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This collection consists of letters, postcards, and photographs related to Private Arthur E. Welch of the United States Army, who served with the 1st Regiment, Company L, in and around Nogales, Arizona, between July and October 1916. Welch discussed everyday life along the United States-Mexico border, his work in a military ice house, and developments in the region's military conflicts.

This collection consists of 100 letters, 2 postcards, and several photographs related to Private Arthur E. Welch of the United States Army, who served with the 1st Regiment, Company L, in and around Nogales, Arizona, between July and October 1916. Welch wrote his first 2 letters to his mother, Mrs. M. J. Welch of Willimantic, Connecticut, while in training at Niantic, Connecticut, about his life in camp. His next 5 letters recount his journey to Nogales, Arizona, and describe the scenery in Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.

The bulk of the collection consists of Welch's daily letters to his mother from July 4, 1916-October 2, 1916, about his experiences while stationed in Nogales, Arizona. He reported news of recent military developments, commented on his accommodations in camp, and discussed several aspects of his life in the army, including his training, his work in an ice house, and his attendance at Catholic religious services. He also described the area and discussed a lengthy march his unit made to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, where he remained for much of August. Welch occasionally mentioned relations with the Mexicans and their independence celebrations on September 16, as well as the actions of Pancho Villa. One of his friends, Ed Ryan, wrote a letter to Mrs. Welch about his experiences after being wounded in the arm; he also mentioned Arthur's work in the ice house (September 21, 1916). By early October 1916, Welch began to anticipate his return to the East Coast. Two photographic postcards depict Arthur E. Welch in uniform and in a pair of overalls.

The non-correspondence items are 1 photograph of a group of soldiers, as well as 3 scrapbook pages containing 31 photographs of Nogales, Arizona, and United States soldiers in uniform and at leisure.

This journal recounts the experiences of Benneville Hiester, a native of Berks County, Pennsylvania, who traveled from Pleasant Township, Ohio, to St. Louis, Missouri, and back to Pennsylvania in the spring of 1853. Hiester recorded the odd jobs he did for local farmers around Pleasant Township and Lancaster, Ohio; his trip westward through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois by railroad and overland roads; his return journey to Pennsylvania, taken primarily by steamboat; and the labor he did for nearby farmers after his return.

The Benneville Hiester diary contains about 50 pages of short daily entries about his travels from Pleasant Township, Ohio, to St. Louis, Missouri, and back to Pennsylvania in 1853.

In January 1853, Hiester lived in Pleasant Township, Ohio, where he chopped wood and performed other tasks for local farmers. In his journal, he mentioned the names of those for whom he worked, as well as his work at a nearby poorhouse and his labor digging graves and building pig sties. On February 19, he visited Joseph Hiester and his son Daniel in Boylston, Ohio, and on March 7, he left Lancaster for Columbus, Ohio, where he boarded a train for Cincinnati with a companion named Jacob. Hiester noted the cost of his ticket and provided brief descriptions of his journey across Ohio and Indiana, including a stop at Vandala, Indiana, to visit acquaintances. On March 20, he and Jacob traveled on the "National Road" to Illinois, and they arrived in St. Louis, Missouri, on the 22nd. Hiester set out for Pennsylvania on the same day, paying $10.50 for a steamboat ticket on the Elephant, which traveled along Ohio River to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which Hiester reached on April 4. From there, he went to Harrisburg and then to his home near Bern, which he reached by foot on April 6. The final entries, which Hiester wrote regularly until May 1 and again from June 14 to June 22, concern the daily weather and his manual labor. The entry for June 21 mentions his work with tobacco.

In this diary, seventeen-year old Elizabeth Tuttle described the places she visited, sharing her impressions of travel, people, buildings, gardens, institutions, and other items on a journey through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.

In May 1836, seventeen-year old Elizabeth and her parents left Newark "on an excursion partly to visit western friends, and partly to see the far famed West." The family's travels by land and water took them to many cities and towns, including Philadelphia, Lancaster, and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania; Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Akron in Ohio; and Niagara Falls, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, and Poughkeepsie in New York. In this very interesting diary, Elizabeth described the places she visited, sometimes in exquisite detail, sharing her impressions of travel, people, buildings, gardens, institutions, and everything else on the journey that piqued her interest.

Elizabeth recorded her encounters with the many people she and her family met on their trip. At the beginning of the trip, Elizabeth and her parents met the "gentlemanly" Judge John Banks of Pennsylvania, who had been a member of Congress, elected on an Anti-Masonic platform. Several days later, she was introduced to Judge Goddard from Connecticut and his family. Once the Tuttles got to Cincinnati, they saw many old friends and acquaintances, especially those who had lived in Newark. They stayed with their friends the Blachlys on Sycamore Street. Elizabeth paid visits to Miss Grandon, "a former boarder at the Academy;" Charley Hornblower, a hardware store merchant; and Mr. Messer, the former principal of Newark Academy. At least three ministers from Newark had moved to Ohio: Rev. Baxter Dickinson, professor of sacred rhetoric at Lane Seminary; Rev. Richards of Auburn Theological Seminary; and Rev. Philip Hay of the Geneva Lyceum.

The Tuttles were members of the First Presbyterian Church in Newark, founded in 1667, and were keenly interested in religion and the intellectual pursuit of Christianity. On their travels, they not only attended Presbyterian services, but they also visited Methodist and Roman Catholic churches, and a Shaker village. Of the German Separatist settlement of Zoar, Elizabeth wrote: "in order and neatness, they resemble the Shakers, as well as in their being a community of interests and under one temporal head....In one field, where they were making hay, there were eighteen persons working, fourteen of them were females all dressed alike." Their intellectual curiosity extended as well to education, reform, politics, and social culture. They toured the Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, the Ohio Deaf and Dumb Asylum, a penitentiary in Columbus (where "300 male convicts and one negro woman" were confined), a coal factory, a cotton factory, a college and female seminary in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., the Auburn Theological Seminary, and a prison in Auburn, N.Y.

On the trip back to Newark, Elizabeth frequently noted the trials of traveling by various means of transportation, including carriage, stage, canalboat, and steamboat. Travel was far from smooth and comfortable. For example, when they left London, Ohio, Elizabeth and her mother were seated on a large trunk situated over the back wheels of a barouche. "The driver thought by going through the woods, he would miss some of the mud, and he did in part, but such a jouncing as we had, I never want again, that over the back wheels, on a trunk constantly slipping forward, it was too much....The driver then got two boards, fastened to the top, Ma and I taking the middle one, we thought a board a great luxury." Finally, on July 14, they made their "last start for home, sweet home," arriving in Newark that evening.

The John H. Dixon diary provides a day-in-the-life account of a young man, trying to establish himself in Indiana, in 1861. Dixon described his move from Ohio to Indiana and his daily activities working as an itinerant laborer.

The John H. Dixon diary is a 4"x2¾", 142-page leather-bound journal. The diary opens with Dixon's trip from Tuscarawas County, Ohio, to Daviess County, Indiana, from September 5-24, 1861. He made the journey with a group of westward migrants, though he rarely mentioned his companions. Dixon noted each county through which they passed, the terrain, and the food they ate. He often slept in hay or in his wagon and ate in taverns when he could. He also noted when they set off each day (they rested on Sundays) and when they stopped for breakfast and dinner.

The next set of entries, starting on September 25, 1861, is entitled: "An account to things common and general, that may take place during my stay in Indiana." Dixon recorded his daily work activities as a laborer (building and painting houses, maintaining carriages, caring for horses, chopping wood, husking corn, and making apple butter) and his social life (talking, singing, attending a prayer meeting at a United Brethren church, and writing letters). He spent most of his time in and around Clarksburg and Washington, Indiana. On October 1, 1861, Dixon applied for a teaching certificate, for which he was asked to read and write, and was quizzed on geography and grammar. The journal ends with a 7-page "true and correct history" of his life from September 5-October 31, 1861. In these pages, Dixon stated his plans to send this diary back to his friends in Ohio to "keep it to remember me when I am dead and gone."

Dixon often worked with Esrom Redman of Madison, Indiana. When work was slow, Dixon washed dishes, swept the floor, and tended the horses. He spent much of his social time with a man named Clark. His diary entries provide a day-in-the-life account of a young man, trying to establish himself in Indiana, in 1861.

Samuel L. Young of Reading, Pennsylvania, kept this 108-page journal "during a tour through the United States" between June 1, 1846, and October 12, 1846. He traveled by railroad, steamship, and stagecoach, and recorded his impressions of major cities, local scenery, and fellow travelers. Young ventured as far west as St. Louis, Missouri; as far north as Niagara Falls, Canada; and as far south as Lexington, Kentucky.

Samuel L. Young of Reading, Pennsylvania, kept this 108-page journal "during a tour of the United States" between June 1, 1846, and October 12, 1846. He traveled by railroad, steamship, and stagecoach, and recorded his impressions of major cities, local scenery, and fellow travelers. Young ventured as far west as St. Louis, Missouri; as far north as Niagara Falls, Canada; and as far south as Lexington, Kentucky.

Young's journal, which contains descriptions and anecdotes from his travel, begins with an entry expressing his sadness upon leaving his loved ones (p. 1). He departed Reading for New York City, where he remained for 4 days; there, he witnessed a procession by the Sons of Temperance. Young then traveled to Connecticut and Massachusetts, where he commented on Boston's Chinese residents (p. 8). He continued to Niagara Falls, Detroit, and Chicago. In Detroit, he received copper samples from Morgan Bates, a prospector (p. 31); in Chicago he recorded his disappointment with the city and its construction. While in western Illinois and Iowa, Young visited a smelting furnace and mine (pp. 43-44), a "lead cave" and mine (pp. 48-49), and the Mormon temple at Nauvoo, Illinois (pp. 56-58).

When Young reached St. Louis, Missouri, he boarded a riverboat bound for Louisville, Kentucky, though he and three other travelers opted to walk the final stretch of the trip (pp. 70-71). Young recalled a stagecoach conversation about slavery, though he declined to participate (pp. 74-75). Upon his arrival in Lexington, Kentucky, he met with Henry Clay at his Ashland estate (pp. 87-88). Young spent much of September in Cincinnati, Ohio. Between Cincinnati and Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), he met Lewis C. F. Fatio, former captain of the United States revenue cutter Wolcott, who was on his way to contest a charge of disobedience in Washington, D. C. (pp. 101-102). Young began the last leg of his journey on October 10, 1846, heading for Philadelphia and, later, Reading, where he returned on October 12 (p. 108).

Young occasionally encountered dangerous situations, including a narrowly avoided stagecoach accident between Kalamazoo and St. Joseph, Michigan (p. 33), a fire next door to his Chicago hotel (pp. 36-37), and a suspicious stagecoach passenger at Rockford, Illinois (p. 42). He made acquaintance with many fellow travelers, and often joined them for excursions. Young played the accordion, read local newspapers and the works of Friedrich Schiller, occasionally measured the distances he traveled or noted the costs of transportation, and recorded the name of every hotel at which he boarded.