November 4-10, 2004

mixpicks

There and Back Again

by Juliet Fletcher

expedition exhibition

Can it be so long since the Lewis and Clark exhibit at American Philosophical Hall? Or the one at College of Physicians? Hardly. But there's no doubt there's still plenty to say and learn about the most famous hike in national history, 200 years later. As the Academy of Natural Sciences' exhibit opens, its curators from Missouri Historical Society will unveil not just parts of Clark's journals and Lewis' sketchbooks but also the very plant specimens the team brought back to Philadelphia from the westward expedition, such as tobacco (pictured). In its opening weekend, the exhibit hosts a list of special presentations more lengthy than the famed route itself: Adult visitors can join town-square panel discussions on environmental change with science and policy experts, hear curator Carolyn Gilman discuss her seven years spent compiling artifacts for the show, and see Historyonics Theatre Company dramatize the meeting of the explorers and the Native Americans. Kids, meanwhile, can get hands-on with making tepees and grizzly-bear headdresses in weekend workshops. If you're hankering for a little contemporary, boldly going glamour, look out for scheduled visits by deep-sea explorer Dave Gallo—or hold out for the real (re-enacted) thing, as members of the American Historical Theatre act the parts of the two high-minded explorers recounting the mission's "dangers and discoveries." Note: If your time is short, just sneak in at intermission, as Lewis' depression and alcoholism are sensationally revealed in Act 2.

Lewis and Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition, runs Nov. 6-March 20, Academy of Natural Sciences, 19th and The Parkway, 1-800-347-9000.