Running through the exhibition as a main theme, although it is not given its own separate section, are the intertwined fates of Lawson and the Native Americans he encountered and documented. Lawson was in many ways quite sympathetic to the Native Americans with whom he dealt and proposed many novel ways, such as intermarriage, in which relations between the natives and the English might be smoothed. His advice was generally ignored by his compatriots, of course. His descriptions are in many cases the only ones that remain of many of the tribes and their mores. Had he lived, he would have seen the terrible massacres and wars that began in 1711 and marked the final, pathetic exit of the few remaining Tuscaroras from North Carolina. What he would have felt about that outcome can only be conjectured.

In such a complicated enterprise as this exhibition, some contradictions are inevitable. In one place, Hannah Smith’s relationship to Lawson seems to be a matter of conjecture; in another she is stated flatly to be his common-law wife. Describing Sloan’s collection, one place in the exhibition states that there are 337 volumes; in another place it is stated that there are 265. It is also curious that in an exhibition so heavily dependent on eighteenth-century sources that there is not a single image of any of the original documents or of Lawson’s New Voyage. Such a lack makes it more difficult for the viewer to appreciate the context of Lawson’s life as given here.

“John Lawson: Imagining a Life” is an ambitious undertaking that succeeds well in its purpose. It certainly marks a whole new exploration of Lawson’s life and his influence. For those interested in Americana, it is a welcome achievement.