Rare Book Monthly
Finding Early Works About The Oregon Trail
Æ Database Keyword Search
By Michael Stillman
I’ve spent the past two months searching for early titles pertaining to the Oregon Trail. Among the best known are Francis Parkman’s California and Oregon Trail and Joel Palmer’s Journal of Travels over the Rocky Mountains…. But, one title struck me the hardest: Wilson P. Hunt’s Voyage de l’Embouchere de la Columbia a Saint Louis…. Printed in Paris and written in French, it is nonetheless a significant piece of Western Americana. While it wasn’t printed until 1821, Hunt’s journey took place in 1811-12. That’s a good thirty years before the rush began, and only a few years after Lewis and Clark’s pioneering journey to the coast. Are there other such very early titles to be collected?
Hunt’s work was all I found prior to the 1840’s when I looked up “Oregon Trail” in the "Keyword" search of the Americana Exchange Database (ÆD). Then it occurred to me: was there an Oregon Trail in 1811? Probably not. Someone had to discover and lay out a trail first before there could be one. In other words, there had to be some trailblazers before there could be an “Oregon Trail.” Evidently Hunt was one, but there must have been others. But, in those days, it’s unlikely they would have created the name “Oregon Trail” yet to describe it. So, unless one of the bibliographers, in retrospect, described their journeys as along the “Oregon Trail,” collectors of that trail might never be able to find these early books.
Now for a brief explanation of using the ÆD. The "Basic" search and "Advanced"search features are ideal for finding particular attributes. If you want to find books written by a particular author, with a certain title, printed during certain dates or at certain locations and the like, these are the searches to use. If you are looking for words that might appear in a description of the book, such as “Oregon Trail,” a "Keyword" search is the way to go. "Keyword" searches are particularly useful for finding obscure references. However, if the phrase you enter is too common -- for example, “Washington” -- the results might be so extensive as to be impractical to use.
In my search for more about the Oregon Trail, I next try doing a "Keyword" search for “Oregon.” This gets me far too many records -- 1,500 to be exact, which is the maximum the ÆD can display. How can I better target my search? Since we know that Wilson Hunt must be one of the very first such travelers, let's try searching for any books that mention both “Oregon” and “Hunt” in the description. Presumably, other early volumes about the trail to Oregon might also have mentioned Hunt’s explorations. I type “Oregon&Hunt” into the "Keyword" search and…voila! (as the Frenchman Hunt might have said). All kinds of early listings I’ve never seen before appear.
The first name that shows up could have awakened me from the deepest sleep. It is none other than the author of RipVan Winkle, Washington Irving. I must admit that I was not aware he had written about early Western travels, but his 1836 title, Astoria, is an account of that early settlement in Oregon. It shows up in our search as Irving discusses Hunt’s expedition from St. Louis in his book.
