(COMING SOON) Excursions, Expeditions, and "Discoveries:" A Young Nation Expands & Reimagining America: The Maps of Lewis & Clark
Tracing the footsteps of the explorers sent west after the Louisiana Purchase, these tandem exhibitions connect early American exploration with the landscapes and communities of Louisiana today. Through historic narratives and contemporary photography created in collaboration with LSU students, we reimagine what it means to discover, document, and remember a changing nation.
All Exhibits & EventsExhibition Overview
President Thomas Jefferson, long fascinated about exploring and mapping the land west of the Mississippi, suddenly was given the chance in 1803 when the United States purchased the Louisiana territory from France.
Jefferson was ready to act, sending four teams to explore the 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River between 1804 and 1807. Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark into the northern regions of the Purchase; Zebulon Pike into the Rocky Mountains, the southwestern areas, and two smaller forays; Thomas Freeman and Peter Custis along the Red River; and William Dunbar and Dr. George Hunter to explore the “Washita” River and “the hot springs” in what is now Arkansas and Louisiana.
“New Archive” is an advanced level photography course offered in the School of Art at Louisiana State University by Associate Professor Johanna Warwick. In the spring 2026 semester, New Archive students collaborated with Louisiana’s Old State Capitol Museum to research and map the Dunbar and Hunter diaries to retrace their path along the Red, Black, Ouachita, and Mississippi Rivers.
With this knowledge, students planned a two-day camping journey following Dunbar and Hunter’s early journal entries, making images that reference Dunbar & Hunter’s writings while reflecting on what exists at these sites today
Featured Photographers
Photographs presented in collaboration with LSU photography students and Johanna Warwick.
Miracle Beverly, Lucie Grandbouche, Cross Harris, Lois Hebert, Brianna Newman, Lisa Newman, Savoir Parnell, Alexis Persicke, Amaizeya St. Mary, Sanaa Stingley, Jaden Sylvester, Raine Zugel
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Reimagining America: The Maps of Lewis & Clark
June 23-Nov. 28
In 1804-06, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led an expedition from the Mississippi to the Pacific. The exhibit explains how the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s findings transformed Euro-American understandings of North America in the early 1800s. It also investigates methods used by the explorers to gather and process that information, including pre-existing maps, navigational scientific equipment that was considered cutting edge for its time, and intelligence gained from Native Americans whom the explorers interacted with.
Reimagining America was created by the national nonprofit Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation to increase awareness of the story of the nation’s geographic understanding of itself and the different cultural viewpoints and strategies that enabled Lewis and Clark to map and share their data.
On loan from Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance, Inc.