South America to Utah

(South America): Three Vassar Girls in South America : a holiday trip of three college girls through the southern continent, up the Amazon, down the Madeira, across the Andes, and up the Pacific coast to Panama

South America

Three Vassar Girls in South America : a holiday trip of three college girls through the southern continent, up the Amazon, down the Madeira, across the Andes, and up the Pacific coast to Panama, by Lizzie W. Champney; illustrated by "Champ" and others. Boston: Estes and Lauriat, 1885

In this third book of the Vassar Girls series, Maud joins Vassar chums Victoria and Delight on a trip to South America to help Delight’s professor father finish his study of the Amazon. Maud is a practical traveller. Before leaving, she cuts her hair short: “'No telling,' she had explained, 'but we may reach lands where hair-pins are not indigenous; and we may not be fortunate enough to encounter Fragoso, Jules Verne’s wandering barber of the Amazons.’” Maud was right, they don’t run into any peripatetic barbers during their journey along the Amazon. Instead they encounter jaguars, pirarucu, strange fossils, sinister strangers and even a detective. Their guides abandon them, Dad gets malaria, and the sinister stranger is revealed to be downright evil. But the girls tough it out, cross the Andes, and stop to visit some Inca ruins before returning home—just in time to set off for Italy, where Book 4 in the series will take them.

Caroline F. Schimmel Fiction Collection of Women in the American Wilderness, Schimmel Fiction 908

(Soviet Union): Ephemera from trips by George Seldes, journalist

Soviet Union

Ephemera from trips by George Seldes, journalist, 1922 and 1964

George Seldes (1890-1995), an investigative journalist best known for the newsletter In Fact, traveled to many places during times of crisis. He went to the Soviet Union in 1922 as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune and again, in 1964, with the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE). He witnessed world-changing events, but one of the things that seems to have left a lasting impression is the truly dreadful food he ate!

George Seldes papers, Ms. Coll. 1140 (in process)

Suriname

Suriname


Pas-kaart vande Rivieren Commewini Suriname en Cupanama, circa 1720

Johannes van Keulen (1654-1715) was a Dutch cartographer and the creator of the influential nautical atlas, the Zee-Atlas. This map traces the course of the rivers Commewijne, Coppename & Suriname, and is the first map to show the second “Joodsche Synagoge” (Jewish Synagogue) to be built in the New World, Congregation Beraha VeShalom. The illustrations on the map are fair representations of the lush jungle environment as well as the the sugar cultivation and trade which made Suriname so attractive as a colony. The legacy of colonization is apparent— the scale presents Dutch, English and French, and Spanish units of measure.

Arnold and Deanne Kaplan Collection of Early American Judaica, Arc Ms. 56

Ticino, photograph album, 1933

Ticino, Italy

Photograph album, 1933

This photograph album records a couple's trip through the Alps in Switzerland and Italy. The scenery was glorious, they met Isidoro Zapella's "cara mia," and they saw (and preserved) beautiful wildflowers, so it is hard to imagine a better trip. Although not shown here, the couple frequently enjoyed mountain climbing and picnics.

Nick Malgieri collection of manuscripts (in process)

(Toronto and Thousand Islands): Travel scrapbook

Toronto, Canada and Thousand Islands, Canada and New York

Travel scrapbook, 1940

From the end of July to the beginning of August 1940, Wisconsonite Dorothy traveled to east coast locations in Canada and the United States with her friends Eunice Becke and Louise Kissinger. The women traveled to Toronto, the Thousand Islands, Montreal, St. Catherines, the Green Mountains, Washington, D.C., and New York City. What we love about this scrapbook is that it is unapologetically touristy!

Dorothy Meyer travel scrapbook, 1940 July 28-August 4, Ms. Coll. 1328

Turkey Haza rūznāme-yi Dārendevī. = هذا روز نامۀ دارندوى.

Turkey

Haza rūznāme-yi Dārendevī. = هذا روز نامۀ دارندوى

This calendar for the years A.H. 1239 to 1324 (1823 to 1907), was produced by a scribe named Hikmetī. Like any small calendar (or app on your phone) that you carry with you, this calendar scroll could be carried around and consulted for days, months, prayer times, and other date/time correspondences. It is written in Ottoman Turkish and was likely produced in Istanbul.

Ms. Roll 1906

(Underworld) The Road and American Tramp and Underworld Slang (Underworld) The Road and American Tramp and Underworld Slang

Underworld

The road, by Jack London. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1907

American tramp and underworld slang : words and phrases used by hoboes, tramps, migratory workers and those on the fringes of society, with their uses and origins, with a number of tramp songs, edited, with essays on the slang and the songs, by Godfrey Irwin. With a terminal essay on American slang in its relation to English thieves' slang, by Eric Partridge. London: Eric Partridge Ltd. at The Scholartis Press, Thirty Museum Street, 1931

The Long Depression at the end of the 19th Century forced Jack London to live as a hobo during the 1890s. The Road is his autobiographical account of his experiences. Although his travels took him through many states, he never left the Underworld, an amorphous place transcending borders and boundaries. To supplement London's experiences, we have selected a volume of Underworld Slang--allowing you, too, to talk like a hobo.

HV4505 .L7 and EC9 P2588 931a

(Uruguay): Trip of the Philadelphia Orchestra

Uruguay

Trip of the Philadelphia Orchestra, 1966

From May to June in 1966, the Philadelphia Orchestra performed their "Latin American Tour." The Orchestra visited 11 cities and gave 24 concerts. There was a lot of fun travel ephemera to choose from, but we are particularly fond of this doorknob breakfast menu from the Hotel Victoria Plaza, where they stayed in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Philadelphia Orchestra 1966 Latin American Tour collection, 1961-1966, Ms. Coll. 929

(Utah): Game of Emigration

Utah

Game of Emigration. [Salt Lake City, 1947]

Apparently you can make a game about everything and the 1846 Great Mormon Migration from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake in Utah is no exception. Players spin a “pioneer odometer” and answer questions from 150 quiz cards to advance their pieces (covered wagons and pioneers on foot) across the country. The journey is fraught with challenges such as boulders, rattlesnakes, high cliffs, skunks, steep hills, buffalo stampedes, and bad swamps, to name only a few!

Caroline F. Schimmel Collection of Women in the American Wilderness (in process)