The following list of recommended reading has been broken into subject categories. We encourage any recommended additions or changes to this list by using the comments link at the bottom of this page.

Edited Versions of the Journals and Other Expedition Related Documents

Biddle, Nicholas and Paul Allen, eds. History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark. Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep, 1814. The narrative text of this edition, based on the journals and first person interviews, was reprinted in numerous editions under a variety of different titles. The most widely available and useful editions include: The Expedition of Lewis and Clark by Readex Microprint, 1966 and 1974 (Meriwether Lewis is the ascribed author of this edition); The Journals of the Expedition Under the Command of Capts. Lewis and Clark, by Limited Editions Club, Heritage Press, and Easton Press, 1962.

Coues, Elliott, ed. History of the Expedition Under the Command of Lewis and Clark. 4 vols. New York: Francis P. Harper, 1893. Reprinted in a three volume paperback edition by Dover, 1965 to 2000. This edition is a heavily annotated edition of the Biddle-Allen text described above, including additional material like maps, an annotated bibliography, and biographies of Lewis, Clark, and Patrick Gass.

DeVoto, Bernard, ed. The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1953. This is the most comprehensive of the single volume versions of Lewis and Clark journals.

Bakeless, John, ed. The Journals of Lewis and Clark. New York: Mentor Books, 1964. A very short, heavily edited edition with modernized spellings.

Jackson, Donald, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents, 1783-1854. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1962. Reprinted in in volumes, 1978. This is a superb compilation of most of the known letters written during the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Jones, Landon. The Essential Lewis and Clark. New York: Harper Collins, 2000. The shortest of the edited versions of the journals.

Moulton, Gary E., ed. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 13 vols. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001. This standard reference set includes reproductions of the maps produced by the expedition, herbarium specimens, and the journals of Lewis, Clark, Ordway, Gass, Whitehouse, and Floyd. To date it is the most complete and heavily annotated of the various editions of the journals. The Lewis and Clark portions of this text have been issued in paperback.

Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1904. Reprinted in 1953 by Antiquarian Press; 1969 by Arno; 2001 by Digital Scanning. The Thwaites edition includes Lewis and Clark's journals, Whitehouse's journal, Floyd's journal, an atlas, a bibliography, a volume of scientific data, and a number of other Lewis and Clark related documents. It is missing some of the material incorporated into the newer Moulton edition, but it includes some material not found in the Moulton set.

Bergon, Frank, ed. The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Penguin Nature Library. New York: Viking, 1989. A single volume compilation focusing on journal entries related to natural history.

Osgood, Ernest Staples, ed. The Field Notes of Captain William Clark. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1964. This volume is the first edited volume of The Field Notes. It includes facsimiles of each page of the field notes.

Quaife, Milo M., ed. The Journals of Captain Meriwether Lewis and Sergeant John Ordway Kept on the Expedition of Western Exploration, 1803-1806. Vol. 22 of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Collections. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1917. This is the first printing of Lewis's Ohio River journal and the journal of Ordway. This material has been incorporated into the Moulton edition described above.

MacGregor, Carol Lynn, ed. The Journals of Patrick Gass: Member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Publishing Co., 1997. There are many editions of this text; all contain the same material with differing annotations. This edition also includes Gass's account book.

Biographies of Expedition Members

Anderson, Irving W. A Charbonneau Family Portrait: Biographical Sketches of Sacagawea, Jean Baptiste, and Toussaint Charbonneau. Fort Clatsop Historical Association, 1988. Although there are more titles dedicated to Sacagawea than any other expedition member, most of the factual information about her life can be found in this small pamphlet.

Anderson, Irving W. "J. B. Charbonneau, Son of Sacajawea." Oregon Historical Quarterly 71, no. 3 (September 1970): 246-264.

Betts, Robert. In Search of York: The Slave Who Went to the Pacific with Lewis and Clark. Boulder: Colorado Associated University Press, 1985. Reprinted in 2001.

Buckley, Jay Harry. "William Clark: Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis, 1813-1838." Ph.D. diss. University of Nebraska–Lincoln, 2001.

Clarke, Charles G. The Men of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Glendale, California: Arthur H. Clark, 1970. Reprinted 2001.

Dillon, Richard. Meriwether Lewis: A Biography. New York: Coward-McCann, 1965.

Jenkinson, Clay S. The Character of Meriwether Lewis: Completely Metamorphosed in the American West. Reno, Nevada: Marmarth Press, 2000.

Skarsten, M. O. George Drouillard: Hunter and Interpreter for Lewis and Clark and Fur Trader, 1807-1810. Glendale, Cal.: Arthur H. Clark, 1964.

Steffen, Jerome O. William Clark: Jeffersonian Man on the Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1977.

Thom, James Alexander. Sign-Talker: The Adventure of George Drouillard on the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Novel. New York: Ballantine Books, 2000. Although this book is a novel, it is well-researched and provides insight into the character of George Drouillard.

Studies of Lewis and Clark Topics (Cartography, Ethnology, Medicine, Jefferson, and Natural History)

Allen, John Logan. Passage through the Garden: Lewis and Clark and the Image of the American Northwest. Urbana, Chicago, London: University of Illinois Press, 1975.

Benson, Guy Meriwether, et al. Exploring the West from Monticello: A Perspecitve in Maps from Columbus to Lewis and Clark. Charlotesville: University of Virginia, 1994.

Burroughs, Raymond Darwin. The Natural History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1970.

Chuinard, Eldon G. Only One Man Died: The Medical Aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Glendale, California: Arthur H. Clark, 1979.

Criswell, Elijah Harry. Lewis and Clark: Linguistic Pioneers. Columbia: The University of Missouri, 1940.

Cutright, Paul Russell. Lewis and Clark: Pioneering Naturalists. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1969.

Jackson, Donald. Thomas Jefferson & the Stony Mountains: Exploring the West from Monticello. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981.

Moulton, Gary E., ed. Atlas of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983. This title is volume one of the thirteen volume set The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Peck, David J. Or Perish in the Attempt: Wilderness Medicine in the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Helena, MT: Fracountry Press, 2002.

Plamondon, Martin. Lewis and Clark Trail Maps, A Cartographic Reconstruction. Pullman, Washington: Washington State University Press, 2001.

Ronda, James. Lewis and Clark Among the Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.

For Younger Readers

Cavan, Seamus. Lewis and Clark and the Route to the Pacific. New York: Chelsea House, 1991.

Smith, Roland. The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe. San Diego, New York, London: Gulliver Books, Harcourt Brace & Co., 1999.

History of the Lewis and Clark Trail

Appleman, Roy Edgar, comp. Lewis and Clark: Historic Places Associated With Their Transcontinental Exploration (1804-1806). The National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings, vol. 13. Robert G. Ferris, ed. Washington: U.S. National Park Service, 1975.

Wheeler, Olin. The Trail of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1904. Two vols. New York: G. P. Putnam's, 1904. Reprinted by AMS Press in 1976.

Publication History of the Expedition

Beckham, Stephen Dow and Doug Erickson and Paul Merchant and Jeremy Skinner. The Literature of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: A Bibliography and Essays. Portland, OR: Lewis & Clark College, 2003.

Coues, Elliott, ed. History of the Expedition Under the Command of Lewis and Clark. 4 vols. New York: Francis P. Harper, 1893. Reprinted in a three volume paperback edition by Dover, 1965 to 2000.

Cutright, Paul Russell. A History of the Lewis and Clark Journals. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976.

Paltsits, Victor Hugo. "Bibliographical Data." In Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806, Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., 1:lxi-xciii. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1904. Reprinted in 1953 by Antiquarian Press; 1969 by Arno; 2001 by Digital Scanning.