PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s westward trek mapped a route to the Pacific in the early 1800s, and the “Botany of Nations” explores the plants they collected along the way.
“Meriwether Lewis collected about 222 plants on that journey,” says Caitlin O’Brien, Executive Director of Development for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
Tours are offered once a month to the botany collection at the Academy of Natural Sciences to see those pressed specimens in the Lewis and Clark Herbarium.
“We are a force for nature. We really want to be able to inspire individuals to care for their world in a multitude of different ways,” she says.
“Botany of Nations” adds a new layer of perspective to the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
“The Indigenous voices are at the heart of this exhibition and those are the stories that we want to highlight,” she says. “We partnered with Indigenous cultural historians from different communities and nations across this country.”
Natural science specimens are on view, alongside scientific tools taken on the expedition.
“We have a plant press, an octant,” says Marina McDougall, Senior Curator at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
“We have the original journal that Clark used on the trip,” says O’Brien.
“Clark was the mapmaker. Everyone on the Corps were journalists,” says McDougall. “We have an amazing map that was created by an Arikara elder named Too Né.”
“He was one of the Indigenous representatives who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their journey. We think that this map was drawn en route,” says O’Brien.
Seven plant specimens are highlighted through different mediums.
“We have interactives that give you a sense of the trail,” says McDougall. “I can figure out down to the county where the plant was gathered.”
Plants were re-collected and included alongside some of Lewis and Clark’s original herbarium sheets.
“This exhibition was created in the field,” says O’Brien.
“We also have this amazing film layer created by the filmmaker Cass Gardiner, who went on the trail and talked to Indigenous cultural keepers, sharing stories about three of the plants,” says McDougall.
Other features include a hand-carved digging stick and a plant portal voiced by co-curator Enrique Salmón.
“He’s Rarámuri, which is from northern Mexico,” she says. “So many Indigenous cultures look at plants as relatives. They see themselves as interconnected with the world around them.”
“We hope visitors walk away with a deeper understanding of the Lewis and Clark journey, and also a deeper understanding of the ecological knowledge that indigenous communities hold, and the value in that knowledge,” says O’Brien.
“Botany of Nations” is on view through February 14, 2027, at The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
For more information:
“Botany of Nations: Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery” – The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
Link to Tickets for “Botany of Nations”
Link to Tickets for Botany Exploration Monthly Tour
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103
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