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Edward P. Smith journal, 1872

1 volume

The Edward P. Smith journal pertains to Smith's experiences in Massachusetts and England from 1871-1872. He discussed his social activities, job offers, guest sermons he delivered after becoming a licensed preacher, and his intention to visit France. He also described fellow passengers from his voyage to England in the spring of 1872, including General Daniel Sickles and the explorer Paul du Chaillu.

The Edward P. Smith journal (82 pages), written in London on May 9, 1872, contains Smith's retrospective account of his experiences in Massachusetts and England between October 1871 and the spring of 1872.

The volume begins with Smith's recollections about his voyage from England to the United States on the Aleppo in October 1871. After arriving in Massachusetts, he mentioned his theological studies, which culminated with a license to preach (p. 7). Smith preached guest sermons in multiple Massachusetts churches while attempting to find a teaching job. During a visit to Concord, Massachusetts, he commented on the town's history and prominent residents, and drew a manuscript map of its landmarks (p. 38). The Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science hired Smith to teach modern languages. He desired to improve his knowledge of French by travelling to Paris and he solicited advice from Harvard professors such as James Russell Lowell and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (pp. 42-43).

Smith sailed for Liverpool onboard the Adriatic in late April 1872 and described some of his fellow passengers, including General Daniel Sickles and the explorer Paul Du Chaillu, who shared stories of his travels in Africa and Scandinavia. After arriving in Liverpool, Smith continued to London, where he attended a concert at Royal Albert Hall, also attended by members of the British royal family (pp. 78-80). The journal ends mid-sentence. A 7-page manuscript essay, "Decline and Fall of the Merovingian," is laid into the volume.

Collection

Hiram B. Crosby journal, 1872

1 volume

This journal reflects the experiences of Hiram B. Crosby, a New York City lawyer, during his trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the fall of 1872. As part of a prospecting party, Crosby analyzed the potential for iron mines near Iron Mountain, Michigan. He recorded his impressions of local scenery, commented on his daily activities, and described the area's Native American settlements and peoples. The volume contains 24 pen and ink drawings.

This 127-page journal reflects the experiences of Hiram B. Crosby, a New York City lawyer, during his trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the fall of 1872. As part of a prospecting party, Crosby analyzed the potential for iron mines near Iron Mountain, Michigan. Crosby began the journal on September 26, 1872, as he left New York City, traveling by railroad to Menominee, Michigan, via Sandusky, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois. While in Ohio, he visited Jay Cooke on Lake Erie's Gibraltar Island (September 30, 1872), and pasted a pressed flower from the island onto the journal's first page.

After his arrival in Menominee, Crosby joined the members of his party and together they started out for Iron Mountain, where they planned to inspect specific areas for iron mining potential. In daily journal entries, Crosby recorded details of the group's travels along the Sturgeon and Menominee Rivers, particularly regarding local scenery and people. A few days into the trip, he fell from his horse while attempting to shoot a partridge, and suffered a fractured wrist (October 4, 1872); despite his injury, the trip proceeded smoothly, aided by the expertise of local Native Americans the group hired to make camp and guide the mining party. Crosby and the others frequently traveled by canoe, and he often described the guides and local Native American settlements, particularly at "Bad Water," near Iron Mountain.

On October 10, 1872, the explorers reached Iron Mountain and proceeded to examine the area. They set out again for Menominee shortly thereafter, and reached the town on October 15. There, Crosby inquired about the prices of shipping iron ore to Cleveland by boat (October 16). From Menominee, Crosby traveled to Escanaba, Marquette, and Houghton, Michigan, before heading to Detroit, which he described in several entries in late October. Crosby wrote the final entry in Detroit on October 26, 1872.

Three items are inserted into a flap in the front cover of the journal: 2 assurance tickets for Hiram B. Crosby from the Railway Passengers Assurance Company (November 14, 1872) and an advertising card for the Douglass House in Houghton, Michigan. A printed view of Marquette, Michigan, is pasted onto page 108 of the journal.

The journal also includes 24 pencil and ink drawings depicting scenes from Crosby's travels in the Upper Peninsula. See the Additional Descriptive Data section of this finding aid for an index of the illustrations.

Collection

Lake George (N.Y.) Camping Journal, 1892

1 volume

This volume is a typed journal of a group's canoe and camping trip on Lake George, New York, in the summer of 1892. The typescript is illustrated with 21 photographs of the campers, their equipment, and the scenery.

This volume is a 27-page typed journal of a group's canoe and camping trip on Lake George, New York, in the summer of 1892. The typescript is illustrated with 21 photographs of the campers, their equipment, and the scenery.

The Lake George camping party consisted of at least seven acquaintances: Charles W. Byrnes, Alice B. Byrnes, William L. Brown, Georgia B. Sumner, Edwin W. Andrews, Maybelle Ramsay, and R. C. Sargent. Maybelle and a man referred to as "the Doctor" left the group partway through the trip. The account, titled "Wotlarks: A Camping Journal," opens with an epigraph by William Henry Harrison Murray, followed by 24 pages of recollections. The campers embarked from Caldwell, New York, on July 31, 1892, spent 2 weeks on the lake, and then boarded a train for Boston from the area around Fort Ticonderoga on August 13, 1892.

The author of this typescript (possibly camper William L. Brown), described the scenery, meals, and notable incidents. He or she also quoted poems by P. Buchanan Read and Isaac Ogden Rankin. The 7 party members signed the final page of the typescript. Twenty-one photographs, pasted onto sturdy boards between pages of the journal, depict scenery around Lake George, the campers in their canoes, men and women posing with guns, a man fishing, the group near their tents, and other scenes.

The volume includes a carefully drawn or traced manuscript map of Lake George, marked with the places that the campers visited.

Collection

Pedro Font journal, 1854

1 volume

This journal is an 1854 English translation of Father Pedro Font's account of his travels from San Miguel de Horcasitas, Mexico, to San Francisco, California, and back between September 29, 1775, and June 2, 1776. Font traveled with a party under Juan Bautista de Anza, which included settlers bound for Monterey, Spanish soldiers, and other religious figures.

This journal is an English translation of Father Pedro Font's account of his travels from San Miguel de Horcasitas, Mexico, to San Francisco, California, and back between September 29, 1775, and June 2, 1776. Font traveled with a party under Juan Bautista de Anza, which included settlers bound for Monterey, Spanish soldiers, and other religious figures. This translation was created in "Monterey" on June 15, 1854.

The first 2 pages of the journal concern geography and the creation of a map of Font's travels. The bulk of the volume is comprised of diary entries that Font composed daily during periods of heavy travel and less frequently during stays at various settlements. The group departed San Miguel de Horcasitas on September 29, 1775, and reached San Francisco on March 27, 1776. After a brief rest, they set out on a return journey. They arrived in San Miguel de Horcasitas on June 2, 1776, having left around 200 settlers in Monterey, California.

Font provided the distances he traveled (in leagues), kept notes about interesting occurrences, recorded his approximate latitude and longitude, and described the scenery and settlements along the way. He often discussed the other members of the traveling party, who included soldiers, families, and priests, and commented on the group's encounters with Native Americans and on relationships between various groups of Native Americans. Font occasionally recorded native place names, and sometimes wrote lengthier descriptions for locales such as San Diego, San Francisco, and the "Palace of Montezuma" near Uturituc. The party celebrated fast days and other religious holidays.

The journal has a companion manuscript tracing of a map by Pedro Font, which is located in the library's Map Division. It is titled Mapa Correspondiende al D[ia]rio Que Formo el PF. Pedro Font del Viage Que [hizo] a Monterey y Puerto de San Francisco 7 [del Vi]age Que Hizo el PGarces al Moqui, [1854].