William Clark’s Indian Museum

Ronda examines William Clark’s remarkable personal museum, maintained at his Council Chamber and home in St. Louis, which housed one of the most significant collections of Native American artifacts and natural history specimens in early 19th-century America. The article documents how Clark accumulated objects through his role as Superintendent of Indian Affairs and through gifts, trades, and acquisitions during diplomatic councils with tribal delegations. Ronda describes the collection’s contents — including weapons, clothing, ceremonial objects, paintings by Charles Bird King and others, and natural history specimens — and analyzes what the museum reveals about Clark’s attitudes toward Native peoples and material culture. The article traces the dispersal of the collection after Clark’s death in 1838, with some objects going to various museums while others were lost. Ronda argues that Clark’s museum reflected a genuine, if paternalistic, interest in preserving indigenous cultures that he also played a role in displacing.