Lewis brought along a small reference library often called the Traveling Library. Presented here are pages with information about a few of these books.
Related Pages
He was the first literate traveler to cross the North American continent north of Mexico, beating Meriwether Lewis and William Clark by nearly 12 years. The Lewis and Clark journals often echo Mackenzie’s journal.
The expedition’s enlisted men were obliged to comply with the basic military rules and regulations contained in two distinct official documents that had been written in the initial heat of the Revolutionary War.
As a reference, Lewis purchased the second edition (1784) of Richard Kirwan’s Elements of Mineralogy. Although Lewis and Clark had the book at hand throughout the expedition, its usefulness as a field guide was limited.
This article shows methods for measuring heights and distances as described by Owen’s Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1754), a book in the expedition’s traveling library.
Known now as the “Astronomy Notebook,” this extraordinary document has been an obscure and often neglected detail in the history of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Transcribed in full with commentary by Robert Bergantino.
What was it about du Pratz’s History of Louisiana that so interested Lewis? The book not only provided geographical information, it was the model that Lewis and Clark were to follow when reporting to President Jefferson.
For more about the Traveling Library, see Stephen Dow Beckham, Doug Erickson, et al., The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Bibliography and Essays (Portland, Oregon: Lewis & Clark College, 2003).
