The travel journals of Harvard professor, curator, and evolutionary biologist George Gaylord Simpson ought to be near the top research lists of scholars investigating twentieth-century history, travel, conservation, anthropology, and paleontology. Available in seven boxes of handwritten journals, typed pages, carbon copies, and countless ephemera, Simpson's travel writings provide textured insights into his life, research, intellectual, philosophical, and political positions. Over the course of six decades of journaling (1924-1984), Simpson records at least 36 distinct expeditions, traveling to every continent and documenting discoveries in extraordinary detail and literary style. (Consider the locations identified with this note representative rather than comprehensive of his diverse travels.) Noteworthy journals include: Depression-era trips to Patagonia (1931, 1934), an extended tour of Venezuela in the late-1930s (1938-39), trips to Brazil and the Amazon basin (1954-56, 1983-84), a tour to Spain under Franco (1960), expeditions in North Africa and the Middle East just before the Six Day War (1967), visits to Australia (1951, 1968), Fiji (1968), Indonesia (1975), Papua New Guinea (1976), trips to the Galapagos (1970, 1974), expeditions to the Arctic (1974) and Antarctica (1971-73), a trip to Soviet Union during the Cold War (1977), and a tour of China after its economic reforms (1980).; In his travels, Simpson's mastery of detail is matched only by his curiosity and literary flourish. For example, during his 1938-39 Venezuela tour, he discusses everything from population density (4/25/1939) and the work of Catholic missionaries with indigenous populations (1/15/1939) to the sweet coffee in Barquisimeto (9/21/1938) and his method for killing an opossum without damaging its skin (10/6/1938). At times, his reflections blur the boundaries of prose and poetry. In a collection of reminders from his time in Los Robles, he lists: "The noise they make to shoo animals--This can't be written even approximately, something like the clearing of a throat long and viciously. The sound of rain falling on canvas, on bushes, everywhere, the roar of flooding gullies, and slip and thud of landslides. The sound of pigs slashing and shearing by night outside the kitchen. The smell of fresh, heavily roasted coffee being ground…Hillsides brilliant yellow and pale green with mecutera" (12/19/1938). Researchers may anticipate discovering such redolent entries scattered throughout Simpson's journals, as suggested by Selected Quotations. Although items are not individually cataloged, scholars may choose to begin to mine this rich collection using Anne Roe Simpson's "Note on travel diaries."
 

The first diary and second diaries, 1893-1 and 1893-2, dovetail, though, the second diary, 1893-2, is dedicated to Shull's "favorite subjects of study" (botany, natural philosophy, chemistry, agriculture), and spans from 2/19/1893 – 2/10/1895. The 1895 diary spans the year, whereas the 1897 diary ends on 9/26/1897. While the notebook entitled "Notes on European Trip of Geo. H. Shull" is supposed to span from August 1907 to December 1908, it actually concludes on September 25. The first four diaries feature detailed accounts of the weather, Shull's personal life (namely visitors, friends, and family), chores (e.g. cutting firewood, fixing fences, ploughing snow, farming, cleaning stable, cutting corn, and pickling grapes), studies (agriculture, physics, natural philosophy, botany, chemistry, and optics), reading and writing, travels (including a zoo, musical, circus, lectures, and even a funicular on 9/8/1895), and his early public-school teaching.
 
1893-1 includes extensive accounts of and assessments of his reading (such as his critique of Vanity Fair on 1/7), attendance of a friend's funeral (2/8), writings and editorship of Ingleside Magazine (1/2, 2/1), hearing difficulties (8/6 and 12/17), and even a friend's trip the 1893 World's Fair (10/8). Most notably, shortly after Shull begins teaching (10/3) he shifts towards less frequent diary entries. Shull encloses various ephemera, including his own sketches of insects, in the final pages of this diary.
 
1893-2, which purports to provide "research, failures, & everyday account of events of my life which has any bearing upon my favorite subjects of study," particularly botany. On 3/15/93, in fact, Shull confesses to having caught "grafting fever." The diary jumps from 9/18/93 to 10/20/94, upon which Shull notes the "complete cessation from scientific activity during the period of 8 ½ months following 10/3/1893 while I was teaching my first term of public school."
 
The 1895 and 1897 diaries reveal Shull's growing Christianity: he opens both diaries with Psalms and speaks regularly about his evolving faith (2/17/1895, 6/2/1895, and 1/17/1897). On several occasions, he even revisits and quotes from early entries (1/17/1897 and 7/18/1897). Shull's study of phrenology and physiognomy surfaces throughout both notebooks, including in accounts of religious practitioners (6/2/1895), students (1/10/1897), and colleagues (3/7/1897). His heterogeneous political views include support for women's suffrage (1/6/1895) and women's rights (6/18/1895), attendance of the Republican primaries (3/17/95), his own local advocacy for a temperance petition (3/14/1897), and some sympathies for Social Darwinism, particularly with regards to immigration (2/21/1897) and education (3/7/1897). The 1897 diary concludes shortly after Shull began his studies at Antioch College.
 
In a notebook pertaining to his 1908 "European Trip," Shull provides a detailed account of his steamship journey from New York City to London (8/15-8/25/1908) with attention to sights (e.g. passing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island) and the social life of the ship (namely card-playing, concerts, dinners, and walks). Upon arrival in London, Shull and his party visit a range of historical sites in London, Wales, Ireland, France, and Belgium. He dedicates his most rigorous accounts, however to the various botanical gardens and methods of plant cross-breeding and grafting. This diary concludes in Ghent, bound for Berlin, and includes a printed, 12-page "Americanization" pamphlet (dated 1919), for which Will Fenton developed an online exhibit: https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/labs/americanization/

The George Harrison Shull Papers include five diaries spanning 1893-1895 and 1908. Most of these notebooks reflect Shull's early education and nascent teaching career until his enrollment in Antioch College, whereas his 1908 notes on his European trip reflect his growing interest in botany and plant breeding. The Shull diaries will interest researchers investigating those fields as well as those considering common schools and late-nineteenth-century pedagogy, postbellum politics (especially temperance and women's suffrage movements), as well as social Darwinism, phrenology, and physiognomy.
 
The first diary and second diaries, 1893-1 and 1893-2, dovetail, though, the second diary, 1893-2, is dedicated to Shull's "favorite subjects of study" (botany, natural philosophy, chemistry, agriculture), and spans from 2/19/1893 – 2/10/1895. The 1895 diary spans the year, whereas the 1897 diary ends on 9/26/1897. While the notebook entitled "Notes on European Trip of Geo. H. Shull" is supposed to span from August 1907 to December 1908, it actually concludes on September 25. The first four diaries feature detailed accounts of the weather, Shull's personal life (namely visitors, friends, and family), chores (e.g. cutting firewood, fixing fences, ploughing snow, farming, cleaning stable, cutting corn, and pickling grapes), studies (agriculture, physics, natural philosophy, botany, chemistry, and optics), reading and writing, travels (including a zoo, musical, circus, lectures, and even a funicular on 9/8/1895), and his early public-school teaching.
 
1893-1 includes extensive accounts of and assessments of his reading (such as his critique of Vanity Fair on 1/7), attendance of a friend's funeral (2/8), writings and editorship of Ingleside Magazine (1/2, 2/1), hearing difficulties (8/6 and 12/17), and even a friend's trip the 1893 World's Fair (10/8). Most notably, shortly after Shull begins teaching (10/3) he shifts towards less frequent diary entries. Shull encloses various ephemera, including his own sketches of insects, in the final pages of this diary.
 
1893-2, which purports to provide "research, failures, & everyday account of events of my life which has any bearing upon my favorite subjects of study," particularly botany. On 3/15/93, in fact, Shull confesses to having caught "grafting fever." The diary jumps from 9/18/93 to 10/20/94, upon which Shull notes the "complete cessation from scientific activity during the period of 8 ½ months following 10/3/1893 while I was teaching my first term of public school."
 
The 1895 and 1897 diaries reveal Shull's growing Christianity: he opens both diaries with Psalms and speaks regularly about his evolving faith (2/17/1895, 6/2/1895, and 1/17/1897). On several occasions, he even revisits and quotes from early entries (1/17/1897 and 7/18/1897). Shull's study of phrenology and physiognomy surfaces throughout both notebooks, including in accounts of religious practitioners (6/2/1895), students (1/10/1897), and colleagues (3/7/1897). His heterogeneous political views include support for women's suffrage (1/6/1895) and women's rights (6/18/1895), attendance of the Republican primaries (3/17/95), his own local advocacy for a temperance petition (3/14/1897), and some sympathies for Social Darwinism, particularly with regards to immigration (2/21/1897) and education (3/7/1897). The 1897 diary concludes shortly after Shull began his studies at Antioch College.
 
In a notebook pertaining to his 1908 "European Trip," Shull provides a detailed account of his steamship journey from New York City to London (8/15-8/25/1908) with attention to sights (e.g. passing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island) and the social life of the ship (namely card-playing, concerts, dinners, and walks). Upon arrival in London, Shull and his party visit a range of historical sites in London, Wales, Ireland, France, and Belgium. He dedicates his most rigorous accounts, however to the various botanical gardens and methods of plant cross-breeding and grafting. This diary concludes in Ghent, bound for Berlin, and includes a printed, 12-page "Americanization" pamphlet (dated 1919), for which Will Fenton developed an online exhibit: https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/labs/americanization/

Interested researchers would do well to consult the detailed description of Hunter's four volumes available in the Early American History Note. For the purposes of diary researchers, the first volume (1796) warrants attention for its descriptions of indigenous peoples and early settlements. For example, Hunter offers an extended account of St. Louis (9/4/1796). He also describes an Indian woman whose nose was cut off by her husband for infidelity, a passage excerpted in Selected Quotations (9/9/1796). The 1802 journal documents Hunter's trip across Pennsylvania (Berlin, Carlisle, and Shippensburg), visit to a cave in Kentucky, and discussion of salt production at Blue Lick. Finally, the last two journals (1804, 1809) include various travels in the South, including a description of expedition to the Hot Springs of Arkansas (1804-1805) as well as longitudes and latitudes that researchers might use to trace Hunter's journey. Notably, Hunter discovers Mammoth bones, which he compares to those of Charles Wilson Peale, writing, "I cannot for bear mentioning a great natural curiosity I have just seen here [sic] about 2 ½ Tons of Bones of one or two Mammoths twice as large as Peals" (5/27/1804).

George Hunter maintained four journals during expeditions into Kentucky, Illinois, Mississippi, and Louisiana between 1796-1809. Hunter records his daily affairs, observations of territories, visits to trading centers, and commentary on international rivalries and relations with various indigenous peoples, including the Delaware, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Osage. With rich, narrative accounts of western travel in the early national period—including exploration of Louisiana shortly after the Louisiana Purchase—the Hunter diaries ought to interest scholars researching the American west, Native America, and U.S. empire.
 
Interested researchers would do well to consult the detailed description of Hunter's four volumes available in the Early American History Note. For the purposes of diary researchers, the first volume (1796) warrants attention for its descriptions of indigenous peoples and early settlements. For example, Hunter offers an extended account of St. Louis (9/4/1796). He also describes an Indian woman whose nose was cut off by her husband for infidelity, a passage excerpted in Selected Quotations (9/9/1796). The 1802 journal documents Hunter's trip across Pennsylvania (Berlin, Carlisle, and Shippensburg), visit to a cave in Kentucky, and discussion of salt production at Blue Lick. Finally, the last two journals (1804, 1809) include various travels in the South, including a description of expedition to the Hot Springs of Arkansas (1804-1805) as well as longitudes and latitudes that researchers might use to trace Hunter's journey. Notably, Hunter discovers Mammoth bones, which he compares to those of Charles Wilson Peale, writing, "I cannot for bear mentioning a great natural curiosity I have just seen here [sic] about 2 ½ Tons of Bones of one or two Mammoths twice as large as Peals" (5/27/1804).

George Welch's "Voyage to West Indies" represents one of the earliest journals in the manuscript collections, spanning 4/2/1671-6/14/1671. A devout English Quaker, Welsh writes regularly about his faith. He styles the manuscript as a printed work, including a title page and lengthy (15-page) letter to his family members. After that preface, Welch recounts his passage from England to the West Indies, with notes pertaining to seafaring life, preparations against pirates, and visits to various Caribbean islands. His observations range from the sighting a shark (5/26) to the presence of prostitution in a Spanish town (6/14). As noted in the Early American History note, this journal was discovered in the library of Benjamin Franklin. Thus, the George Welch journal ought to interest scholars researching seventeenth century travel, piracy, religion (particularly the Society of Friends), and the exploration and colonization of the West Indies.
 

The Grace E.B. Murphy Papers include two distinct sets of diaries. The first, a two-volume account of her trip to Venezuela (2/19-3/14/1952), provides detailed accounts of animals (especially birds), vegetation (including mangrove forests and mango groves), and accounts of the people, social life, and appearance of towns and cities, including Caracas. Those interested in conservation efforts might gravitate towards entries describing a visit to a jaguar hunting camp (e.g. 3/3/1952) and descriptions of the burgeoning oil industry (2/16/1952 and 3/7/1952). Entries pertaining to oil extraction are particularly noteworthy because they include on-the-ground accounts of oil wells and comparisons of U.S. foreign policy with regards to Venezuela and Iran. Researchers may find more detailed accounts in Murphy's typed notes contained in seven folders of "Vacation in Venezuela."
 
Murphy's excursion to Antarctica sprawls across four notebooks, though "No. I," which spans 1/26-2/15/1967, provides the most detailed and sequential account of her trip to Antarctica. Entries provide accounts of other travelers, social obligations, modes of transportation, scenery, wildlife (especially penguins), glaciers and icebergs, and destinations including Buenos Aires (1/26), Punta Arenas (1/28), and Antarctica (beginning 2/5). Perhaps most remarkable are Murphy's lyrical accounts of Antarctica (e.g. 2/2, 2/5, 2/6), candid reflections on her relationship with her husband, Robert (2/4, 2/8), and even her disability (1/29). (Those interested in disability studies might also reference the folders "Your Deafness is Not You," enclosed in the same box.)
 
"No. II" picks up on 2/11/1967 but continues through 3/31/1970 with some entries related to South Africa
 
while it includes several self-contained entries, most of this notebook is comprised of supplemental notes and questions. "No. III" includes still further miscellaneous notes as well as entries from the end of the Antarctic excursion, dates 2/16-21. Finally, a fourth volume, entitled "For Grace" contains accounts from 2/10, 2/15, 2/16, 2/18, and 2/19
 
however, the penmanship differs from the early notebooks and it is not immediately clear who authored these accounts. (It could very well be her husband, Robert).

Grace Murphy's diaries offer a limited but detailed account of her travels to Argentina, Antarctica, and Venezuela with her husband, Robert Cushman Murphy in six volumes chronicling the years 1952 and 1967-70. These notebooks ought to interest researchers examining mid-century conservation, disability studies (particular the deaf), excursions to Antarctica, Venezuela under military dictatorship, and the career of Robert Cushman Murphy (whose papers are also available at the American Philosophical Society).
 
The Grace E.B. Murphy Papers include two distinct sets of diaries. The first, a two-volume account of her trip to Venezuela (2/19-3/14/1952), provides detailed accounts of animals (especially birds), vegetation (including mangrove forests and mango groves), and accounts of the people, social life, and appearance of towns and cities, including Caracas. Those interested in conservation efforts might gravitate towards entries describing a visit to a jaguar hunting camp (e.g. 3/3/1952) and descriptions of the burgeoning oil industry (2/16/1952 and 3/7/1952). Entries pertaining to oil extraction are particularly noteworthy because they include on-the-ground accounts of oil wells and comparisons of U.S. foreign policy with regards to Venezuela and Iran. Researchers may find more detailed accounts in Murphy's typed notes contained in seven folders of "Vacation in Venezuela."
 
Murphy's excursion to Antarctica sprawls across four notebooks, though "No. I," which spans 1/26-2/15/1967, provides the most detailed and sequential account of her trip to Antarctica. Entries provide accounts of other travelers, social obligations, modes of transportation, scenery, wildlife (especially penguins), glaciers and icebergs, and destinations including Buenos Aires (1/26), Punta Arenas (1/28), and Antarctica (beginning 2/5). Perhaps most remarkable are Murphy's lyrical accounts of Antarctica (e.g. 2/2, 2/5, 2/6), candid reflections on her relationship with her husband, Robert (2/4, 2/8), and even her disability (1/29). (Those interested in disability studies might also reference the folders "Your Deafness is Not You," enclosed in the same box.)
 
"No. II" picks up on 2/11/1967 but continues through 3/31/1970 with some entries related to South Africa
 
while it includes several self-contained entries, most of this notebook is comprised of supplemental notes and questions. "No. III" includes still further miscellaneous notes as well as entries from the end of the Antarctic excursion, dates 2/16-21. Finally, a fourth volume, entitled "For Grace" contains accounts from 2/10, 2/15, 2/16, 2/18, and 2/19
 
however, the penmanship differs from the early notebooks and it is not immediately clear who authored these accounts. (It could very well be her husband, Robert).

A similar printed version of the journal, edited by Anthony F.C. Wallace, was published in Pennsylvania History in 1952.

In a journal documenting his residence with the Seneca Nation in New York, Pennsylvania Quaker Halliday Jackson offers a detailed, daily account of his missionary life, travels, and Seneca customs at the turn of the nineteenth century (1798-99). Jackson offers numerous accounts of land, cultivation, and development, including early accounts of Pittsburg (p.8-9), a Seneca settlement (19), and Niagara Falls (163-64). Native American studies scholars may gravitate to the volume's descriptions of Seneca food preparation (17), marriage (148-9), alcohol consumption (14, 124-125), land deeds (53-54, 75), Quaker diplomacy (23-24, 32-33), and increasingly strained relations with backcountry settlers (126, 131-133, 146-47, 178-79), many of which are voiced by the Seneca themselves and transcribed by Jackson at council meetings. This volume also features entries that will interest scholars researching the early national period, including the Bank of the United States (75), the yellow fever epidemic (74, 114-15), and the death of George Washington (176).
 
A similar printed version of the journal, edited by Anthony F.C. Wallace, was published in Pennsylvania History in 1952.

The Evans journal begins on the day that her 17-year-old son John dies, cut down "in the bloom of health, in the beauty and vigour of youth" (4/28/1827). Over the next 17 years, the anniversaries of his birthday (2/5), death (4/29), and burial (5/1) serve as occasions for recollection and spiritual self-assessment. (So, too, do Christmas and New Year's Day.) Throughout the volume, Evans copies and composes scriptural and poetical verses that serve to transform her diary into a kind of commonplace book.
 
Although Evans regularly mourns the death of her son John, she also expresses concern for her other children, three of whom were enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania during a cholera outbreak. She writes, "The cholera that awful scourge which has been so long feared, has at last reached our city, and filled us with a dread and terror
 
every precaution that frail man could device is resorted to, to meet the fell destroyer—neither country nor town is exempt from its ravages" (7/25/1832).
 
Evans closes her journal on her 63rd birthday, 17 years after the death of her child, and "Sixteen years since I entered into Covenant with My God" (4/28/1844).

The Harriet Verena Evans journal is unlike any other in the APS collections. Evans began journaling late in life—on her 46th birthday, the same day that her 17-year-old son John died. Her recollections never stray far from that trauma. She returns to the death of her son with regularity, and his life appears to shape the form of her diary: she composes entries for exactly 17 years (4/28/1827-4/28/1844). The Evans diary is also unusual for its mode of composition. Interweaving homage to her son, scripture, religious self-assessment, and collected poetry, the Evans diary blends a woman's spiritual diary with a commonplace book. It is a remarkable volume that ought to interest researchers investigating women's history, antebellum mourning customs, and religious practice during the Second Great Awakening.
 
The Evans journal begins on the day that her 17-year-old son John dies, cut down "in the bloom of health, in the beauty and vigour of youth" (4/28/1827). Over the next 17 years, the anniversaries of his birthday (2/5), death (4/29), and burial (5/1) serve as occasions for recollection and spiritual self-assessment. (So, too, do Christmas and New Year's Day.) Throughout the volume, Evans copies and composes scriptural and poetical verses that serve to transform her diary into a kind of commonplace book.
 
Although Evans regularly mourns the death of her son John, she also expresses concern for her other children, three of whom were enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania during a cholera outbreak. She writes, "The cholera that awful scourge which has been so long feared, has at last reached our city, and filled us with a dread and terror
 
every precaution that frail man could device is resorted to, to meet the fell destroyer—neither country nor town is exempt from its ravages" (7/25/1832).
 
Evans closes her journal on her 63rd birthday, 17 years after the death of her child, and "Sixteen years since I entered into Covenant with My God" (4/28/1844).

Henry DeWolf Smyth is perhaps best known for authoring the "Smyth Report," the official government report on the development of the atomic bomb. His diaries offer a glimpse into that report, as well as his career as physicist, diplomat, instructor, policy maker, and administrator. Recorded in 37 notebooks spanning 35 years (1935-1970), the Smyth appointment books reveal his research, extensive professional networks, and wide-ranging travels through the records of meetings, travel arrangements, cocktail parties, and dinners that filled his schedule. While the first couple journals are maintained in small "Lest We Forget" notebooks (1935-1936), the bulk of the collection is available in larger "Frances Juvenile Home Calendar Club" (1936-1958) and "Engagements" books (1959-1970) packed with notes, lists, asides, and occasional newspaper clippings. Notably, he pastes newspaper clippings related to World War II at the front of contemporaneous diaries (1939-1945) and interweaves key news from the war into his own record-keeping, including the attack on Pearl Harbor and U.S. declaration of war (12/7-12/9/1941), the death of President Roosevelt (4/12/1945), and the deployment of both atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (8/6-8/9/1941). Although the notes are spare, nested within them are insinuations of Smyth's ascendant career. For example, one note records his appointment as Commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission: "Pres. Truman sees H.— [Henry] offers commission house job. H. home for dinner. We decide yes" (4/18/1949). While it is unclear who authors all of the earlier entries, his wife, Mary C. Smyth, clearly maintains later "Engagements" books (1959-1970). Notably, the "Gray Board" hearings are also detailed in separate page associated with her 1954 diary. Thus, these volumes ought to interest scholars researching Smyth's role in atomic history and international diplomacy as well as those seeking to elevate figures—such as Mary C. Smyth—whose labor might otherwise remain invisible.
 

The Alfred P. Rockwell Papers also include other notebooks on mining engineering (some containing sketches), including two volumes of notes on John Percy's lectures at the Museum of Practical Geology, 1858, and three volumes kept during his stay at the Bergakademie Freiberg, including one on a course on metallurgy taught by Bernhard von Cotta, 1858-1859.

The Rockwell Papers do not include any diaries per se. While one notebook is identified as a June 25, 1859 diary, there are only three dated entries (8/31, 9/15, and 11/18), none of which begin on the suggested date. Those entries do, however, include granular details of industrial factories and machinery in Belgium and Germany.
 
The Alfred P. Rockwell Papers also include other notebooks on mining engineering (some containing sketches), including two volumes of notes on John Percy's lectures at the Museum of Practical Geology, 1858, and three volumes kept during his stay at the Bergakademie Freiberg, including one on a course on metallurgy taught by Bernhard von Cotta, 1858-1859.

In contrast to many other scientists, Donaldson captures many world events in his journal. Entries include an on-the-ground account of the 1893 World's Fair (5/13-5/27/1893) and news pertaining to the Great Baltimore Fire (2/7/1904), Russo-Japanese War (2/8/1904), and World War I. Donaldson studiously records the spread of war in Europe (7/31/1914), the increasing likelihood of U.S. involvement (2/4/1917), and false reports of peace. Several days before the Armistice, he writes, "Peace was reported here about 1 pm. The town went wild & remained wild most of the night. Report was a hoax" (11/7/1918). Donaldson also proves an active observer of and participant in U.S. politics. For example, in addition to recording the election of President Wilson (11/5/1912) and death of President Harding (8/2/1923), he writes that he travels to Harrisburg to lobby against an "anti-vivisection bill" (4/25/1907) and attends a "League of Nations dinner" (1/15/1932).
 
Perhaps most surprising is how personal affairs infiltrate the Donaldson diaries. Sometimes such asides are amusing
 
for example, in one entry he writes that he was "attacked by goose without cause" (3/31/1917). Elsewhere, they're more serious and evocative. Shortly after Donaldson writes that his first wife, Julia, is "diagnosed melancholia" and put on an "opium treatment" (9/13/1904), he records her suicide: "our dear Julia was found dead by her own hand at 7 o'clock this morning. She was still warm when found. It is desolation—the saddest of days" (11/10/1904). Several years later, he notes his engagement to Emma Brock (3/1/1907) and, still later, the birth of a son Harry, (3/16/1920). In the 1930s, his health appears to deteriorate: Donaldson begins tracking weight fluctuations on 7/13/1931 and undergoes a metabolism test on 10/17/1934. His last entry, written in third-person in a different hand, appears to have been maintained by someone else, possibly Emma. The diary concludes, "The end at 2 a.m." (1/23/1938).

Contained in 49 volumes, the Herbert Donaldson diaries traverse 1890-1938 and provide glimpses of his neurological work at the University of Chicago and the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, meetings with leading scientists--including Boas and Davenport--European and American travels, recreational activities, personal affairs, and leadership at the National Academy of the Sciences, the American Neurological Association, the Physiological Society, the Lenape Club, the Rush Society, as well as the American Philosophical Society, where he was elected a member in 1906 and vice president in 1935. The Donaldson diaries may interest researchers exploring the history of mental health, American Philosophical Society membership, twentieth-century U.S. politics, the 1893 World's Fair, and World War I.
 
In contrast to many other scientists, Donaldson captures many world events in his journal. Entries include an on-the-ground account of the 1893 World's Fair (5/13-5/27/1893) and news pertaining to the Great Baltimore Fire (2/7/1904), Russo-Japanese War (2/8/1904), and World War I. Donaldson studiously records the spread of war in Europe (7/31/1914), the increasing likelihood of U.S. involvement (2/4/1917), and false reports of peace. Several days before the Armistice, he writes, "Peace was reported here about 1 pm. The town went wild & remained wild most of the night. Report was a hoax" (11/7/1918). Donaldson also proves an active observer of and participant in U.S. politics. For example, in addition to recording the election of President Wilson (11/5/1912) and death of President Harding (8/2/1923), he writes that he travels to Harrisburg to lobby against an "anti-vivisection bill" (4/25/1907) and attends a "League of Nations dinner" (1/15/1932).
 
Perhaps most surprising is how personal affairs infiltrate the Donaldson diaries. Sometimes such asides are amusing
 
for example, in one entry he writes that he was "attacked by goose without cause" (3/31/1917). Elsewhere, they're more serious and evocative. Shortly after Donaldson writes that his first wife, Julia, is "diagnosed melancholia" and put on an "opium treatment" (9/13/1904), he records her suicide: "our dear Julia was found dead by her own hand at 7 o'clock this morning. She was still warm when found. It is desolation—the saddest of days" (11/10/1904). Several years later, he notes his engagement to Emma Brock (3/1/1907) and, still later, the birth of a son Harry, (3/16/1920). In the 1930s, his health appears to deteriorate: Donaldson begins tracking weight fluctuations on 7/13/1931 and undergoes a metabolism test on 10/17/1934. His last entry, written in third-person in a different hand, appears to have been maintained by someone else, possibly Emma. The diary concludes, "The end at 2 a.m." (1/23/1938).

This is a typescript copy of Henry Marchant's journal kept on a trip to England in 1771-1772. The journal begins with his voyage from Newport to England and continues throughout his travels in England. The journal is detailed and well-written and contains many anecdotes and observations, including numerous references to Benjamin Franklin, who was then himself in London. Marchant's social gatherings are particularly noteworthy. He recounts a discussion of republican principles with Catherine Macauley, dinners with Franklin and David Hume, and an audience with the Queen and Prince of Wales.
 

Disentangling the sequence of the notebooks can be challenging, even for readers conversant in German. Bill Cahill provides the following chronological sequencing, by volume: 17, 16, 3, 4, 8, 21, 5, 24, 19, 22, 17, 24, 20, 12, 18, 19, 14, 16, 24, 1, 15, 2, 9, 10, 11, 23, 13, 24, 7, 6. Note that some volumes contain overlapping entries.

The Henry Muhlenberg journals encompass 24 volumes that span nearly four decades of the early national period (1777-1815). These volumes offer a near-daily record of botanical descriptions as well as various lists, biblical notations, prescriptions, and questions asked of candidates for the Lutheran ministry. The journals are written in German and Latin, though Muhlenberg transcribes some quotations and place names in English. These volumes will interest German-reading scholars researching Muhlenberg, the religious practices of Lutheran ministers, and the study of botany in the early republic.
 
Disentangling the sequence of the notebooks can be challenging, even for readers conversant in German. Bill Cahill provides the following chronological sequencing, by volume: 17, 16, 3, 4, 8, 21, 5, 24, 19, 22, 17, 24, 20, 12, 18, 19, 14, 16, 24, 1, 15, 2, 9, 10, 11, 23, 13, 24, 7, 6. Note that some volumes contain overlapping entries.

The Herbert Spencer Jennings Papers contain at least 17 volumes of diaries and various other workbooks, notebooks, and commonplace books with which researchers may supplement those volumes. Although the volumes span 1903-1945, Jennings maintains them most regularly between 1924-1945, providing detailed insights into his research, teaching, professional networks, writing and publications in the fields of microbiology, genetics, and, to a lesser degree, eugenics. For a short period (1924-27) he maintains some entries in shorthand, but returns to a long form thereafter. Integrated throughout his entries are occasional pieces of ephemera, including notes from students (e.g. 4/8/1929), business cards (11/4/1931), newspaper clippings (7/31/1933), and even the passport photos for he and his wife, Mary Louise Spencer (6/27/1935). Researchers interested in his biography, may choose to begin their research using the volume dated 3/11/1938, which contains entries as late as 1/1/1945. That volume encompasses his retirement from Johns Hopkins University (1938), the death of his first wife, Mary (also in 1938), and his remarriage to Lulu Plant Jennings (1939). Jennings' extended trips abroad, including Italy (1903-4), Japan (1931-33), and England (1933-36), may interest scholars researching twentieth-century Europe. Notably, he maintained separate notebooks with further records and ephemera related to both of the latter trips, including two notebooks related to Japanese language and two large scrapbooks related to his time at Oxford. Finally, scholars specifically interested in his career may take an interest in his sporadic notes concerning eugenics (e.g. 1/27/1933) and Charles Davenport, who also maintained an extensive set of diaries available at the APS (Mss.B.D27). For example, nested inside the diary dated 10/12/1928-7/10/1929, Jennings encloses a note addressed to a Mrs. Lutz (5/31/1929), in which he congratulates her on the twenty-fifth anniversary of an institute, which is almost certainly Davenport's Carnegie Institute (opened 6/11/1904).
 

The four volumes of diaries contained in the J.P. Lesley Papers coincide with his appointment as Director of the Second Pennsylvania Geological Survey. Spanning 1874-1881, these volumes ought to interest scholars researching the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, and the fields of applied geology and coal and iron mining more broadly. The first volume (1874) includes pages concerning the creation of the survey, copies of the acts of Congress, and Lesley's commentary on those acts. Notably, he includes a striking topographical map of Pennsylvania, colored for the principal geological formations (p.69). In fact, the third volume (1875-1876) includes a loose topographic map that bears striking similarity to the aforementioned. Finally, the second and fourth volumes (1874-1875 and 1877-1881, respectively) documents ore mining with some attention to fossils discovered.
 

Hiltzheimer provides a detailed and textured account of the young republic through scrupulous attention to the Constitutional Convention, election and reelection of George Washington, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Wyoming Valley incident, and the ascension of John Adams. Thanks to his career in Philadelphia politics (elected as a representative of the city in the Assembly in 1786), he furnishes first-hand accounts of George Washington, the funerals of Benjamin Franklin and David Rittenhouse, and numerous entries devoted to Pennsylvania luminaries including John and Clement Biddle, Joseph Morris, Levi Hollingsworth, Henry Drinker, and Timothy Matlack.
 
Hiltzheimer's journal also records family and personal details, including plague of locusts in 1766 and 1783, a great fire in 1794, and the death of his wife (3/11/1790) and loss of both his son and daughter to Yellow Fever (11/28/1793 and 12/29/1794 respectively). Indeed, his account of the Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia is particularly exhaustive, with daily records of burials between 9/19-12/31/1793, as well as further accounts during the 1797 crisis, during which he ultimately contracted the disease that led to his death in September 1798.

The Jacob Hiltzheimer Diary spans 28 volumes and offers insight into the social life and customs of Philadelphia between the late colonial period to the early republic (1765-1798). Hiltzheimer describes a wide range of events, such as sleigh riding to ice skating to attending a large celebration of King George's Birthday on the banks of the Schuylkill with over 380 Philadelphians (before Independence). During the imperial crisis, Hiltzheimer's observations provide an interesting perspective on the events happening within the city, including the repeal of the Stamp Act, French troop movements, Cornwallis's surrender, and ensuing mob violence against suspected loyalists (e.g. 10/24/1781).
 
Hiltzheimer provides a detailed and textured account of the young republic through scrupulous attention to the Constitutional Convention, election and reelection of George Washington, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Wyoming Valley incident, and the ascension of John Adams. Thanks to his career in Philadelphia politics (elected as a representative of the city in the Assembly in 1786), he furnishes first-hand accounts of George Washington, the funerals of Benjamin Franklin and David Rittenhouse, and numerous entries devoted to Pennsylvania luminaries including John and Clement Biddle, Joseph Morris, Levi Hollingsworth, Henry Drinker, and Timothy Matlack.
 
Hiltzheimer's journal also records family and personal details, including plague of locusts in 1766 and 1783, a great fire in 1794, and the death of his wife (3/11/1790) and loss of both his son and daughter to Yellow Fever (11/28/1793 and 12/29/1794 respectively). Indeed, his account of the Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia is particularly exhaustive, with daily records of burials between 9/19-12/31/1793, as well as further accounts during the 1797 crisis, during which he ultimately contracted the disease that led to his death in September 1798.

The James Brindley Diaries contain two volumes related to his work on the Susquehanna, Conewago, Chesapeake, and Delaware canals. The first, entitled "Susquehanna and Conewago Canal Diary" (9/2/1794-1/20/1795) features highly detailed entries with significant technical data related to the project. Interspersed throughout, Brindley remarks on technical and logistical problems he encounters. For example, he notes that after the Canal Board fails to provide wages to workers, he has to advance funds to purchase tools. Perhaps most notably, he records the tensions related to Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania in an extended passage excerpted in Selected Quotations. The volume also includes drafts of letters to William Smith and Robert Morris.
 
The second volume, "Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Diary" (1/18-6/10/1803) recounts his early work on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canals, which would not be completed for another twenty-five years on account of funding problems. Brindley registers those issues in his early diary, discussing some of the legal and financial problems facing the project.

An engineer in the early national period, James Brindley worked on a host of canal projects in the United States, including the Potomac Canal in Maryland and the James River Canal in Virginia. His diaries, available in two volumes, document his work on the Susquehanna and Conewago Canal in 1794-1795 and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in 1803. The Conewago Canal, financed by Robert Morris and completed in 1797, improved access to Philadelphia markets. While the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal was debated as early as the 1760s, it was not funded until 1802 (and continued funding challenges would delay its completion for another 25 years). Brindley served as the lead engineer for both projects, and his journal provides valuable insights into early-nineteenth century canals and engineering, the Whiskey Rebellion, and U.S. government funding problems in the early national period.
 
The James Brindley Diaries contain two volumes related to his work on the Susquehanna, Conewago, Chesapeake, and Delaware canals. The first, entitled "Susquehanna and Conewago Canal Diary" (9/2/1794-1/20/1795) features highly detailed entries with significant technical data related to the project. Interspersed throughout, Brindley remarks on technical and logistical problems he encounters. For example, he notes that after the Canal Board fails to provide wages to workers, he has to advance funds to purchase tools. Perhaps most notably, he records the tensions related to Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania in an extended passage excerpted in Selected Quotations. The volume also includes drafts of letters to William Smith and Robert Morris.
 
The second volume, "Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Diary" (1/18-6/10/1803) recounts his early work on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canals, which would not be completed for another twenty-five years on account of funding problems. Brindley registers those issues in his early diary, discussing some of the legal and financial problems facing the project.

The Burd-Shippen Papers contain numerous records belonging to James Burd, who served as a commanding officer at Fort Augusta during the Seven Years' War. This expansive collection features at least three diaries. One, from 1760 (2/8-11/7), recounts the construction of Fort Burd and expeditions throughout western Pennsylvania. This diary includes references to William Shippen (11/4/1760) and regular accounts of Native-white interactions, both peaceful and violent. Another journal from the summer of 1763 (6/5-10/24) documents his time at Fort Augusta. It recounts the opening of Pontiac's Rebellion and the initial reports of the Indian raid on the Connecticut settlers in the Wyoming Valley. Finally, there's a third fragment of a diary from August 1757 (8/2-8/10). In six leaves, Burd describes the Siege of Fort William Henry, including an account of the events of the capitulation and surrender of that British fort to the French and their Indian allies. These volumes ought to interest scholars researching the Seven Years' War, Pontiac's Rebellion, and colonial settlement practices more broadly.
 

As described in greater detail in the Early American History note, Hutchinson discusses a host of troubles aboard his ship. Those include concerns about lightning strikes to the ship laden with gun powder (2/26), various issues with bread and meat rations (2/28), and a brief encounter with a French brig that Hutchinson describes as "in almost as bad a situation as ourselves, but able to spare several bottles of spirits and roughly two pounds of cheese" (3/3). Upon reaching landfall in Chesapeake Bay (3/9), Hutchinson devotes the remaining entries his journey back to Philadelphia. At the back of the volume, he encloses an essay defending Quakers against chargers of loyalism, for which a rough transcription is provided below.

This incomplete volume describes the culmination of a transatlantic journey taken by James Hutchinson in the winter of 1777 (2/26-3/16). Having completed his medical residency under the supervision under Dr. John Fothergill at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, Hutchinson describes in detail his journey back to Philadelphia, where he would serve as Surgeon General of Pennsylvania. In addition to offering an account of what Hutchison terms a "very disagreeable" transatlantic voyage, this volume includes an essay defending Quakers from attacks by revolutionaries, which might have been intended for publication. (The essay is signed "A Friend to the Liberty of Conscience.") This volume may interest researchers exploring the eighteenth century Atlantic, seafaring, and the Society of Friends in the American Revolution.
 
As described in greater detail in the Early American History note, Hutchinson discusses a host of troubles aboard his ship. Those include concerns about lightning strikes to the ship laden with gun powder (2/26), various issues with bread and meat rations (2/28), and a brief encounter with a French brig that Hutchinson describes as "in almost as bad a situation as ourselves, but able to spare several bottles of spirits and roughly two pounds of cheese" (3/3). Upon reaching landfall in Chesapeake Bay (3/9), Hutchinson devotes the remaining entries his journey back to Philadelphia. At the back of the volume, he encloses an essay defending Quakers against chargers of loyalism, for which a rough transcription is provided below.

James Madison recorded two volumes of daily weather conditions between 1784-1788 and 1789-1793 at his plantation in Montpellier. Alongside meteorological data (which often include temperatures and wind directions), Madison recorded notes pertaining to gardening and harvesting (typically on the right pages), sightings of the northern lights (3/14/1789, 8/18/1789, 9/25/1789, 10/19/1789, 11/14/1789, 1/13/1791, and 10/13/1792), and at least one instance of a small earthquake (1/13/1791). Notably, he also encloses an annotated newspaper clipping, apparently from the Pennsylvania Gazette, in his 2/21/1789 entry. These meteorological journals may interest researchers investigating weather conditions in the early national period and the personal affairs of James Madison.
 

The first journal, "Diary of a Trip to England & Scotland in the Summer of 1912" documents a three-month trip (6/22-9/23) that Amelia and Philip Calvert took while attending the Second International Congress of Entomology. Given the numerous references to "P," it appears that Amelia maintained most if not all of this volume. The journal is remarkable for its variety of modes of transportation: the narrative begins with the transatlantic voyage from Philadelphia to Liverpool aboard a steamer (the S.S. Merion), and includes transport by sailboat, rail, carriage, auto, and funicular. Calvert also furnishes numerous descriptions of European towns and cities, architecture, people, dress, history, weather, and sightseeing of religious and cultural institutions. Notably, the journal includes occasional illustrations and ephemera such as advertisements, receipts, bills, and even a peacock feather (280).
 
The second journal, "Diary of Trip to Europe 1929" follows much the same structure. Once again, it provides an account of a several months travel (7/12-10/2) associated with work, this time a visit to the Zoologists Institute at Freiburg. The couple travels from New York to Antwerp by steamer (the S.S. Lapland). Alongside notes concerning sightseeing—and illustrations and ephemera—Calvert furnishes some comparative observations that might interest twentieth century historians. For example, she writes, "While there are many automobiles and trucks on the streets of Brussels, there is not yet the density of traffic to be seen in Philadelphia" (7/23/1929).

Amelia Smith Calvert maintained two journals of European trips taken in the summer of 1912 and 1929. Although both trips appear to coincide with scientific conferences, Calvert dedicates most of her entries to enthusiastic observations of sightseeing in the United Kingdom, Holland, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. These volumes may interest researchers exploring early-twentieth-century science and European travel.
 
The first journal, "Diary of a Trip to England & Scotland in the Summer of 1912" documents a three-month trip (6/22-9/23) that Amelia and Philip Calvert took while attending the Second International Congress of Entomology. Given the numerous references to "P," it appears that Amelia maintained most if not all of this volume. The journal is remarkable for its variety of modes of transportation: the narrative begins with the transatlantic voyage from Philadelphia to Liverpool aboard a steamer (the S.S. Merion), and includes transport by sailboat, rail, carriage, auto, and funicular. Calvert also furnishes numerous descriptions of European towns and cities, architecture, people, dress, history, weather, and sightseeing of religious and cultural institutions. Notably, the journal includes occasional illustrations and ephemera such as advertisements, receipts, bills, and even a peacock feather (280).
 
The second journal, "Diary of Trip to Europe 1929" follows much the same structure. Once again, it provides an account of a several months travel (7/12-10/2) associated with work, this time a visit to the Zoologists Institute at Freiburg. The couple travels from New York to Antwerp by steamer (the S.S. Lapland). Alongside notes concerning sightseeing—and illustrations and ephemera—Calvert furnishes some comparative observations that might interest twentieth century historians. For example, she writes, "While there are many automobiles and trucks on the streets of Brussels, there is not yet the density of traffic to be seen in Philadelphia" (7/23/1929).