Holdings Information

Bibliographic Record Display

• Author/Creator:Clark, William, 1770-1838.
  
• Title:William Clark field notes, 1803-1805.
  
• Physical Description:69 items (in 1 case and 2 broadside folders)
  
• Links:View a description and listing of collection contents in the finding aid
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• Yale Holdings

  Holdings Record Display

  • Location:BEINECKE (Non-Circulating)
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  • Call Number: WA MSS S-897
    
  • Status:Not Checked Out
    

   
• Notes:Found in the papers of General John H. Hammond in 1953, and given to the Beinecke Library by Frederick W. and Carrie S. Beinecke.
  
• Biographical / Historical note:William Clark (1770-1838), co-captain of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
  
• Summary:The field notes consist of 69 sheets of paper of varying sizes and shapes on which William Clark wrote journal entries, drew maps, made lists, and calculated distances during the first sixteen months of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The entries date from December 13, 1803 to April 3, 1805, and record activities at Camp Dubois during the winter of 1803/1804, during the voyage up the Missouri from May to November, 1804, and to a lesser degree the winter at the Mandan villages in 1804/1805. Clark used his field notes to create his more formal journals, which were sent back down the river in the spring of 1805 when the expedition resumed its journey.
  The journal entries through November 1804 were made almost daily; during the winter of 1804/1805, the entries are fewer and farther apart and written on one sheet. Several sheets contain speeches, notes, lists, and descriptions rather than journal entries, including speeches and notes made by Clark at the council with the Oto Indians, and his calculations on the number of men and officers required to protect Indian trade.
  
• Publications:Osgood, Ernest S. ed. The Field Notes of Captain William Clark, 1803-1805. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964.
  
• Format:Archives or Manuscripts
• Indexes/Finding aids:Finding aid available.
  
• References:Goddard & Kritzler, 50.
  
• Cite as:William Clark Field Notes. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
  
• Subjects:Clark, William, 1770-1838.
  Lewis, Meriwether, 1774-1809.
  Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806)
  Indians of North America--Commerce--West (U.S.)
  Oto Indians.
  Overland journeys to the Pacific.
  Missouri River.
  West (U.S.)--Description and travel.
  
• Subjects (Local Yale):Overland journeys to the Pacific--1803.
  
• Occupation:Explorers United States.