. During the Comanche reign, trade prospered and New Mexican buffalo hunters, known as ciboleros, and traders, known as Comancheros, were frequent visitors to this area. Las Lenguas Creek, a few miles south of the park, was a major trade area, and a site excavated on Quitaque Creek has produced artifacts indicating that it may have been a cibolero camp.
The park offers tours and educational and recreational events and programs.
History is complicated and in our attempts to simplify it for young children we often change it, sometimes drastically. The story of Christopher Columbus is one example. For generations we have passed down myths about this man. We have taught children that he alone believed the world was round, when, in truth, many if not most people of his time understood that the world is round. We have taught that he discovered a new world. How could he discover it if people were already living there? We have also taught that he died not realizing what he had 'discovered.'
Elementary school teachers have a unique challenge: they teach all subjects rather than focus on one. Not surprisingly, it is difficult to be experts in everything.
One way to address this challenge is to allow students to recognize the questions. We don't have to have all the answers. In fact, when it comes to history it is not possible to know all the answers. Historians continue to study a wide range of primary sources and to disagree with previous assertions and with each other. It is important that students be allowed to wrestle with this uncertainty rather than to blindly accept what we state as fact. Even the youngest children can understand that adults are still learning, and can enjoy learning along with us.
If you are interested in tackling the complexities of Christopher Columbus, there are some great places to start. James Loewen's book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, is a good one and helpful for subjects far beyond Columbus. The Library of Congress has an exhibit entitled 1492: An Ongoing Voyage that includes interesting information on Columbus's coat of arms. An examination and discussion of his coat of arms can encompass quite a bit of information about the man and his achievements. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History's June 2007 History Now includes an article detailing the benefits and difficulties faced by both Columbus and his men and those people already living in the New World. If you are interested in the geography of Columbus's journeys or his logs, one individual has created a site which includes maps and information about the logs, navigation, the ships, and the crew.
One thing children can understand about Columbus and what he achieved was that he did so by "standing on the shoulders of giants" (a phrase from Isaac Newton). Columbus learned from those who came before him, about navigation, geography, and other cultures. Learning from others and building on that knowledge are strategies we should be helping our students develop. That is a worthy lesson to take from Columbus.
Try our quiz on Christoper Columbus's portraits!
Willie Balderson, manager of public history development at Colonial Williamsburg, discusses Jamestown settler Anas Todkill, whom he portrays in a Colonial Williamsburg electronic fieldtrip, and the research required to portray a character who took part in early explorations of Virginia.
This archive provides more than 81,000 images and 1,000 texts on the history and culture of California. Images may be searched by keyword or browsed according to six categories: history, nature, people, places, society, and technology. Topics include exploration, Native Americans, gold rushes, and California events.
Three collections of texts are also available. Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive furnishes 309 documents and 67 oral histories. Free Speech Movement: Student Protest, U.C. Berkeley, 19641965 provides 541 documents, including books, letters, press releases, oral histories, photographs, and trial transcripts.
UC Berkeley Regional Oral History Office offers full-text transcripts of 139 interviews organized into 14 topics including agriculture, arts, California government, society and family life, wine industry, disability rights, Earl Warren, Jewish community leaders, medicine (including AIDS), suffragists, and UC Black alumni.
This well-designed site presents the Nebraska edition of the Lewis and Clark journals, edited by Gary E. Moulton. The site provides the complete text of all the journals from the 18031806 expedition, as well as introductions, prefaces, and sources. The material is searchable by keyword and phrase.
There are 29 scholarly essays about the expedition. An image gallery offers 124 images of pages from the journals, 95 images of people and places, and 50 images of plants and animals encountered on the expedition. The maps section includes 12 explanatory maps and nine images of maps from the journals. Additionally, there are 27 audio excerpts of journal readings and eight video interviews with the editor of the project. The website stands as an outstanding resource for researching the history of the Lewis and Clark expedition.