• Associate professor, American Culture Studies
• Associate professor, History

Peter Kastor

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• Ph.D. at University of Virginia
• M.A. at University of Virginia
• A.B. at Franklin & Marshall

News Stories & Tip Sheets:

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Sacagawea pregnant — again? There's more than meets the eye in Lewis & Clark's journals April 7, 2004 -- The Sacagawea Golden Dollar As the nation commemorates the 200th anniversary of the 1804-06 Lewis and Clark Expedition, the explorers' journals, which offer a veritable treasure trove of information, are being scrutinized as never before. Two historians at Washington University in St. Louis say, however, that most scholars studying the journals aren't familiar with the literature of the time, and therefore don't thoroughly understand the content. For example, Lewis writes that Sacagawea, the only woman on the expedition, became extremely ill due to her "taking could" (sic). Most reading that passage interpreted it as "taking a cold. The Washington University researchers think that actually she was pregnant again and had a miscarriage because "taking a cold" was a euphemism for pregnancy back then.

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Did Sacagawea have a miscarriage? MSNBC and 39 others April 9, 2004 -- The Sacagawea Golden Dollar Famed American Indian guide Sacagawea's near-fatal illness during the Lewis and Clark expedition may have been the result of a miscarriage, two scholars believe. History professors Peter Kastor and Conevery Bolton Valencius said the explorers' extensive journals from their 1804-06 westward expedition offer clues — through euphemisms common at the time — indicating Sacagawea may have become ill while pregnant.

Specialization

United States

Early American Republic, North American frontiers, Political History, Policy History, Cultural History

Research

I am a historian of the early American republic. I hold a joint appointment in American Culture Studies, where I currently serve as assistant director. My research and teaching examine the creation of the federal system and the territorial expansion of the United States during the late-eighteenth and early nineteenth centirues.

Much of my scholarship to date has focused on the political landscape of the highly contested borderlands of North America. Critical to this research has been my goal of using regional studies of imperial contest and intercultural contact to address national, continental, and transatlantic questions. I have explored the way elite officials at the state and federal levels struggled to create viable policies, the way people outside the policymaking arena enforced their own visions of the federal system, and the way mid- and low-level public officials attempted to navigate relations between these very different constituencies.

Awards and Prizes

Kemper and Leila Williams Book Prize, Louisiana Historical Association/Historic New Orleans Collection, 2005

Caroline Bancroft Western History Prize honor book, sponsored by the Denver Public Library recognizing outstanding contributions to Western history, 2005

ArtSci Council Faculty Award, Washington University in St. Louis, 2002 and 2004

Arts & Sciences Freshman Advisor of the Year, Washington University in St. Louis, 2002

Phi Alpha Theta Advisor Award, Washington University in St. Louis, 2001

C. Coleman McGehee Prize, Virginia Historical Society, 1998

Fellowships and Grants

Fellowship in the History of Cartography, The Newberry Library, 2005-2006

Archibald Hanna, Jr., Fellow, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, 2005-2006

Faculty Fellow, Washington University Humanities Center, 2006

Society of the Cincinnati Research Fellowship, 1993

DuPont Foundation Fellowship, 1992-93

Publications

Selected Books

William Clark's World: Describing America in an Age of Unknowns. Under Contract with Yale University Press.

Editor, America's Struggle with Empire: A Documentary History. Under Contract with Congressional Quarterly Press.

The Nation's Crucible: The Louisiana Purchase and the Creation of America. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.

Editor, The Louisiana Purchase: Emergence of an American Nation. Washington: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2002.

Selected Articles, Essays, and Book Sections

'Sacagawea's "Cold": Pregnancy and the Written Record of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.' Co-author with Conevery Valencius. The Bulletin of the History of Medicine (forthcoming).

'Young Men and Strangers': Institutions, Collaborations, and Conflicts in Territorial Louisiana.' The Journal of the West XLIII (2004), 23-32.

'Guardians and Gatekeepers: Lewis and Clark and the Louisiana Purchase.' In Finding Lewis & Clark: Old Trails, New Directions. James Ronda and Nancy Tystad Koupal, eds. Pierre: South Dakota State Historical Society, 2004: 25-44.

'An Identity by Any Other Name: Attachments in an Age of Expansion.' In The Louisiana Purchase and its Peoples: Perspectives from the New Orleans Conference. Paul E. Hoffman, ed. Lafayette: Louisiana Historical Society, 2004: 161-170.

'Making Missouri American: A Crowded Frontier in the Age of Lewis and Clark.' Introductory essay to Official Manual of the State of Missouri. Rob Davis, ed. Jefferson City: Secretary of State's Office, 2003: 12-35.

'Motives of Peculiar Urgency': Local Diplomacy in Louisiana, 1803-1821.' The William and Mary Quarterly 3d. ser., LVIII (2001): 819-48.

'Equitable Rights and Privileges': The Divided Loyalties of Washington County, Virginia, During the Franklin Separatist Crisis.' The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography CV (1997): 193-226.

'Toward 'The Maritime War Only': The Question of Naval Mobilization, 1811-1812.' The Journal of Military History LXI (1997): 455-80.

Work in Progress

William Clark's World: Describing America in an Age of Unknowns. This book explores the intersection of policy, print, and visual culture by examining the ways Americans attempted to represent the North American West during the Early American Republic.

Creating a Federal Government, 1789-1828. This book will analyze federal governance under the Federalists (1789-1801) and Jeffersonian-Republicans (1801-1829). Through an institution analysis of the creation, growth, and management of the federal system, this book will examine the pracitcal realities of government as well as the daily understanding of the constitution.

Courses Taught

The American Frontier, 1776-1848

Lewis and Clark and the American Challenge

American Culture: Traditions, Methods, Visions

Experience

Associate Professor of History and American Culture Studies, Washington University in St. Louis, 2007-Present

Assistant Professor of History and American Culture Studies, Washington University in St. Louis, 2002-2007

Assistant Director of American Culture Studies, Washington University in St. Louis, 2000-2007

Post-Doctoral Fellow in American Culture Studies, Washington University in St. Louis, 1998-2000

Teaching Assistant, Teaching Associate, Adjunct Instructor, University of Virginia, 1994-1997

Education

Franklin and Marshall College, AB 1989

University of Virginia, MA 1993, PhD 1999