We are finally winding down our Lewis & Clark trips! One of the final goals was to see the journals written by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during the Corps of Discovery Expedition. We were very fortunate to learn that a fellow resident had worked as CFO at the APS/American Philosophical Society. Carl (with Paula) was willing to make an appointment with the APS Library and to take us to see the original journals! We saw them, and so much more!
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| Library Hall (1958-1959, by Sydney E Martin) with a façade replicating that of The Library Company building (1789-1791, by William Thornton in Federal style), including a 1980s copy of a statue (c 1959, by Lewis Iselin, Jr) of Benjamin Franklin, which itself was a replica of the original 1792 statue by Francesco Lazzarini |
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| This library chair (1760-1780, attributed to Benjamin Franklin) was used by the president of the Society, starting with Benjamin Franklin, but ending with the president who died while sitting in the chair when presiding over an APS meeting in 1931 |
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| From Volume II of APS Transactions containing Benjamin Franklin's Maritime Observations, a map by Franklin, who was the first to chart the Gulf Stream |
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| The David Library collections of Sol Feinstone were merged with APS in 2019, including this note from Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Franklin, asking for a review of the Declaration of Independence |
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| To show that not everyone had nice handwriting, here is a draft title page for On the Origin of Species in the hand of Charles Darwin in 1859 |
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| Although General George Washington wanted to distance himself from the drafting of the United States Constitution, he did make comments in this 1787 letter to Henry Knox |
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| A first copy of the United States Constitution (1787) was annotated by Ben Franklin |
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| A significant document was discovered in 1979 by an APS intern: the Michaux Expedition Subscription List written by Thomas Jefferson, (then Secretary of State) with instructions for the French botanist, André Michaux, to lead a scientific expedition from the Mississippi River, along the Missouri River, to the Pacific Coast, in order to study the animals and plants, inhabitants, geography, and geology, in 1793 |
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| Although the Michaux Expedition did not come to fruition, this document was the basis for the instructions given to Lewis and Clark for the Corps of Discovery Expedition; the subscription list is also noteworthy as the only document known to be signed by each of the first four Presidents of the United States: Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison |
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| Oh, my! the original codices/journals from the Corps of Discovery Expedition! |
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| William Clark was known for executing very accurate maps; this map shows the mouth of the Columbia River |
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| A daily record was kept of temperature, weather, and wind twice a day, plus notes on water conditions |
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| Amazing drawings of flora and fauna are found throughout the journals |
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| Thomas Jefferson developed a table of Comparative Vocabularies of the indigenous peoples of North America, through which research he hoped to find the origins of these peoples, and also to determine whether these peoples appeared to commit fewer crimes because unlike in Europe, they were not governed by "too much law and too much coercion" |
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| A tiny Bee Book, a journal of beekeeping by John Benbow, Jr, of Cowley Hall Mills, Middlesex, England, with amusing anecdotes and illustrations |
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| An item that has not yet been processed, with bundles of small slips of paper recording vocabularies of Arctic indigenous peoples |
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| Drawing (1796) by APS member William Bartram of Arethusa divaricata/Rosebud Orchid along with a sundew and Venus flytrap plants |
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| More recent papers include the daily log of a NASA technician who witnessed the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 26, 1986 |
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| A diagram in the journal of Baruch S Blumberg, which outlines his discovery of the Australian antigen, a biomarker for hepatitis B; for which he won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1976 |
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| Carl's former office at APS, was considered the most vauable office real estate in Philadelphia, having windows on two sides and a ground floor view of Independence Hall and park-like Independence Square |
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| Also in the office was a Tall Case Clock (1750-1775, by Thomas Duffield) that belonged to Benjamin Franklin |
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| A conference room contained the only surviving portrait of Mrs Ben Franklin/ Deborah Read (attributed to Benjamin Wilson) |
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| Sorry, odd blue reflection on the portrait of Benjamin Franklin himself, a copy of the 1777 portrait by Jean-Baptiste Greuze |
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| Upstairs in the museum gallery, there were more portraits and two clocks; this one is another Tall Case Clock (c 1750, by Thomas Duffield) that belonged to Benjamin Franklin |
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| Astronomical Clock (1769, by David Rittenhouse) that was used during Rittenhouse's study of the transit of Venus across the sun |
We stopped at Ashley's for dinner, with the "phenomenal" salad bar that allows you to have two dinners for the price of one! We certainly did bring home leftovers.
We cannot thank Carl and Paula enough for this wondrous and wonderful outing from GFE!
