Dr. Herman J. Viola is a curator emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. A specialist on the history of the American West, he served as director of the Museum’s National Anthropological Archives in addition to organizing two major exhibitions for the Smithsonian. “Magnificent Voyagers” told the story of the United State Exploring Expedition of 1838-42, and “Seeds of Change” examined the exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old and the New Worlds as a result of the Christopher Columbus voyages of discovery. Here, he discusses “Seeds of Change” in the context of an upcoming exhibit on West Mexico at Gilcrease Museum.
