Prince Maximilian and Karl Bodmer: Touring the Wilderness of North America

Join the Prince of Wied, Maximilian, as he takes you on a tour of North America as he saw it in 1832-34. 

Using Karl Bodmer’s illuminating illustrations in a multi-media slide show, Prince Maximilian will escort the audience on an adventure from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland to the Great Falls of the Missouri River, from New Harmony, Indiana to New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Travel with this intrepid explorer to meet America’s best scientific minds, explore the West in the wake of Lewis and Clark, camp among the Mandan, Lakota, Crow and Omaha, and participate in traditional American Indian drumming songs.

Storyteller and author Brian “Fox” Ellis steps into the shoes of Prince Maximilian, allowing the audience to step back in time. Blending history, science, art and cultural anthropology, the Prince gives us a unique view of America as he saw it in the early 1830s. 

Much of the text for this performance comes directly from his journals. The backdrop includes landscapes, portraits, and scenes from everyday life painted by Karl Bodmer. 

This program was sponsored in part by New Harmony, Indiana in celebration of their bicentennial, with support from the Joslyn Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.