Biographical Note

Irving W. Anderson, a native of Seattle, Washington, was internationally renowned for his research on Sacagawea and the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-1806. Anderson received a degree in geography from the University of Washington and served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II. From 1949 until his retirement in 1977, he worked in various areas of land management, including the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the International Cooperation Administration in Egypt. Formerly the secretary and later president of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Anderson was also active as a conservationist, helping the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation lobby for national protection of lands traveled by Lewis and Clark such as Montana's Missouri Breaks Scenic Area.

Anderson's great interest in the Lewis and Clark Expedition and its members, particularly Sacagawea, her husband Toussaint Charbonneau, and their son, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, combined with his attention to detail and determination to seek out the true story of the Expedition, made him a well-trusted scholar. He wrote numerous articles and other researchers sought him out for knowledge. He was a faculty member of Antioch University and the Heritage Institute, an adjunct professor of history at Lewis & Clark College, and a consultant to television documentaries.

Anderson died at the age of 79 at his home in Portland, Oregon, the city in which he lived for over forty years.