Botanist Frederick Pursh maintained a journal that illuminates his travels from Philadelphia through northeastern Pennsylvania and New York in the early national period (3/23-10/8/1807). Notably, this volume was found among the papers of his Pursh's patron, Benjamin Smith Barton, for whom the APS also possesses holdings (Mss.B.B284d). Although the excursion was for botanical research, Pursh's diary entries record other details, including comments on the state of roads, the people he met, the towns he visited, and the natural environment. He records multiple bouts of sickness (6/20 and 8/14), notes his correspondence with Barton (7/15), and includes two sketches (6/3 and 6/17).