Diary (Eastern United States)
Collection
Identifier: SC 00736
Diary, 1915, titled "Seeing America First." In this diary, an unidentified couple of Worcester, Massachusetts, describes travels which includes stops in New York City; Pennsylvania; Delaware; Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Luray, Virginia; Richmond, Virginia; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Montgomery, Alabama; Mobile, Alabama; and New Orleans, Louisiana. Descriptions are very detailed and list not only sights visited, but comment at length on the social life and customs of places visited. Diary includes comments on billboards, New York Symphony, Lexington Market (Baltimore), John Hopkins, Synagogues (with derogatory comment), Georgetown ("particulary dingy and unattractive"), Arlington Cemetery, Mount Vernon, Natural Bridge and many other sights. There are quite a few comments on the Civil War, the Confederacy, and economic conditions of the South, etc. mostly of a critical nature. Several statements reveal a racist attitude of the travelers.
Authors mention on at least two occasion that they encountered Burton Holmes, who is known for his travel lectures.
The diary ends in New Orleans as the travelers embark on a train ride across the country to Arizona.
Also contains a few items typically found in scrapbooks, like informational fliers for tourists, and clippings from magazines, as well as a miniature Confederate flag.
English
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0.01 Linear Foot
Purchase.
Accessioned and minimally described in April 2010 by Ute Schechter, Warren E. Burger Archivist.
Part of the Special Collections Research Center Repository