Authors Share Insights on Nez Perce Story of Lewis and Clark, April 10, 2014

Brown Bag lecture slated for April 10th at the Lemhi County Historical Museum

If you have ever wondered about the Nez Perce interpretation of Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery, join authors Allen Pinkham and Steve Evans as they discuss the fifteen years of research and tribal memories that went into their newly released book, Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce:  Strangers in the Land of the Nimiipuu.  The authors will present at the Brown Bag Luncheon at 12:00 noon on April 10, 2014, at the Lemhi County Historical Museum.  A book signing will follow the program with books available for purchase on site.  The program is free of charge to the public.

Authors Steven Evans and Allen Pinkham

Authors Steven Evans and Allen Pinkham

“We welcome two wonderful authors from northern Idaho,” states Hope Benedict, President of the Lemhi County Historical Society and Museum.  “We look forward to learning more about their research, their sources, and their historical evaluation of the interaction between the Nez Perce and the Corps of Discovery.”

The authors evaluate both what Lewis and Clark understood and what they misunderstood in the Nez Perce lifeway and political structure.  They will describe the terrain in which the contact between the two groups took place and highlight Ordway’s trip to the Lower Hells Canyon, a story not well described in the journals.

Allen Pinkham, former chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, served on the national Council for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial for six years, Board of Trustees for the Smithsonian’s National Museum for the American Indian, and held a two-year term as President of the Affiliated Tribes of the Northwest Indians.  Pinkham co-authored Salmon and His People:  Fish and Fishing in Nez Perce Culture (Confluence Press 1999).   He lives in Lenore, Idaho.

Steven Evans, LCSC Professor Emeritus of History, taught for over thirty years and lived a parallel life as a construction worker in Alaska during the summer.  In 1996, Evans published his first book, Voice of the Old Wolf:  Lucullus Virgin McWhorter and the Nez Perce Indians (WSU Press).  Steve is married with three grown children. He and his wife, Connie, a full-blood Nez Perce, live at Lapwai, Idaho.

This program is made possible by the support of the Lewis-Clark State College Summer School and Special Programs, the Idaho Humanities Council, the Idaho Governor’s Lewis and Clark Trail Committee and the Idaho Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.