Gathering Voices

Gathering Voices: Thomas Jefferson and Native America

Explore Jefferson’s little-known collection of Native American languages and learn how it’s used today.

The last of three exhibitions at the American Philosophical Society on Jefferson, Gathering Voices tells the story of Jefferson’s effort to collect Native American languages and its legacy at the Society. Jefferson had an abiding interest in Native American culture and language, while, at the same time, supporting national policies that ultimately threatened the survival of Indigenous peoples. As president of the APS from 1797 to 1814, Jefferson charged the Society with collecting vocabularies and artifacts from Native American nations. Over the next two hundred years, the APS would become a major repository for linguistic, ethnographic, and anthropological research on Native American cultures.

For more information, see APS Museum.

Exhibit is open for the entire month of November and December, closing on December 31, 2016