Library of the Gray Herbarium

WILKES EXPEDITION (U.S. EXPLORING EXPEDITION) 1838-1842

The Wilkes Expedition was the first attempt by the United States to mount an expedition for scientific and navigational investigations on the order of the contemporaneous British and French expeditions. There was a good deal of delay and bickering in getting if off the ground, both in relation to obtaining funding and to selecting scientific personnel. Asa Gray originally agreed to be one of the scientists, but, frustrated by the delays and the selection as scientists of some unqualified people, he accepted a job offer from the University of Michigan instead. The expedition finally sailed from the Chesapeake Bay on August 18, 1838, under the command of Charles Wilkes. From there it proceeded to Madeira and Cape Verde, and then to Rio de Janeiro. After stopping in Rio Negro, the expedition continued down the coast of South America to Tierra del Fuego. Here the ships separated, some exploring towards Antarctica. They reunited at Valparaiso in May 1839, sailed to Callao, Peru, and left the latter port to begin explorations of the Pacific. They visited a number of Pacific Islands and arrived at Sydney on November 28, 1839. Another set of Antarctic explorations was carried out, and the ships met again at Tongatabu in April, 1840. Part of the group explored the Fiji and Hawaiian Islands and part explored other islands. Two ships sailed to the coast of Oregon in spring 1841 and were joined by two others (one of which was wrecked) in July. After exploring the Oregon and California coast until November 1841, they sailed back across the Pacific, stopping at Hawaii and the Philippines and reaching Singapore in February 1842. From there they sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, stopped at St. Helena, and arrived in New York in June 1842.

The Expedition's return was followed by continued struggles around efforts to publish its reports and preserve its collections. The botanical reports ran into particular difficulties. Botanical collections had been made by William Rich, the main botanist, William Dunlop Brackenridge, the horticulturist, and Charles Pickering, the chief zoologist, as well as by others, including naval officers. Rich proved to be incompetent both at collecting and at writing the botanical report, and Wilkes was forced to turn to Asa Gray for assistance. Matters were further complicated by the death of the Expedition's botanical artist, Alfred T. Agate, in 1846. [Joseph Drayton, who was hired to draw other specimens, also made a few botanical illustrations.] The first volume of Gray's botanical report, accompanied by illustrations by Isaac Sprague, was published in 1854. Wilkes was unable to secure funds to publish the second part of the botanical report, although special reports on narrower botanical area as were published: Brackenridge's report on ferns was published in 1854; William S. Sullivant's report on mosses, Edward Tuckerman's report on lichens, Jacob Whitman Bailey and William Henry Harvey's report on algae, Moses Ashley Curtis and Miles Joseph Berkeley's report on fungi, and John Torrey's report on Phanerogamia of Pacific North America were published officially in 1874.

(Sullivant had published his report unofficially in 1859.)

References:
[Dana, James D.] "Brief Account of the Discoveries and Results of the United States Exploring Expedition." Am Jour Sci I 44:393-408.
Dupree, A. Hunter. Asa Gray, 1810-1888. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1959.
Haskell, Daniel C. The United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 and its Publications 1844-1874. New York: New York Public Library, 1942.
Standon, William. The Great United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.
Pfister, Donald, H. Cryptogams of the United States North Pacific Exploring Expedition, 1853-1856. Cambridge: Farlow Library of Cryptogamic Botany, 1978.

The Wilkes Expedition papers fall into two main categories: manuscripts and drawings.

The manuscripts include lists (in several handwritings) of plants collected on the expedition; some of the lists appear to have been prepared during the expedition, and some appear to have been prepared later. A letter from Brackenridge encloses a brief catalog of phanogamous plants collected in Hawaii, and a letter from Francis Boott accompanies notes on Carices and Unciniae. There are a variety of rough notes by Asa Gray, some relating to plants of Hawaii, and most important, his manuscript for the unpublished portion of the botanical report, some 1650 pp. Grouped with the manuscripts are a few published materials, including separates of an article by Dana about the Expedition and a large map of Oregon prepared by the Expedition.

There are a number of colored drawings of varying sizes which seem to be field sketches. Most of these are by Agate, but a few are by Drayton. There are also several sets of larger black and white drawings shich seem to be the originals for plates to be published. There is a series of such drawings by Agate with a plate proof of one drawing; a series by W.R. Hutton; a small series by Drayton, with 2 plate proofs; and a series of drawings by Isaac Sprague for published and unpublished plates. There are also a few miscellaneous items and a small drawing with a letter from Wilkes.

The letters of Jacob Whitman Bailey, William Dunlop Brackenridge, James Dwight Dana, Charles Pickering, John Torrey and Charles Wilkes in the Historic Letters File all contain information pertaining to the Wilkes Expedition. The Historic Letters File also contains a folder labeled "Wilkes Expedition Publications" which includes letters from Joseph Drayton, George F. Lewis, James A. Pearce, Frederick D. Stuart, and Charles Wilkes.

The Wilkes Expedition papers were most likely gathered by Asa Gray while he was in the process of preparing the botanical report and then simply left at the Gray Herbarium.

The receipt for Isaac Sprague was given by Susan Loring, June 27, 1984, with misc. Jane & Asa Gray mss.

MANUSCRIPTS:

DRAWINGS: