Travel

These are historical travel diaries and journals from around the world.

Diary of an 1852 Voyage from India to Boston

This is the 1852 diary of Minerva Sears who was born in 1819 and was in her early thirties at the time of writing. Minerva is accompanying her husband, Captain Joshua Sears, on a voyage from Boston to the Isle de France, then to Calcutta, and back to Boston. They […]

Diary of an 1829 Visit to Coastal Maine

Background This is a journal written by Edgar J. Doolittle in the summer of 1829 as he visits a small island off the coast of Maine, explores Thomaston on the mainland nearby, and visits Boston on his way back home to Wallingford, CT. Though only 19 years old, he is […]

The Diary of Hen: A Victorian Singer’s 1887 European Tour

This is the diary of Henrietta St. Felix (born 1864) of the Victorian music act “The St. Felix Sisters”. The act originally consisted of four sisters: Henrietta, Clementina, Charlotte, and Leonora. Leonora passed away in 1880. The sisters’ act consisted of original song and dance sketches that were described as […]