Department of History

From 1832-1834, Prince Maximilian zu Wied, a German aristocrat, and Swiss artist Karl Bodmer took a historic journey to the American West. Views of a Vanishing Frontier retraces their two-year expedition to the upper reaches of the Missouri River, and evokes the experience using Bodmer's original paintings, extensive location photography, and real words taken from Prince Maximilian's diary. Bodmer and Maximilian left an important legacy that is cherished by today's Native Americans, preserving and era of American cultural history that would soon vanish with the onslaught of technological civilization.