Herbarium labels contain seemingly modest amounts of data on what, who, where, and when specimens were collected. But with the advent of massive digitization efforts in herbaria, scientists and others are discovering there's more there there. The recent wave of digitization has taken the modest amount of data on individual specimens and converted them from dark data into a more integral part of the published record.  Online availability allowed us to mine individual bits of information as well as combine them into big-data analyses.  We sport here on examples of how label data can be used to discover novel insights into history surrounding collecting and indigenous knowledge. As an example, we will examine the paper trail of Lewis and Clark, who, after their 8,000-mile journey in 1804 to 1806 returned with more than 200 specimens, which have accumulated a variety of field labels, taxonomic annotations, and other metadata that enhances their value as “extended specimens." Included in this paper trail are 34 original hand-written labels by Meriwether Lewis including several mentions of indigenous uses of plant species and additional field notes. Hundreds of additional annotations made by later botanists, such as Frederick Pursh (1774-1820) and Thomas Meehan (1826-1901), add to the original legacy of specimens and collecting notes. Cross-referenced with hundreds of journal entries describing plants and people encountered, the physical specimens and their labels provide fertile primary sources of information on collection practices, curation, research, and ethnobotany of this iconic American journey. The specimens are the physical heirlooms of the coming together of multiple cultures over a common botanical currency.  We will describe how current and future digitization efforts offer not only novel and intriguing insights, but also offer opportunities to advance the use of collections and their data by diverse communities.