A virtual fellow's forum with Patrick Spero, Librarian and Director of the American Philosophical Society Library from July 8, 2021. Recording available.
Patrick Spero will discuss the history of the American Philosophical Society’s “Michaux Subscription List,” a document that Thomas Jefferson played a central role in creating. The Subscription was raised in 1793 to underwrite an expedition proposed by French botanist Andre Michaux to explore the interior of North America all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Presaging the Lewis and Clark expedition, the history of the Subscription List and Michaux’s ultimate expedition reveals much about early American science and politics – and Thomas Jefferson’s place in both worlds.
About the Speaker
Patrick Spero is Librarian of the American Philosophical Society. He is author of Frontier Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West (Norton, 2018) and Frontier Country: The Politics of War in Early Pennsylvania (Penn Press, 2016) and co-editor of The American Revolution Reborn: New Perspective for the 21st Century (Penn Press, 2016).
Recorded Program
