Re-examining the Lewis and Clark Journals at Monticello

Thomas Slaughter holding up a facsimile of one of the journals

Thomas Slaughter
speaking at Monticello

Download the free
Windows Media Player

Need Help?
Check out our
Streaming Help Page

Comments
on this Feature?
E-mail the webmaster
(Please include information
on your connection speed)

» » Re-examining the Lewis and Clark Journals

Re-examining the Lewis and Clark Journals

On a windy evening at Monticello, Thomas Slaughter, author and professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, gave an "entertaining, witty, and consequential" analysis of how the journals were created and what their authors might have been trying to accomplish (from May 13, 2003).

(Talk sponsored by McLean Faulconer, Inc.)

PART I: "A problem not fully appreciated " (3:28)
Professor Slaughter provides a first clue that the journals
are not always what they profess to be.

Windows Media Player

Dial-up (56K)

Broadband (300K)

PART II: "Just so you think I might know what I'm talking about" (3:52)
Mr. Slaughter gives two more examples of why the journals
should not always be taken at face value.

Windows Media Player:

Dial-up (56K)

Broadband (300K)

PART III: "Time, part 1" (3:27)
Mr. Slaughter discusses how the creation of the journals does
not always match their apparent chronology.

Windows Media Player:

Dial-up (56K)

Broadband (300K)

PART IV: "Time, part 2" (4:26)
The discussion continues with evidence of how the authors
often added to earlier entries and lost track of days and dates.

Windows Media Player:

Dial-up (56K)

Broadband (300K)

PART V: What you learn (4:49)
Mr. Slaughter argues that a understanding the methods and
motivations of the authors only makes them more heroic.

Windows Media Player:

Dial-up (56K)

Broadband (300K)

PART VI: A long "chain of communication" (3:19)
Mr. Slaughter describes the complex chain of communication
with Native American Indians along the trail and how it
was portrayed in the journals.

Windows Media Player:

Dial-up (56K)

Broadband (300K)

Questions and Answers

Precision as clue (2:01)

Windows Media Player:

Dial-up (56K)

Broadband (300K)

The anchovy (4:49)

Windows Media Player:

Dial-up (56K)

Broadband (300K)

Lewis's depression (2:28)

Windows Media Player:

Dial-up (56K)

Broadband (300K)

The personalities of Lewis and Clark (2:18)

Windows Media Player:

Dial-up (56K)

Broadband (300K)

Connections and confusions (4:26)

Windows Media Player:

Dial-up (56K)

Broadband (300K)