Abstracts
Abstract
This paper troubles and historizes the symbolic use of the antelope in the field of library and information science by examining correspondence during the Lewis and Clark expedition in the nineteenth century. It shows how taking the antelope from the wild, naming and classifying the animal, and mounting it for display in a museum were part of a national literacy education program in the early United States. The “American antelope” was observed and killed during the expedition, and Thomas Jefferson, serving as both president of the United States and president of the American Philosophical Society, was intimately engaged in conversations about what to call the animal. Charles Willson Peale mounted an antelope that had been sent from the expedition and classified it according to a Linnean system. This moment is instructive for understanding how information and wild animals became things in processes of settler colonialism and empire expansion.
Keywords:
- Antelope,
- Information-as-thing,
- Settler colonialism,
- United States,
- Museums,
- Documentation
Résumé
Cet article remet en question et historicise l’utilisation symbolique de l’antilope en bibliothéconomie et sciences de l’information en examinant la correspondance durant l’expédition de Lewis et Clark au XIXe siècle. Il montre comment la capture de l’antilope dans la nature, la nomination et la classification de l’animal, et son montage pour exposition dans un musée faisaient partie d’un programme national d’éducation à la littératie aux États-Unis. "L’antilope américaine" a été observée et tuée pendant l’expédition, et Thomas Jefferson, alors président des États-Unis et président de la Société philosophique américaine, était intimement impliqué dans les discussions sur le nom à donner à l’animal. Charles Willson Peale a monté une antilope envoyée par l’expédition et l’a classée selon un système linnéen. Ce moment est instructif pour comprendre comment l’information et les animaux sauvages sont devenus des objets dans les processus de colonialisme de peuplement et d’expansion de l’empire.
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Appendices
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