Words on a Page

When historical research is used to recreate the past on the page, it can offer us a view into a vanished world. It can educate us about facts while entertaining us with narrative. When historical research is used creatively, by exploring what is not known as well as what is, it can offer powerful insights not only into the past but also into our contemporary world. As a PhD student engaged in the creative use of research into the history of the American West I came eagerly to Jim Goar’s  The Louisiana Purchase (sadly now out of print).  In the Author’s Note at the front of the book Goar sets the context for what follows: at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the United States acquired that portion of the continent, south of British-held territories, which at its widest point extended from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. Commonly known as the Louisiana Purchase , this vast area of some 820,000 square miles was largely unexplored. In 1804, American Presid...

During the past year, I have been attempting to gather all available information about William Clark’s supposed Nez Perce son, variously known as Tzi-Kal-Tza, Halahtookit, Al-pa-to-kate, Daytime Smoke(r), and Son of Daytime Smoker. The name I find the most poignant, however, the name that links into my research on personal identity, is the one he is said to have called himself – Clark (Moulton, vol 7, p 241). * The idea for my project started to emerge about ten years ago, when I visited the Nez Perce Historical Museum in my hometown of Lewiston, Idaho. Among the exhibits were collections of artifacts from early white settlers, the Nez Perce tribe, and the Lewis and Clark expedition which passed through the region twice: in September 1805, on their way to the west coast; and in May 1806, on their return journey to St. Louis. As I grew up in Lewiston, I thought I knew the history of the area fairly well, but tucked into a display of beaded gauntlets and stone tools was a piece of i...