Day-by-Day / January 23, 1803

January 23, 1803

Peale's collection

Washington, DC Thomas Jefferson, the scientist, discusses mammoths, the physiognotrace, and Charles Willson Peale’s museum collection, all of which influenced the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Physiognotrace

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interactive illustration of a machine with an adjustable frame

Watercolor by Charles Willson Peale (original size, 8-1/2 x 7-3/4 inches) enclosed in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, 28 January 1803. Courtesy Thomas Jefferson Papers, Manuscript Reading Room, Library of Congress.

Peale’s Collection

Washington Jan. 23. 1803.

Dear Sir

I thank you for mr Rembrandt Peale’s pamphlet on the Mammoth, and feeling a strong interest in his succesful exhibition of the Skeleton, shall be very happy to hear he has the great run of visitants which I expect he will have.

I was struck with the notice in the papers of mr Hawkins’s physiognotrace . . . I would thank you for an explanation of the principle of it, for I presume no secret is made of it as it is placed in the Museum.

I rejoice at the progress of your collection. it is an immense work for an individual. that I must see the Mammoth is certain . . . . Accept my sincere good wishes and respects.

Th: Jefferson[1]Thomas Jefferson to Charles Willson Peale, 23 January 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0327. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas … Continue reading

Related: Charles Willson Peale | Preserving the Expedition | Peale’s Museum

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Thomas Jefferson to Charles Willson Peale, 23 January 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0327. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 November 1802–3 March 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 383–384.] accessed 15 May 2022.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.

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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).