Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

The Butler Clarkson journal contains an account of the author's 1855 voyage from the Bass Strait in Australia to Holyhead, Wales, as well as financial accounts for numerous expenses after Clarkson's immigration to Lansingburgh, New York.

The Butler Clarkson journal (approximately 45 pages) contains an account of the author's 1855 voyage from the Bass Strait in Australia to Holyhead, Wales, as well as financial accounts for numerous expenses after Clarkson's immigration to Lansingburgh, New York.

Clarkson began his travel journal on March 23, 1855, in the Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania, and recorded brief daily entries until sighting Holyhead, Wales, on June 8, 1855. His entries report weather and wave conditions and often take note of the scenery, with frequent remarks on the ship's location and places passed, such as New Zealand, Cape Horn, and Trinidad. He occasionally mentioned marine life, including turtles, porpoises, and whales, and on one occasion he saw a whale attacked by a swordfish (May 8, 1855).

The volume also has accounts that Clarkson kept between 1857 and 1866. These related to a variety of services and goods, including expenses for keeping horses and accounts with the Rensselaer County Bank. Some accounts are dated at Lansingburgh, New York. Financial agreements between Butler Clarkson and George Clayton are also present. Other entries are a list of addresses, a drawing of a person, and a birth record for Clarkson's children. The journal is one of "Henry Penny's Patent Improved Metallic Books" and includes a metal stylus for use on its special paper.

This diary chronicles the author's sea voyage from New York to China in the spring of 1859, as well as his life in Shanghai between July 1859 and July 1860. At sea, he detailed the daily weather, scenery, and life onboard the ship, and in Shanghai he described his everyday life as a doctor and shared numerous observations on the effects of foreign trade on the country, local missionary efforts, and military conflict between the British and Chinese.

This diary (289 pages) chronicles the author's sea voyage from New York to China in the spring of 1859, as well as his life in Shanghai between July 1859 and July 1860. The first entry, dated February 28, 1859, opens with the author embarking for China on the N. B. Palmer, an American clipper under a Captain Frisbie. Over the next several months, he recorded daily observations of the weather and of life onboard the ship, including the captain's occasional harsh treatment of the crew. In addition to recording daily measurements of latitude and longitude, he occasionally described the scenery as the ship rounded the Cape of Good Hope and made its way to China by way of Indonesia. After a brief stop on Java in mid-May, the ship proceeded to Hong Kong, where it arrived on June 11 to discharge its cargo. During his brief time in Hong Kong, the author noted several aspects of local life, including the influence of foreign missionaries. On June 27, the N. B. Palmer departed Hong Kong bound for Shanghai, which it reached on July 4 amid Independence Day celebrations. Once in Shanghai, the diarist recorded his impressions of the city and incidents from his medical career, which included administering vaccinations as well as caring for the sick. The diary contains many references to political affairs and to the local efforts of foreign missionaries; much of the political focus is on the influence of Great Britain, particularly after the escalation of the Second Opium War. In addition to political commentary and descriptions of his daily life as a doctor, the diarist occasionally expressed his hope that Christianity would eventually win over the locals. The author remained in Shanghai until at least July 21, 1860, the date of his final entry. Two items laid into the volume include an undated note of thanks for the doctor's services (pp. 58-59) and a sheet of paper containing two Chinese characters (pp. 90-91).

This volume contains D. Coffin's daily account of the first leg of a sea voyage from New York City to California, covering the progress of the clipper ship Grecian between New York and Cape Horn in early 1852. The journal also includes drawings of scenery made during the voyage, newspaper clippings, penmanship exercises, and children's sketches.

This volume contains a 20-page daily account of the first leg of D. Coffin's voyage from New York City to California, covering the progress of the clipper ship Grecian between New York and Cape Horn in early 1852. The journal also includes 18 coastal profiles drawn in pencil during the voyage. A newspaper clipping at the beginning of the volume concerns the clipper ship Grecian's arrival in San Francisco. It provides names of passengers, names of three people who died during the voyage, a list of goods shipped onboard, and names of consignees.

The journal begins on February 19, 1852. The following day, Coffin arrived in New York, where he purchased a ticket for the ship Grecian, which set sail on March 2. In his first entry, he detailed the ship's specifications, including its size and number of passengers. He kept a daily record of weather and events onboard and frequently mentioned his negative opinion of "immoral" passengers who enjoyed alcohol and gambling. Several of the entries concern medical problems, such as the death of passenger John Morrison from smallpox on March 12, the author's own bout with side and bowel pain, and several other cases of smallpox reported by the ship's doctor on March 21. Though many passengers suffered from illness, they were allowed to go onshore after the ship's arrival at Rio de Janeiro on April 12. Coffin wrote lengthy descriptions of the fort and the city, including its geographical surroundings and a visit by the emperor. On April 15, he reported on local markets and made brief observations about slaves. The Grecian departed Rio de Janeiro on April 19 and Coffin's continued to make daily entries until April 24.

Newspaper clippings, penmanship exercises, and children's sketches make up the rest of the volume. The first 42 pages have pasted-in newspaper clippings of proverbs, humorous anecdotes, informational articles, news articles, and poetry. The creator pasted the clippings over earlier, mostly inaccessible pen writing. Some of the clippings relate to farming, housekeeping, nature, and recent gold discoveries. Two of the articles are a report on a lecture given by Lucy Stone on women's rights, and a brief feature on an "Emancipation Movement in Virginia."

Penmanship exercises and notes (two dated 1862 & 1888), signatures, and children's sketches (three associated with Edna Jane Coffin) are scattered throughout the volume. A pencil sketch of a three-masted sailing ship was signed by Mathew Doyle.

George Hamilton's 1783-1785 journals record his travels in England and the United States and describe the modes of transportation, the local inhabitants and businesses, and the landscapes of Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. His 1786 journal chronicles his early life, from birth to his trip to America.

The George Hamilton papers contain five journals that record Hamilton's travels in England and the United States between 1783 and 1785, and a journal written in 1786 that chronicles his early life, from birth to his return to England. The journals are full of details and opinions about the people he met and lifestyles he observed in London, on board ship, and in the eastern United States. He recorded details on American culture and city life, as well as on modes of transportation and the physical features of the land. Hamilton commented on some of the battles and incidents of the American Revolution, which had just recently ended, and related amusing anecdotes of various adventures and notable characters he met during his travels.

The first diary (May 9, 1783-March 1784, 50 pages) documents his trip from London to America in the spring of 1783, and his trip between Philadelphia and Richmond. The journal is full of descriptions of the characters he met on his journey. For instance, on page 7, Hamilton playfully described a fellow passenger named Foulke: "He has the affected beliefs of the Frenchman with the rough plainness of the Quaker. The rancor of a Whig with the servility of a Tory, and the illiberality of a Methodist with the principles of a Deist." The journal's last page includes a list of towns where Hamilton stopped during his travels in Pennsylvania and Virginia; he marked the towns with good and bad taverns.

The second item (October 16-November 8, 1783, 14 pages) is a daily diary of his trip from Philadelphia to Mahoning Creek and the Susquehanna, 85 miles from their starting point. Along the way, Hamilton wrote of his interactions with the local population and described, in detail, the natural beauty of the area (rivers, mountains, cascades etc.). He also provided his impressions of the Moravians in the frontier town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

The third item (May 12-28, 1784, 20 pages) contains entries from Hamilton's "Tour to the Northward," which document travels from Philadelphia through Trenton, New Jersey; to Princeton (where he noted the gardens, storms, and locals meals); to Elizabeth Town; New York City; Long Island; and finally Connecticut. About New York City he wrote: "all the woods being cut down, the fields neglected and the fencing carried away. The Town is by no means remarkable for elegant streets or handsome buildings. The streets are irregular and excessively dirty" (page 9). He also mentioned a statue of King George that had been severely vandalized.

The fourth item (July 17-August 1, 1784, 31 pages) documents Hamilton's travels from Long Island to Boston and throughout New England and the eastern part or New York (Albany, Saratoga, Fishkill). He stopped at Stillwater, New York, and remarked that the British General John Burgoyne had penetrated this far north (to 27 miles from Albany) "…where the German lines were forced by a lucky mad strike of Arnold. Upon this they retreated to Saratoga" (page 29). He journeyed as far north as Fort Edward near Saratoga Springs. Throughout these pages, he recounted events of the Revolutionary war, including a detailed, though second hand, eyewitness account of George Washington's resignation of his commission to Congress (page 11). He also mentioned Generals Greene, Cornwallis, and Clinton.

The fifth item (1784-May 29, 1785, 28 pages and 29 blank pages) is the final travel journal. Hamilton started it in Ticonderoga and continued his entries while traveling to Mount Independence, and eventually to Niagara Falls.

The sixth item is a 14-page reflection on Hamilton's early life, written from Edinburgh, June 29, 1786. He noted that his mother died when he was two years old, that his father had wanted him to join the church. He wrote about his education and travels through 1783, when he set off from London for America.

The Hemenway family collection is made up of correspondence, documents, books, and other items related to the family of Asa and Lucia Hunt Hemenway, who worked as Christian missionaries to Siam (Thailand) in the mid-19th century. Most items pertain to family members' lives in the United States after their return in 1850. One group of letters pertains to the ancestors of Maria Reed, who married Lewis Hunt Hemenway.

The Hemenway family collection contains correspondence, documents, books, and other items related to the family of Asa and Lucia Hunt Hemenway, who served as Christian missionaries to Siam (Thailand) in the mid-19th century. Most items pertain to family members' lives in the United States after their return in 1850.

The Correspondence series is divided into two subseries. The Cotton Family Correspondence (26 items, 1819-1848) primarily consists of incoming personal letters to Frances Maria Cotton, whose father, siblings, and friends shared news from Vermont, New York, and Massachusetts. Her brother Henry, a member of the United States Navy, wrote about his travels to Cuba and Haiti on the USS St. Louis in the 1830s. The subseries also includes letters to Frances's father, John Cotton, and her husband, Joseph Reed.

The Hemenway Family Correspondence (116 items, 1857-1899) is comprised of letters between members of the Hemenway family. Lucia Hunt Hemenway wrote to her niece, Isabella Birchard, and her son, Lewis Hunt Hemenway, about her life in Ripton, Vermont, in the late 1850s and early 1860s, and corresponded with her sisters, Charlotte Birchard and Amanda Tottingham. Her letters contain occasional references to the Civil War. Other items include a letter from M. R. Rajoday to Asa Hemenway, written in Thai (March 23, 1860), and a letter from S. B. Munger to Asa Hemenway about Munger's experiences as a missionary in India (February 23, 1867).

The bulk of the subseries is comprised of Lewis Hunt Hemenway's letters to Isabella Birchard, his cousin, written between the 1860s and 1880s. He discussed his studies at Middlebury College, his decision to join the Union Army, and his service with the 12th Vermont Infantry Regiment, Company K, in Virginia in 1862 and 1863. He later wrote about his work at the King's County Lunatic Asylum in Brooklyn, New York; his medical practice in Manchester, Vermont; and his brief stint as a partner in an insurance firm in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His letter of February 16, 1877, includes a illustrated view of Saint Paul's city limits. Lewis and his wife, Maria Reed, corresponded with their children. Their daughter Clara also received letters from her grandfather Asa Hemenway.

The first item in the Diaries and Writings series is a diary that Lucia Hunt Hemenway kept while traveling from Boston, Massachusetts, to Thailand with other missionaries onboard the Arno between July 6, 1839, and September 21, 1839 (approximately 50 pages). She described her fellow passengers, discussed the religious meetings they held while at sea, and anticipated her missionary work in Thailand. A second item by Lucia Hemenway is a religious journal in which she recorded around 22 pages of Biblical quotations for her son Lewis from December 1, 1844-February 1, 1846. The final pages contain a poem entitled "Sunday School" and a list of rhymes that her son had learned.

The journals are followed by 15 speeches and essays by Lewis Hunt Hemenway. He composed Latin-language orations and English-language essays about politics, literature, the Civil War, death, and ancient history.

Maria Reed Hemenway kept a diary (39 pages) from November 20, 1875-[1878], primarily about her children's lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, after September 1877. The final item in the series is a 47-page religious sermon or essay attributed to Asa Hemenway (undated)

The Documents and Financial Records series (7 items) includes Asa Hemenway's graduation certificate from Middlebury College (August 10, 1835); a documents certifying his position as a missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (June 29, 1839, and May 26, 1851); and a United States passport for Asa and Lucia Hemenway (December 26, 1838). Two account books belonged to an unidentified owner and contain records of debts and credits, dated December 1, 1830-December 1, 1831 (volume 1) and December 1, 1831-December 1, 1832 (volume 2).

The Photographs and Silhouettes series (9 items) includes silhouettes of Lucia and Asa Hemenway, photograph portraits of two Thai women, a portrait of an unidentified Thai man, and a portrait of King Mongkut. Two photographs show a tree and buildings near the missionary compound where the Hemenway family lived.

The Books series (22 items) includes volumes in English, Sanskrit, and Thai. Subjects include the history of Thailand, Christianity, and missionary work in southeast Asia.

A volume of Genealogy (approximately 40 pages) contains records pertaining to the births, marriages, and deaths of members of the Hunt family and their descendants, as well as a history of the descendants of Ralph Hemenway of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Manuscript notes and letters are laid into the volume.

The Artifacts and Fabrics series includes baskets, textiles from Thailand, coins, and bottles.

Jenny Olin taught at a mission school on Kusaie, one of the Caroline Islands in the South Pacific. Her letters home to her friends describe her life and work with the girls in the mission school and the Kusaie natives who lived and worked with her.

Jenny Olin's thirty letters from Kusaie, dating from November 16, 1898 to March 21, 1910, are directed to her friends, Bessie and Annie Turner in Thomaston, Conn. Olin's lengthy letters describing her life and work with the girls in the mission school and the Kusaie natives who lived and worked with her are a pleasure to read. There are also two letters to Bessie from Miss Hoppin, written in July 1911, during Olin's final illness. There is a letter to Bessie, translated by Olin, from an island woman named Mareta, who had been "adopted" by Bessie, thanking her for some presents. There are two letters to Olin. The collection also includes a nineteen page copy of a journal she kept while touring the Marshall Islands, a ten page, unfinished manuscript about the life of Jenny Olin, some notes probably compiled by the unknown author of the sketch, a printed map of the world, showing the Missions of the American Board in 1884, and eight photographs of missionaries and the children of the mission.

The life Olin described was impossibly difficult, with inadequate shelter, clothing, food, or comforts of any sort. The native crops were fair but the supply was erratic. In this period, cyclones and tidal waves twice devastated both housing and much of the food crops. The mission depended on ships bringing mail and supplies but the visits were infrequent and unreliable. Yet in the face of these obstacles, these letters are shot through with humor, and with a feeling of purposefulness and devotion. Olin believed the natives, who were generally good-natured and appreciative, desperately needed her help, and there is the sense that for Olin, doing her work as well as possible was its own reward. As a result, she made light of her difficult situation: "I am well though often I feel cross, so presume I am not living in such repose of mind as I ought to. Can't you give me a sure recipe for keeping sweet tempered? I assure [you] I need one. Only I might do the way the natives do with the medicines we give them -- take a dose or two, and finding no great improvement, stop taking it" (1907 November 6).

Missionaries commonly thought of native peoples, both children and adult, as playful young innocents, and Olin was no exception: "These folks are just like children," Olin commented. "I wish you could know them, you would enjoy them" (1906 August 20). The islanders and the missionaries had high regard and affection for one another. Olin wrote about giving her students presents on holidays and birthdays, and making gifts if no supplies had arrived. She had many pets, including kittens, a pigeon, and a little wild chicken, which had been presented to her by the natives.

When provoked, Olin was capable of slinging sharp barbs. Her account of the people on board ship when she returned from her furlough to the States is in stark contrast to her fond descriptions of her "charges." There was a senatorial party from the U.S., including Sen. and Mrs. Hill of Connecticut and "many whom I do not care for in the least, among the latter is Miss Alice Roosevelt who ought to have a mother along to take care of her. She impresses me as decidedly loud, in many ways" (1905 July 22).

In 1902 the 50th anniversary of the missions on Kusaie was celebrated. The island people built the missionaries a small house and prepared a feast. 188 men were needed to carry all the food: breadfruit, taro, pork, pigeon, fwa fwa (which the men had made from breadfruit), sugar cane, corn beef and bread. Foods also occasionally available on the island included, bananas, papaya, coconuts, b'abai, eels, crabs, and clams. Once the school children caught 200 fish by poisoning the water deep down with a native vine that caused the fish to surface and be easily caught. Although the fish died from the poison, the people who ate the fish were not affected. The missionaries also had some livestock, including a milk cow, chickens, and pigs. Staples such as flour, beans, rice, potatoes, peanuts, raisins, and canned goods were all imported.

Even if food was plentiful, it could perish quickly in the face of the elements. After a cyclone had caused starvation on nearby islands, Olin put the islands' plight in perspective by alluding to the ongoing Russian famine: "I could not sleep after reading it. Starvation is so much worse when you are cold also . . . . When will the poor Russians get their rights?" (1907 June 25) Continual dampness also made it difficult to preserve food and even seed. Supplies from the States were equally unreliable, for it could take over a year from the date they were ordered for them to actually arrive.

In December 1903, Olin, eighteen girls from her school, and seventeen Marshall Islands boys, plus others, set out for an adventurous tour of the Marshall Islands on the Vine. There were five staterooms for forty-six people. The purpose was to visit other missions, replace the staff in some missions, and enable the young people who had been attending school at Kusaie to visit their homes. While on the islands, new members were admitted to the church, baptisms and marriages were performed, and other passengers were landed or added to the company on board. Seas were very rough, decks and staterooms were inundated often, cargo shifted to and fro, people got seasick and provisions were inadequate. The captain had to be kept from drinking at sea and from upsetting the natives on shore. The ship was too small for the many passengers and gear was old and needed repairs and replacements frequently.

The missions usually had a medical doctor and his family, but no dentist was available. More serious illnesses and dental problems required trips to Hong Kong, Sydney, or a return to the States. The excessive rainfall at Kusaie (24 ft. of rain per year) made malaria a constant threat. In 1909 Miss Olin went to Hong Kong to have her remaining teeth removed and plates made, taking the precaution of getting two sets. She also was fitted for new glasses, for hers had been broken awhile before. While in Hong Kong she also shopped for clothes, materials for sewing shoes, furniture, and of course, provisions. Olin noted that they "do not usually catch cold from the weather down here but have regular importation of influenza everytime the steamer comes, and then everybody on the island takes it" (1907 June 25).

The missionaries were not the only white people on the islands. The traders, responsible for importing goods and influenza, also interfered with the local flow of life. The King in Lelu, the village where the natives had built a small house and a church for Olin, made problems for his people and for the missionaries. "The King is getting old and is puffed up with a sense of his own importance, which the trader helps to puff," Olin reported (1907 November 6). In addition to these transients, there were several men who had settled there, including "6 white men on the island stayed from the Horatio," who married natives, although the English and the Germans had some marriage laws and restrictions, and the missionaries were far from enthusiastic about such unions (1899 April 15). In March 1910, Olin wrote of the pressing need to visit other islands. "It will be far from a pleasure trip. If there were no one but natives to run up against it would be all right, but white folks have a way of making things uncomfortable for one another sometimes. I wish it were not so, it is not a very flattering remark to make about white folks, but really, natives are generally easier to get along with. I wonder if you will think I have been quarreling with all my associates. I have not, really, but am quite peaceable at present" (1910 March 21)

All through the years there was worry about the future of the missions, questions of consolidating, having one mission on one island only, joining the Germans, who had an effective missionary program (the island was German territory), coping with inadequate funds for supplies, ships, and lumber for buildings. The disastrous earthquake in San Francisco was one of the factors involved in the decision to keep the school in Kusaie, "for lumber and vessels to bring it down have risen to twice their former price" (1907 January 16). In 1906 only two missionaries were left to care for twelve young students from the Giebero Islands and thirty from Kusaie. In these lean times, seventy natives brought supplies of food, prepared food, and collected $6.00 for Miss Olin. Olin, pictured here with a group of German missionaries, stated that she would stay and work with the Germans, even if the American Board pulled out.

An epidemic of dysentery broke out on Kusaie in February 1909. At least four people died, and Olin was seriously ill. Once she recovered, her letters focused more on her health; "I have never been so thankful that I am well, as this last year. It certainly is one of the greatest blessings" (1910 March 21). Her recovery might have been only partial, for she succumbed again to illness in 1911. Miss Hoppin wrote to the Turner's on Olin's behalf. "Jenny is very ill and very brave. No one else thinks she will recover . . . . Letters do her so much good though she cannot answer them" (1911 July 15). Hoppin persisted, "I will not let myself quite give up hope. We seem to need her so much in our work" (1911 July 21). Olin died in the latter part of 1911.

The J. M. Clinch journal (65 pages) records the watchmaker's trips to Liverpool and London in the summers of 1901 and 1903, as well as his visits to clockmakers and to various sights around Great Britain. He noted details of the chronometer industry, kept a journal of three transatlantic sea voyages, and recorded his impressions of places he visited with his companions, Eliza and Alice, throughout England and Scotland.

The J. M. Clinch journal (65 pages) records the watchmaker's trips to Liverpool and London in the summers of 1901 and 1903, as well as his visits to clockmakers and to various sights around Great Britain. The first portion of the journal (pp. 1-22) contains records of Clinch's meetings with clockmakers in Liverpool and London from April 27, 1901 to May 6, 1901, and from May 26, 1903 to May 30, 1903. He noted his impressions of the clock making industry, then in decline, and listed his orders for parts. These are followed by several addresses and notes (pp. 19-21), and the remainder of the volume chronicles Clinch's voyages to and from Europe, as well as his leisure activities in England and Scotland. These entries are presented in several distinct sections and, though not ordered chronologically, they are dated, with those from 1901 numbered Parts I-VI. Clinch briefly related his daily activities onboard transatlantic steamers, and kept a record of his sightseeing activities and travels through England and Scotland with two female companions, Eliza and Alice. He also described a trip to the Azores, which he visited en route to Liverpool in May 1903.

This journal recounts Joseph E. Taylor's experiences onboard the Andrew Jackson during a voyage from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Bremen, Germany, in September 1876. Taylor illustrated his journal with pictures of the ship's sails and interior.

This journal (35 pages) recounts Joseph E. Taylor's experiences onboard the Andrew Jackson during a voyage from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Bremen, Germany, in the fall of 1876. Under the command of J. C. Bartlett, the ship left Philadelphia on September 3, 1876. The Andrew Jackson reached the English Channel on September 25 and approached Germany in early October, as Taylor composed his final journal entry. Taylor described the voyage, including events such as bird and porpoise sightings, and made notes about the Gulf Stream. The journal also includes several sketches of the ship's interior (pp. 1, 3-4), accompanied by detailed descriptions. A small printed map laid into the volume shows the "Saloon and Cabin Plan of the American Steam Ship Co.'s Steam Ships 'Pennsylvania,' 'Ohio,' 'Indiana,' 'Illinois.'"

This collection documents the life of Kate Mills, an American Presbyterian missionary in China in the 1880s. Her papers include letters, a journal, and photographs which depict her experiences in China.

The collection contains 83 letters, consisting of 81 letters from Kate Mills to her father, Samuel Wilson, one letter from Kate Mills to her sister, Fannie Wilson, and one letter from Frank Mills to Samuel Wilson. There is a journal of about 140 pages, containing newspaper articles, stories told by Kate's acquaintances, and excerpts from books that Kate transcribed. There are three photographs, two are gelatin prints from the 1920s and one is a carte de visite of a Chinese family, ca. 1880. The relation of the photographs to the collection is not clear. Finally, included with the June 5, 1885 letter, there is a meticulous drawing of the hospital at Hangchow.

The letters begin with Kate and Frank traveling across the United States to San Francisco, stopping at various attractions, including a Mormon church in Utah. They traveled across the Pacific Ocean with the Holts, a missionary family already established in Shanghai, also in the American Presbyterian Mission. After an arduous sea voyage, Kate and Frank arrived in China. Kate was not impressed with the conditions of the country, and in her first letter written from China, she wrote, "If China were not such a disgusting dirty place it would not be such a bad country to be in" (1882 December 11). Although Kate's opinion of China and the Chinese did improve over time, she always maintained an attitude of superiority over the Chinese, which frequently surfaced in her writings.

Kate and Frank's first task was to try to learn the language, which both found frustrating and challenging. They hired a tutor to teach them, but even after months of practice, Kate still felt quite inadequate in her speaking abilities: "it is one thing to be able to make them understand in conversation and quite another to be sufficiently correct to preach" (1883 August 21). Even making the Chinese understand simple requests was a problem. In her May 23, 1883 letter, Kate related how a friend of hers received a can full of dead cockroaches because her order to her servant had not been understood.

The foreign community in China was very supportive and helpful to all its members, so Kate and Frank soon felt at home. Denominations were not terribly important with such small numbers of people, and Kate and Frank went to church services and meetings with Episcopals, Methodists, and Anglicans, as well as Presbyterians. As Kate's stay in China progressed, she gradually built up a network of friends and came to enjoy missionary work enough to recommend it to others. Kate and Frank frequently traveled in the surrounding area, visiting people, going to meetings, staying with friends, entertaining house guests, and going to Shanghai to do their shopping. Kate found the prices in Shanghai to be expensive beyond belief, although later she learned the art of bargaining, which lowered the price considerably. Nevertheless, Kate had her father send things from home to try to save money. Frank's salary as a missionary was fairly modest, but the two managed to live comfortably.

Kate's letters provide an interesting foreign perspective on Chinese culture. She described the Chinese New Year, Chinese customs of eating and receiving guests, Chinese temples and religious practices, and Chinese homes. Her journal, which contains more anecdotes and descriptions from friends and newspapers, is also a rich resource. Particularly notable in her journal are quotations she took from a Chinese friend's observations of the Western world. Describing children, he wrote, "when visiting their seniors they must apply their mouths to the left and right lips of the older with a smacking noise" (Journal, p. 27).

Although Kate's comments about the Chinese often revealed her prejudice against them, she had a gentle sense of humor that offset the harshness of her words and allowed her to view things from a variety of perspectives. For example, although Kate constantly complained of the Chinese all being thieves and liars, when her house was actually robbed, she maintained her good nature, writing, "someone went through our house and helped themselves to what they wanted and unfortunately for us their wants and ours happened to be the same" (1883 September 18).

Kate and Frank's travels in China brought them to many different places. Each summer they left the oppressive heat in Hangchow, staying in Shanghai, hills surrounding Hangchow, and even in a Chinese temple. Kate was surprised at how little resistance the established religions had to Christianity, for the Chinese priests "seem to make no distinction between our religion and theirs but regard them as one and the same" (1883 March 16). Yet most of their attempts at missionizing did not result in many conversions. When they traveled around the country, flocks of people would come to see the Americans, making Kate feel that she "could almost imagine I was the principle attraction in Barnum's show," but few in the crowds were interested in the message of Christianity (1883 December 18).

During her stay in China, war broke out between China and France from August 1884 to April 1885. Kate was not directly affected, but all of the French foreigners left the country and she was concerned about native reaction toward the remaining foreigners and about a general loss of order. "I pose we have more to fear from an uprising of natives than from the French," she observed (1884 August 26). Hangchow remained relatively peaceful during the whole war, but she described difficulties that foreigners were having in other parts of China. In Canton, "foreigners cannot go out without hearing 'kill him, kill him' on all sides" (1885 January 28).

Kate's letters provide a view into the domestic side of life as well. In addition to her missionary work, Kate ran the household and cared for her family. She continually argued with her Chinese servants in her attempts to keep the household in order. One two separate occasions servants stole some her belongings. Besides servants, Kate had to battle natural forces trying to disrupt her home. The hot and damp weather brought mosquitoes and "mould" that ruined her clothing.

Kate also had to face the burden of raising her children in a foreign environment. She was very secretive about her pregnancies. In a fascinating letter marked "private," dated September 10, 1884, Kate informed her father of her pregnancy only about a month before she was due. She made no mention of her second pregnancy before the baby was born. The bulk of the September 10 letter is about her friend Jennie, who was having "womb trouble" and would not be able to bear children. Consequently Jennie "broods over it until she makes herself sick. Dr. calls the disease hysteria." Because of her illness, Jennie was returning home to Windsor, Connecticut. Kate was unsympathetic toward Jennie, telling her father that Jennie was responsible for her troubles and would do nothing to try to help herself. Her reaction is surprising especially considering Kate's own pregnancy, although perhaps she was concerned such a thing could happen to her and was upset that her close friend was leaving her before Kate gave birth. Fortunately Jennie's story ended happily. She returned to China in 1886, and gave birth to a boy in 1887.

Kate's family story did not end so well. Her second son died in infancy, and although Kate tried to accept his death, she found it very difficult. "We tried to give him up cheerfully but I never before supposed that such a wee thing could leave such a large empty space" (1888 August 4). Only a few months later her first son, Sidney, died of diphtheria, devastating Kate. "It was dreadful when Baby went but it seems now as if I could hardly endure to live day after day in our house, for his face and voice haunts very spot." (1888 November 24). Within a month, Kate and Frank began to plan their trip home, concluding their missionary work in China.

The journal of Levi E. Kent, of the 4th Rhode Island Infantry, Company F., provides an account of his regiment's movements, battles, pastimes, entertainments, and lifestyle.

Although Kent served for only one year during the Civil War, he left an outstanding account of his regiment's movements, battles, pastimes, entertainments, and lifestyle. A good writer and capable of holding forth for several pages on a single engry, Kent's journal virtually amounts to a regimental history. Of special interest is his reporting on the palace intrigue among the officers of the 4th Rhode Island.