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

The Niagara Falls travel diary contains entries written while the diarist (anonymous) was on a trip from Albany, New York, to Niagara Falls, in the summer of 1815. The volume includes descriptions of the terrain around the falls and of the people the traveler met during the journey.

The Niagara Falls travel diary (18 pages) contains entries written while the diarist was on a trip from Albany, New York, to Niagara Falls, in the summer of 1815. The volume includes descriptions of the terrain around the falls and of the people the traveler met during the journey.

In the first entry, dated July 24, 1815, the author described a tour to Niagara Falls, starting at Albany and traveling past Utica along the Mohawk River. The diarist noted that the terrain was "unmistakable for its beauty" and compared it favorably to Harper’s Ferry. The second entry, August 4, describes the trip by ferry from Buffalo, New York, to Fort Erie, and eventually to Niagara. At Fort Erie, which was "a heap of ruin," the traveler encountered a military officer who had witnessed the fort’s siege by the British in 1814. Next, the author described the town of Chippewa, which suffered a damaging battle one year earlier. Passing Fort Niagara, the travelers enjoyed an easy approach to Niagara Falls; the writer described its physical features as well as the inhabitants of the area, including the Forsyth family, who hosted them. The diarist was disappointed that this natural wonder was so easy to reach, and lamented that the falls were "so completely at our command[,] so entirely abased at our feet." Multiple paths stretched along the falls, including trails on both the Canadian and New York sides.

The Pan-American Expo and Travel photograph album (17 x 19 cm) has 60 amateur gelatin silver prints consisting of architectural photographs taken at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y, as well as photographs of Niagara Falls, General Grant’s Tomb, and caged animals at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. The album also includes images of the Old Fort in Annapolis, Nova Scotia, and shipbuilding in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. There are also images of the U.S. Navy Battleships U.S.S. Kearsarge, Indiana, and Texas.

The Pan-American Expo and Travel photograph album (17 x 19 cm) has 60 amateur gelatin silver prints, 18 of which are architectural photographs taken at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. It also includes 4 photographs of what appears to be a demonstration of Coast Guard lifesaving procedures. Other views show a War of 1812 cannon on display, Niagara Falls, General Grant’s Tomb, and caged animals at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. The album also documents a trip to Fort Independence in Boston, as well as to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, including images of the Old Fort in Annapolis, N.S., and shipbuilding in Yarmouth, N.S. There are also images of the U.S. Navy Battleships U.S.S. Kearsarge, Indiana, Texas. Also of note are a group of 4 photographs of the St. John's River and harbor in New Brunswick accompanied by a newspaper clipping describing the tidal movements in the harbor. All of the photographs in the album are accompanied by handwritten captions.

The album has a brown cover inscribed with the title "Photographs," and is housed in a light blue box.