Painted Buffalo Robe (Mandan), Accession number PM#99-12-10/53212. Courtesy, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.


CONTENTS

Recreating Jefferson's Entrance Hall

Internet Resources for Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery

Lewis & Clark Posters

Primary Source Quote

Technology Tip

Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Resources

Teaching News

Quote of the Month

The March
Electronic Field Trip is

"Jefferson's West"
March 6, 2003

New!
Just in time for
Women's History Month
(March)

Video: "Our Common Passage"

We Also Recommend

Hands-On History:
Soldier's Haversack

The centerpiece of the bicentennial observance at Monticello is Framing the West at Monticello: Thomas Jefferson and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, a major installation in the Entrance Hall of Jefferson's home.

The exhibition approximates the appearance of Jefferson's "Indian Hall" circa 1807-09, when he displayed natural history specimens and Native American objects sent or brought back by members of the expedition alongside other items reflecting his encyclopedic interests. Read the rest of the story.

2003 marks the bicentennial of the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Not surprisingly, such a remarkable occasion has generated a remarkable number of related web sites. Finding the most useful Lewis and Clark related sites could be daunting, indeed! Join Charles Coon as he shares the results of his search for the most useful sites for social studies teachers.

To commemorate the bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, the Monticello (Thomas Jefferson Foundation) Education Department has produced a poster exhibition entitled Jefferson's America: Lewis & Clark and Western Exploration. The posters trace the Expedition from Jefferson's vision and Meriwether Lewis' preparations in Philadelphia to the explorers' travels across the country to the Pacific Ocean. Learn More!

Primary sources can be extremely provocative and useful in a classroom setting. Few things speak more eloquently about the past or a person's experiences than their own words. This month's selection features an excerpt from the journal of William Clark.

Colonial Williamsburg offers a variety of quality instructional materials dealing with Lewis and Clark, 18th-century life, and how historians and archaeologists learn about the past, including:
—Hands-On History: Soldier's Haversack (object kit)
—Nature, Art, and Science (videotape and web content)
—The Eye of the Beholder: Looking at Primary Sources (lesson unit)
—Discovering the Past Through Archaeology
(classroom simulation)
—Archaelogy: Revealing Our History (videotape and web content)
—Archaeology for Young Explorers (book)

Learn More!

Are you familiar with the National History Day program? It's a year-long education program that engages students in grades 6 through 12 in the process of discovery, research, and interpretation of historical topics. Students produce dramatic performances, imaginative exhibits, multimedia documentaries and research papers based on research related to an annual theme. This year's theme is Rights and Responsibilities in History. All projects are evaluated at local, state, and national competitions held each spring and early summer. For more information and specific competition dates, visit the National History Day site.

Daniel J. Boorstin, Historian