Audubon, J. W. Illustrated Notes of an Expedition through Mexico and California. New York: J.W. Audubon, 1852.

John Woodhouse Audubon, son of the well-known ornithologist and artist, John James Audubon, honed his skills as an illustrator when he worked on his father's Quadrupeds of North America (1854). When John Woodhouse Audubon headed west in 1849 during the Gold Rush, he kept a detailed sketchbook that he hoped to turn into a profitable publication. Unfortunately, he failed to attract enough subscribers, and fewer than a dozen copies of this work are known.

"Fourth of July Camp," on display, depicts the site where Audubon and his travel companions set up camp on Independence Day, 1849.

Harvey, George. Harvey's Scenes of the Primitive Forest of America, at the Four Periods of the Year, Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter, Engraved from His Original Paintings, Accompanied with Descriptive Letter-Press. London: Published by George Harvey and Messrs. Ackermann, 1841.

George Harvey was an accomplished British watercolorist who lived in New York's Hudson River Valley from 1820 to 1850.Scenes of the Primitive Forests contains four colored aquatints illustrating the climate of different parts of the United States. "Spring," on display, depicts a common scene during America's period of westward expansion — the clearing of forest land.

Collot, Victor. A Journey in North America, Containing a Survey of the Countries Watered by the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, and Other Affluing Rivers; with Exact Observations on the Course and Soundings of These Rivers; and on the Towns, Villages, Hamlets and Farms of That Part of the New-World; Followed by Philosophical, Political, Military and Commercial Remarks and by a Projected Line of Frontiers and General Limits, Illustrated by 36 Maps, Plans, Views and Divers Cuts. Atlas. Paris: Printed for Arthus Bertrand, Bookseller, 1826.

French cartographer Georges Henri Victor Collot surveyed the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys in 1796. He prepared maps of the area and gathered intelligence for the French government on American expansion toward the Mississippi. His resulting work, Journey in North America, was originally printed in 1804 in both French and English but due to Collot's death the following year, it was not published until 1826. It is considered one of the greatest books on the exploration of the late eighteenth-century American frontierÑthe present-day Midwest.

Collot had a keen eye for local architecture and provided one of the earliest images of the prototypical American frontier home — the log cabin, seen here.