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- Topic: Northwest Explorers
History Day at Special Collections: Topic: Northwest Explorers
Special Collections is a great resource for all your Pacific Northwest primary source needs!
Background Information
Many explorers, both American and European, spent the 18th and 19th centuries exploring the Pacific Northwest. UW Special Collections in particular has many resources on George Vancouver, who explored Puget Sound in 1792; Lt. Charles Wilkes, who led the first U.S. Navy expedition to explore the Pacific Ocean in 1838; and Lewis and Clark, whose 1805 trek through the Louisiana Purchase ended in Washington and Oregon.
Digital Collections
- Various images from Charles Wilkes' Narrative of the U. S. Exploring Expedition, 1845 have been scanned by Special Collections. They are from a variety of artists but some of them are sketches by Charles Wilkes from his explorations.
Primary Sources
- "In camp on White Bear Island" : conflict with Indians, singular adventures of the Captains Lewis and Clarke, and command of the U.S. soldiers in the vast unexplored West Lewis and Clark's journals with new commentaryCall Number: 979.512 L58aLin
- A chart shewing part of the coast of N.W. America : with the tracks of His Majesty's sloop Discovery and armed tender Chatham 18th century map of Vancouver's travelsCall Number: G3350 1798 .V3 1950z (Size D)
- A new Vancouver journal on the discovery of Puget Sound Diary for a member of the crew for the Chatham, Vancouver's shipCall Number: 979.511 V27mn
- A voyage of discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and round the world, 1791-1795 : with an introduction and appendices Vancouver's writingsCall Number: G420 .V22 1984
- Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with related documents, 1783-1854Call Number: 979.512 L58ja
- Titian Ramsay Peale, 1799-1885, and his journals of the Wilkes Expedition.Call Number: G170 .P6
- Vancouver voyage Pamphlet file Clippings and ephemera related to Vancouver's exploration of the Puget SoundCall Number: 979.5 (Pacific NW- Discovery and Exploration- Vancouver Voyage)
- Bern Anderson papersVancouver historian's typescripts of various logs from Vancouver's voyages or of the published version of them.
- Clarence Bagley PapersHistorical research and collected ephemera on Wilkes.
- Edmond S. Meany papersHistorical research and some collected ephemera (speeches and documents) on Wilkes, Vancouver, and Lewis and Clark throughout.
- George Vancouver letter, 1798Letter to J. Sykes on January 11, 1798
- Thomas Wickham Prosch papersBox 2, Folder 6 contains a "Report on Oregon Territory" by Com. Charles Wilkes from 1842