![[Journal of a Cobbler’s Apprentice]. Luther Crocker.](/pictures/thumb/4330_1.jpg?v=1515441113)
A New England tradesman's journal kept by a young journeyman from a family of shoemakers, offering an intimate account of his apprenticeship as well as capturing the commercial scenes in Cape Cod and other New England locales amidst an economic downturn; the journal also includes considerable social-political commentary, reflecting Crocker's...
![[Manuscript Journal of a Boston Merchant]. Ralph Haskins.](/pictures/thumb/2100_1.jpg?v=1492033074)
Manuscript journal of a Boston merchant—an uncle of Ralph Waldo Emerson—illuminating trade, shipping, and life in Boston during the early years of the American republic. Ralph Haskins, born in Boston on April 5, 1779, was apprenticed to Theodore Lyman, a well-established merchant, at a time when Boston was a....
![[Narrative of a voyage to California]. Theodore H. Klages.](/pictures/thumb/4577_1.jpg?v=1528811569)
An engaging manuscript narrative of a California gold rush voyage, including a harrowing account of passage through the Straits of Magellan and lively descriptions of places visited along the way. Theodore H. Klages left Hamilton, Ontario for California on 17 August 1858. The narrative offered here appears to be a....
![Memoirs of a Voyage Around the World in the Ship Aspasia, Capt. Fanning… “What is this world? thy school O misery!” “And he who knows not how to suffer” “Was born for nothing”. [Edward] Young. Donald Mackay.](/pictures/thumb/4137.jpg?v=1542037194)
A fascinating manuscript journal of an early American voyage to China, written by the remarkable Connecticut mariner Donald Mackay, steward aboard the ship Aspasia, commanded by Edmund Fanning, renowned explorer of the South Seas and pioneer of the China Trade. Mackay’s journal records the 1800–02 circumnavigation of the ship...
![[Manuscript Lesson Books and School Records.]. Philander Packard.](/pictures/thumb/4991_1.jpg?v=1538500674)
The manuscript lesson books and school attendance records of a Palmyra, New York schoolmaster, featuring the name of Joseph Smith Sr. in a list of those whose children attended the school and affording a glimpse into the poverty-stricken early years of Joseph Smith Jr.’s family life, the village of Palmyra...
![[Poem Written by an American Prisoner of the British at Melville Island During the War of 1812]. William Jr Payne.](/pictures/thumb/3819_1.jpg?v=1492454414)
An original, apparently unpublished poem on prison life during the war of 1812. Melville Prison, on an island in Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia, was used to house prisoners captured by the British in the War. This vivid poem, in rhymed couplets, was composed by William Payne Jr. of Philadelphia...
![Liber Amicorum [Photo Illustrated Journal of a European Grand Tour]. Caroline Alden Weir.](/pictures/thumb/3913_1.jpg?v=1495725897)
Caroline Alden Weir’s delightful account of a springtime grand tour of Italy, France, Scotland and England with her Uncle Henry, Aunt Cora and an annoying companion named Heller. Caroline Weir, daughter of impressionist artist Julian Alden Weir, traveling variously by ship, gondola, train, landau, and car, visits Venice, Genoa...