Botany of Nations at The Academy of Pure Sciences

What to Anticipate

The Corps of Discovery — made up of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and practically 40 different males — launched into an expedition in 1804 to discover the newly acquired western portion of the nation. Alongside the way in which, they encountered Indigenous individuals, who shared cultural plant information with the explorers.

In Botany of Nations, guests can see over 200 of these preserved crops — which have been hand-picked by Lewis — and study extra in regards to the Indigenous websites the place they have been collected and the way Indigenous peoples used crops all through historical past.

The exhibition additionally showcases the explorers’ journal passages, illustrating how the Indigenous individuals they met revered and celebrated the crops, animals and land round them.

Botany of Nations is created in collaboration with Indigenous-led nonprofit Native Contexts which gives methods for managing, sharing and defending digital heritage. The exhibition additionally options steerage from a steering committee of ethnobotanists, Indigenous information keepers and students, together with co-curator Enrique Salmón (Rarámuri /Tarahumara) and Native Contexts’ founding govt director Stephany Runninghawk Johnson (Oglala Lakota).