How do you describe a continent? In the late-eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Americans struggled with this question as they sought to make sense of the shifting boundaries and populations of the North American West. This talk examines how American explorers, federal policymakers, and private publishers together attempted to make sense of the West through maps, treaties, and published travel accounts. It also examines how the worlds of policy, print, and visual culture developed together as Americans imagined a western future.
This colloquium will be led by Peter J. Kastor, Assistant Professor of History and American Culture Studies, Washington University in St. Louis.