There are so many unusual, interesting, and new things you can find – if you just look around a little bit. And libraries are all about mysteries! (We’ve even recorded podcast episodes filled with mystery books.)

We are an information profession. We like good information. Real information. Things that can be proven. Facts we can check.

So, we are looking at a real-life mystery each week and bringing some library resources to help add some clarity and some thought.

Will we solve them all? Probably not! But we will bring some interesting stories to you, and provide you with some good resources you can use to further the story.

Join us! Share with your library patrons! Start with our story, and build it for your own library! Or, just enjoy some small mysteries in your life.

This week, we have a mystery that combines art, history, and an adventure.

You probably know about Lewis and Clark, and their famous trip across the land newly acquired by the US. If you have been anywhere between St. Louis, MO and Fort Clatsop in Oregon, you have seen Lewis and Clark signs all along the Trail.

(Small note of traveling joy: I spent one summer driving the L&C Trail, camping, and visiting every single public library. It was an amazing trip! But, for another story.)

There are a lot of social justice issues that could be shared when you talk about this trip. Certainly, their treatment of Native people, of women, and even of the crew, deserves discussion to keep the whole thing in context. But for this small story, we are going to look at just one small part of the story.

Today we are going to talk about York.

You probably did not read about York in your grade school history books – their views of the past are necessarily (and otherwise) stunted and incomplete. York was an enslaved person, born to other enslaved people owned by Clark’s family. He was raised with Clark, and became his “body servant.”

Nobody asked York if he wanted to risk his life, traveling across thousands of miles of unknown land. But he did it. And he was an integral part of the Corps of Discovery. He helped to bring in food for the crew to eat, he helped to keep the ships moving when they were on the river, and he was part of the negotiation process with many of the Native tribes the Corps met along their travels. Few, if any, had seen a Black man, so he drew a lot of attention.

When the trip was over, more than two years after it started, the crew were heroes. They were awarded double pay, and each got 320 acres of land. Pretty great! Lewis and Clark, as the leaders of the expedition, of course got more good stuff.

York, despite being there and doing as much as anyone, got nothing. (He wasn’t alone in that – Sacajawea also received nothing for her services, which included literally saving the lives of the entire party before they starved to death in North Dakota.) He remained enslaved after the trip, despite his repeated requests to be freed. He was even sent to work in the fields of a farmer known for his bad treatment of enslaved people. Finally he was freed by Clark several years later, but died of cholera (probably?) soon after.

(Another small note: I am horrified by people who have the gall to say we are living in the worst time, or that this is the worst time in our history. Literally pick up any history book. Despite our current troubles, we are some of the most fortunate people who have ever lived on this planet. Again: future discussion.)

And here is our mystery for this week.

On the morning of February 20, 2021, the people visiting the Mount Tabor park in Portland, OR were pretty surprised to see a new statue.

It was York!

Well, a fictionalized version of him; there are no pictures or paintings of York. So someone did a creative design and created a representation of his head, probably using a 3D printer. And they wrote up some text, to explain who York was and what he did in the Corps of Discovery adventure.

Who did this? Nobody knows.

How did it happen? Well, that’s a mystery too.

It sounds like it was made with a 3D printer. Here are a few videos you might browse about doing this:

• 3D Printers Allow Home Replication of Famous Sculptures
• You can now get 3D printed sculpture of yourself at this Kansas City shop
• 3D Printing as a Tool in Large Scale Sculpture

So that part seems pretty doable.

How did someone (or a team of people) get into a gated, locked park? As someone who has done one or two improper things in my wild youth, I can tell you that it’s pretty easy to hop a fence. I don’t know what it would take to also get over a four foot high bust and any other necessary equipment – but I’m guessing it’s not that tough.

From the Washington Post has this quote: “Whoever made the gigantic head of York avoided the official process. The artist produced the bust — officials believe it might have been done with a 3-D printer — got it into the park without being detected and placed it on top of the pedestal, which is about 10 feet tall. A maintenance worker discovered the bust the morning of February 20 after the park gates had been locked overnight.”

It’s a mystery.

I like it!

I like that we have this mystery sculpture, and it is giving everyone an opportunity to learn a piece of history that combines triumph and achievement with disappointment and shame. We have a lot to learn, and it’s cool that we are given this odd opportunity to learn in this way.

Have you set up an unexpected learning opportunity?

Have you brought forward an unknown fact?

Do you have a 3D printer?

If any of these could be interesting to you – this could be YOUR week to do a cool thing in your library!