Special Collections Department
SELF WORKS:
DIARIES, SCRAPBOOKS, AND OTHER AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL EFFORTS
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Distant Views - Travel Diaries |
been fully expected. I was at that time asleep on the sofa, or I should been much
interested by the information, for a storm is what I have ever been anxious to see.
Travel affords the diarist perspective to compare what is familiar and old with all that is different and new in experience and landscape. It often takes an outsider to observe, by such contrast, what is distinctively characteristic of a particular place. And because the ordinary is often overlooked by native inhabitants, the foreigner's account is often the most vivid recollection of what happened in a particular place or time. George Gray's "Voyage to China and Back" is an entertaining and informative narrative based on deliberate observations. It also reveals much about Gray and the nineteenth-century Yankee perspective with which he viewed China. J.C. Welsh and Arthur Darley also leave tales of travel progress and hardships which say something about their individual personalities and abilities to endure what is different.
The experience of the foreigner abroad in Europe in the nineteenth century yields particularly interesting diaries. Some tourists, such as American student William Ingrahm, American honeymooner Harriet Crothers, and Englishman Walter Pepys undertook "grand tours," seeing the great cultural monuments of their western civilization. The young Selina Washburn dutifully saw the sites but was most enthused about her trip as a bonnet-buying spree, and Louis Billing may have been the precursor of the ugly American. With arrogant interruptions, he made a habit of correcting tour guides in cathedrals in England. Many travel diaries are kept as memory aids for future recollections of enjoyable trips. The veteran foreign outsider, Paul Bowles, specifically made his 1966 trip to Thailand to observe and research for a writing project.
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Emily Shore, 1819-1839. Journal [Vol. XII] December 16, 1838 - June 24, 1839. 1 volume (189 pp.) from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
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Emily Shore's sisters published excerpts from her diaries in 1891, and a second edition appeared in 1898. Barbara Gates edited a centenary edition of the Journal of Emily Shore (University Press of Virginia, 1991) but volumes 7 and 12, both acquired by the University of Delaware Library since then, were not included in that project.
J.C. Welsh.
Journal, February 13, 1817 - May 5, 1819.
unbound leaves (133 pp.)
from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
J.C. Welsh's journal bears witness to the hardships of travel and the difficulties of being away from home. He and his father's departure from Boston on board the brig Halifax was delayed by ice, and they were violently ill throughout their sea voyage to Demerara, British Guyana, where they were destined to settle legal business. Once there, the coffee they consumed, served strong by Demerarean custom, was no easier upon their bowels, and they were constantly sick with headaches and other ailments. But their greatest trial in Demerara was the anxiety of "obstacles, disappointments, and delays" as they sought to settle the Lincoln estate in the Orphans Chamber. Welsh agonized over the "mud of the law," and as their legal entanglements dragged into a second year, prayed to God for grace to endure, but truly longed for nothing more than to "get away from this terrible place."
Demerara proved a cultural challenge as well. The Welshes boarded with missionaries, but found neither Mr. nor Mrs. Elliot took their sermons to heart. Welsh desired not to drink as much as his hosts, and pitied the "vassals of Satan" who partook of the races and balls which were common social events in Demerara. He was ashamed of Mrs. Elliot's treatment of her eight-year-old servant, horrified at the whipping of a runaway slave, remarked on the sale of a family with nine children for $15,000, and was particularly disturbed when he, as a white man, was the cause of a Creole's eviction from a church pew. Welsh arrived home in Boston on April 20, 1819, grateful to his Lord for his Yankee privileges.
Arthur Darley.
Journal, Captain Arthur Darley, R.N., 1842; January 1, 1842 - February 3, 1843.
1 volume (129 pp.)
from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
- April 4, 1842 The Court sat on Mr. Ellis. I conducted the prosecution. I hope
without malice. He was found guilty and sentenced to be dismissed his ship of
port to the bottom of his list for 3 years. I am glad He did not lose his
Commission but am happy to be rid of a man who can't keep from the bottle.
Captain Darley kept this journal on board the HMS Electra while serving in the West Indies and visiting Gulf ports. Though he reports weather, latitude, and longitude, the journal is a very personal account of official duties, fishing, life aboard ship, and aspects of ports visited including Bermuda, Jamaica, Honduras, Colombia, Havana, and Galveston, Texas.
Harriet S. Crothers.
Journal, August 18 - November 22, 1846.
1 volume (187 pp.)
from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
Harriet Crothers, apparently from Philadelphia, kept this detailed travel diary on a honeymoon tour of continental Europe with her "dear husband Willy." Their full travel itinerary included most major cities in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Crothers' lengthy daily entries reflect typical tourist activities such as visiting churches, galleries, and museums; but her accounts are rich with details including music heard, paintings seen, local histories summarized, plants and flowers described, clothes worn, and transportation used. In Baedeker-like detail, she regularly quotes dates, dimensions, populations, and distances.
- August 25, 1846 We this morning commenced our sight seeing in Cologne. Saw
the very fine Cathedral, though begun in 1248, still remains at the present time in
a condition between a fragment and a ruin. In 1509 a stop was put to its further
progress. Had the original plan been completed it would have been St. Peter's of
Gothic architecture. The two principal towers, according to the original designs,
were to have been raised to a height of 500 feet.
William A. [Ingrahm?].
Diary of European Travel, March 15 - June 17, 1853.
1 volume (73 pp.)
from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
After a season of study in Heidelberg, William A. Ingrahm traveled in "bachelor society" with his friend John P.V. through Germany, Switzerland, and France for an extended visit to Italy, after which they returned via Austria to Germany. A month was spent in Rome, including Holy Week at the Vatican, with other stops in Naples, Florence, Bologna, Padua, Venice, etc. With only occasional distractions by notice of pretty women, Ingrahm filled his diary with detailed observations of landscapes, churches, scenic ruins, art galleries and museums, as well as characterizations of citizens of each locale. He was a dutiful traveler, conscientiously including sculptor's studios, a visit to Shelley's grave, and return trips to sites which most inspired him. Ingrahm's entries are historically thorough and often wry in summation.
- We reached Bologna about 8 o'clock just at dark. This city was once very famous
for its university and its sausages. Neither are equal to their reputation. The one
lacks life and the other smacks of garlic. It is still the provincial city of the States
of the Church, on this side the Apennines and has a population of 70,000 active
and industrious, many fine manufacturers especially of silk which is produced in
quantities in the surrounding country. The inhabitants both men and women, and
even the peasantry are remarkably handsome. But about 4 in 10 are pitted with
small pox.
Ingrahm noted in April that he had heard from home -- a veto of his "plans which were very well laid" to see Germany, the Low Countries, and England that fall, and a winter in Berlin "hearing law lectures, reading German, and studying French," followed by a final two months in the spring in Paris. Ingrahm's diary record supports his plaint that "I would not have been idle all this time but would have worked harder than I shall do at home."
Selina C. Washburn.
Diary, August 5 - October 13, 1854.
1 volume (84 pp.)
from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
Selina Washburn kept this diary when she accompanied her sister Sarah and their father, Cyrus Washburn, on a business trip from Boston to London and Paris. They were joined by another father, Captain Gardner, also traveling with his two daughters. Nearly five weeks were spent in crossing the Atlantic and once abroad, the young ladies occupied themselves with sightseeing and shopping. Upon arriving in Liverpool, from whence they sailed for home, tragedy struck when it was discovered that one of their trunks had been lost -- the one with the bonnets purchased in Paris.
Sarah Marks Stockton.
Diary, October 20, 1858 - August 26, 1859; June 21, 1860.
1 volume (184 pp.)
from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
Sarah Stockton's husband, John Potter Stockton, served as United States minister to the Papal States from 1858-1861. With a tourist's eye, Sara Stockton records her family's travel progress through Milano, Genoa, Pisa, and Florence before arrival at their post in Rome. Her accounts are detailed descriptions of walks through markets, visits to cathedrals, and museums. Once settled in Rome, her entries describe social calls and events, and developing friendships with several Italian princesses. Stockton was particularly fond of the Duchess de Poli and Cardinal Antonelli, whose jewels she admired. "What a pity he cannot marry and adorn his wife with his beautiful jewels." Stockton was equally impressed with the "truly magnificent diamonds" worn by the Queen of Spain and other women at the grand balls she attended.
Louis [Billing?].
Diary, August 24, 1865 - March 14, 1866.
1 volume (69 pp.)
from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
Louis [Billing?] departed from Philadelphia for New York, from whence he sailed on the steamship Scotland to Liverpool. In England, he traveled to Gloucester where he stayed with the family of his cousin William Mansell and other Billing relatives. Several short trips were taken over the year to Warwick, Stratford-on-Avon, London, Birmingham, Worcester, etc., before spending January and February of 1866 in France. Billing commented (often with arrogance) on relatives and his ancestral history, described architecture and cathedrals, and made strongly patriotic comparisons between England and America. A veteran of the Union Army, he mentioned English interest in the politics of abolition.
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George Arthur Gray. To China & Back, being a Journal of what occurred on board of the Barque Dorchester on the passage out, also giving an account of the manners and customs of the Chinese. A Description of the country, cities, &c. and the return passage on board Barque Nabob, a period of three years 1 month; March 29, 1863 - April 15, 1866. 4 volumes from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
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Walter Courtenay Pepys, 1840-1914.
Diary, December 31, 1866 - January 13, 1868.
1 volume (118 pp.)
from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
Twenty-six-year-old Pepys traveled in bachelor company to Monaco and Italy before returning to London and a second departure for the Continent. His travels were recreational, visiting cathedrals and art galleries, climbing for views, and attending the ballet and races. Pepys' brief entries cover his daily agendas but also provide a glimpse of an impatient personality when he was overcharged by a landlord, nearly robbed, and showered with confetti by an Italian merry-maker. Pepys had deeply appreciative responses to paintings and he was fond of walks. On an outing to see Mt. Vesuvius, he remarked on the beautiful color of the "yellow sulphanated lava in the crater." Just before his birthday in November, a friend proposed a trip to Algeria, and Pepys decided "I rather take to it." But as it turned out, eating "white koos koos" while watching a scorpion-eating exhibition at an Arab-fete was perhaps too exotic for Pepys. His memoranda of "proposed trip for 1867" included more cities in Italy, as well as Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.
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Ethel G. Carothers. Diary, March 17, 1895 - January 1, 1897. 2 volumes from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
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- Married in white you have hooked him alright
Married in grey he will ne'er get away
Married in black he will wish himself back
Married in red he will wish himself dead
Married in green his true color is seen
Married in blue he will look it not for you
Married in pearl he the distaff will twirl
Married in yellow, poor fellow, poor fellow
Married in brown, down down derry down
Married in pink, to a slave he will sink
Married in crimson he'll dangle your whims on
Married in buff he will soon have enough
Married in scarlet poor victimized varlet
Married in violet purple or puce
It does not much matter they all mean the deuce.
Young American Ethel Carothers' diary reads like an Edith Wharton novel. She kept these two volumes while living with her mother and sisters Margie and Enid in Dresden. Carothers studied piano and took German lessons, but her main occupation was flirtation and amusement with a sizeable group of young adults, approximately eighteen to twenty-two years in age. Mrs. Carothers encouraged her daughters in their little romances, and entertained their circle of friends at home. Their parlor games included tableaux vivants, singing and music, dancing, word games ("new door, make one word out of it [one word]"), and euchre. They read "trashy" novels like Double Love and Only an Actress, and even church attendance became a social affair as they craned their necks to see who was there and what they were wearing. Carothers' own favorite costume was her "pink and grey."
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Emily Sowden. Journals, 1933-1936, 1939. 2 volumes from Diaries, Journals, Ships' Logs
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American Emily Sowden's travel diaries are itineraries with commentary, beautifully
supplemented with postcards, photographs, small maps, and plant specimens. After a 1933
motor trip through Spain, Sowden traveled to Paris before returning to America. Her 1936 trip to
Brittany and Normandy, touring with a group booked through the Bureau of University Travel,
included return on the elegant steamer Normandie. A domestic excursion of 1935 included a
train trip aboard the Asheville Limited to tour Pisgah National Forest and the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park. In the mountains, she was driven up Mt. Mitchell in a Packard. In
1939, Sowden visited Charleston, South Carolina, and went on the Garden Tour of Historic
Virginia. Plant specimens in the diaries include cypress from France, Galax leaves from
Appalachia, and Spanish moss from South Carolina.
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Paul Bowles, 1910- . Notes taken in Thailand [1966] 1 volume (100 pp.) from Paul Bowles papers
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- [n.d.] I have noticed that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Americans in any country to go anywhere on foot: even distances which formerly were considered negligible now require mechanical transportation. Their reason for not walking is usually the same: lack of time, but this is obiviously factitious, since they find the time to do the things that interest them. In Bang[kok] whenever I mentioned that I had walked from one part of the city to another, there was general astonishment, and I think, a certain disapprobation of the benign sort one accords to cranks & eccentrics.
| The travel notes taken in Thailand were used by American composer and author Paul Bowles for "At the Krungthep Plaza," later published in Ontario Review (Princeton, Fall-Winter, 1980-1981). As an American expatriate living in Tangier who is visiting Bangkok, Bowles has a uniquely comparative viewpoint. His observations are efforts to characterize the people who live in Thailand and at the same time, to understand the situation of the foreigner. |
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