John Rosseter was a ship captain whose log (1804-1805) offers a glimpse into Asia and seafaring life in nineteenth century. Rosseter's journal documents the voyage of the China Packet from Philadelphia to Macao (5/23-9/11/1804) as well as the return voyage (12/16/1804-4/25/1805). Although much of the volume is devoted to seafaring--with regular notes on winds, locational coordinates, weather, and other meteorological data--there is at least one entry that records his extended stay in China. After his final entry, Rosseter writes the following concluding statement: "One hundred & thirty days from Maccoa out of which time we had 30 Calm days, the longest passage I Ever had from China. With this Journal I have done and glad Am I." (4/25/1805).
 

The Thomas Coates Collection contains one small, pocket-size journal with entries spanning the final two decades the seventeenth century (1682-1699). Coates, an early Quaker settler in Philadelphia, arrived in 1683 and established himself as a tailor and merchant by the 1690s. His journal, maintained in the margins of a British Merlin almanac dated 1683, mostly contains personal accounts and transactions, beginning as early as 1/22/1682. Most of his accounts date from the 1690s—curiously, many of his entries from 1695 are crossed out—and they include purchases of household items such as fabric, flax, butter, and nails (spelled "nayls"). Coates names many contemporaneous Philadelphians in the accounts. His journal also recounts a return to England in late-1683, and subsequent voyage back to America, via an unspecified location in Virginia. Notably, there are several memoranda scattered throughout the entries, including one memorializing the death of his mother (1678) and another commemorating his birthday (1659). Coates furnishes one of the oldest Philadelphia diaries in the collections at the American Philosophical Society, and, as such, this volume provides rare glimpses into the city's early social, economic, and material life.
 

A pioneer in cybernetics, neurology, and the development of the computer, Warren S. McCulloch maintained five years of appointment books in his late-career (1963, 1965, 1966-68). Although McCulloch records only spare notes, these volumes document meetings, travels, and lectures that ought to interest scholars researching McCulloch and the history of cybernetics more broadly. McCulloch makes regular references to American Society for Cybernetics (often simply as "ASC") and participates in a "Symposium on higher nervous activity Madrid (IV World Congress of psychiatry)" (9/5-9/11/1966). Notably, he includes some ephemera in his earliest volume, scraps which can offer glimpses into his research and professional activities. For example, he encloses a slip of note concerning a talk entitled "The Evolution of Culture as Revealed by Scale Analysis" dated 11/25/1963.
 

The three volumes of the Ship Apollo document captain William Billings's voyages between 12/10/1789-9/15/1791. Billings traveled from Philadelphia to A Coruna, Spain (1789-90), Porto, Portugal (1791), and back to Philadelphia (1791). During those voyages, Billings made various observations about the Gulf Stream (namely ocean temperature and weather) with the apparent intention of submitting his findings to the American Philosophical Society. This journal may interest scholars researching the Gulf Stream and transatlantic travel in the late-eighteenth century.
 

In a journal maintained during a transatlantic voyage from England to Delaware between 6/26/1803-8/20/1803, William Poyntell records wind directions, weather conditions, temperatures, and times of observation. He often includes observations pertaining to storms, lightning, and fog, and, on at least one occasion, he references the ship entering the Gulf Stream (7/30/1803). The volume also includes "Observations on the storm glass," intended for the membership at the American Philosophical Society. (The inside cover of the volume reads "Presented by Wm Poynell to the APS Philadelphia 5 Nov. 1803.") This journal may interest scholars researching meteorological conditions, transatlantic travel, and the institutional history of the American Philosophical Society.
 

The Eugene Opie Papers includes extracts from diaries from several of his peers that illuminate his notable career in pathology, most especially his work on tuberculosis in Jamaica between 1937-1941. The Opie Papers include typed, loose diary notes from three of his peers: Wilbur A. Sawyer, John M. Weir, and Edward W. Flahiff. Sawyer supplies brief notes related to a pair of meetings within scientists in Montegomery (6/20-6/21/1937) and at Cornell University (11/17/1937). Weir's notes record one year of hospital and asylum work in Jamaica (2/1/1939-1/31/1940), with regular references to tuberculin tests, injections, and vaccinations. Of note, Weir devotes about a week to research Yellow Fever (4/1-4/8/1940). Finally, Flahiff offers the most exhaustive account of the Jamaica efforts. Contained in three folders, his notes span two and half years of work (10/1/1938-5/14/1941). Notably, Flahiff makes regular mentions of Opie, and notes that cultural issues impede their medical work. For example, he writes, "Birth control propaganda continues to be a serious deterrent to our nurses' efforts in the field" (3/7/1939). Perhaps most notably, Flahiff registers the effects of World War II obliquely in his entries. He notes a "new contingent of soldiers in Jamaica…composed of Canadians who have replaced the English troops in the Island" (7/1/1940) and glosses a public holiday for a "Peacemaker's Day" with the parenthetical "(Why???)" (11/9/1940). Together, these three sets of diaries ought to interest scholars researching Eugene Opie's career in pathology, especially his work to address tuberculosis in Jamaica.
 

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).
 

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.
 

The Colonel John Boykin and Francis P. Lee journal recounts an antebellum trip from Morristown, New Jersey to Camden, South Carolina. This short volume (8/15-9/5/1833) features descriptions of roads, travel conditions, and several observations of the towns they visit and the people they meet. For example, there is an account of Princeton (8/17/1833) as well as a reflection on religious enthusiasm (8/25/1833), both of which are excerpted in Selected Quotations. The Boykin and Lee journal may interest researchers investigating antebellum travel, the nineteenth-century mid-Atlantic, and religious practice during the Second Great Awakening.
 

The "Journal of a Voyage in the Ship Sampson" tracks the transatlantic crossing of an unknown immigrant from Liverpool to Philadelphia in 1819. The last pages describe the approach to Philadelphia in detail. The journal also touches on some of the emotions the author felt as he disembarked. The last page contains a poem written by the journal's author titled "On Leaving England for America" and a letter written to friends from "this land of liberty."
 

A travel narrative maintained by Pedro Joseph de Parras, a Spanish priest, devoted in part to travels in Spain and to descriptions of Montevideo and Buenos Aires. One-half of the work is the author's relation of trip through Paraguay, visiting various mission towns. I have provided a general description of life, education, and Christian teaching for the Indians. Includes lists of Jesuits at various missions.
 

Philadelphia physician Samuel George Morton helped shape the development of physical anthropology in antebellum America. His diary of a trip to the West Indies offers a case study in scientific racism. The volume includes various observations on life, work, agriculture, and slavery in Barbados and other islands. Notably, Morton's journal includes derogatory comments on the native inhabitants that researchers might choose to examine in tandem with other records available in the Samuel George Morton Papers, such his "craniometrical drawings," which were used by pro-slavery advocates. This diary may interest scholars examining slavery in antebellum science and racial thought, slavery in Barbados, and the history of the West Indies more broadly.
 

This diary records the individuals and sights that he saw while in England. There are many observations of life in London, e.g. parks, buildings, paintings, food. Outside of London he visited many towns, including Manchester and its cotton mills as well as the steel mills of Birmingham. He relates his visit to Drury Lane and the dramatic performance of Sarah Siddons. Some of the people he met included Sir Joseph Banks, Sir Charles Blagden, Matthew Boulton, Joseph Priestley, William Pitt the Younger, and Benjamin Vaughan. He also visited and described the gardens at Kew. The diary includes several sketches, including the plan of Blenheim Palace, and also a table of distances traveled. This item is written in the hand of Jean-Francois Wiart.
 

Charles Nicoll Bancker, a prominent Philadelphia businessman in the early national period, maintained a brief journal regarding a trip up the Hudson River between 7/20-8/15/1793. This slim volume chronicles a trip from New York to Albany via the Hudson River aboard a schooner and then an overland trip throughout upstate New York. This journal offers a vivid depiction of travel and life in the early republic. The author–identified as Charles Nicoll Bancker by one his family members–makes numerous observations about the geography, economy, and people of the Hudson River Valley. The diarist pays particular attention to merchant stores and visited as many as he could. There are two pencil sketches in the back of the journal.
 

Albert Dabadie Bache maintained several diaries that ought to interest scholars investigating the Civil War, naval history, and Asia--especially China and Japan--in the nineteenth century. The first volume recount his tenure as captain's clerk aboard the U.S.S. Hartford in 1862 (1/1-11/28). Bache provides an on-the-ground view of the Civil War that traverses the American North and South. The first half of the journal documents his life at camps in the South, including Baton Rouge, Cape Hatteras, New Orleans, and Vicksburg, and, starting in late-September, he returns to the northeast, first to New York and then to Philadelphia. In addition to providing a glimpse at soldier camps—especially in Baton Rouge (8/8)—Bache records at least one instance of Yellow Fever.; The latter two diaries (from 1867 and 1868 respectively), document his service as assistant paymaster on the U.S.S. Iroquois, of the Asiatic Squadron. After leaving from the Brooklyn Navy Yard (2/1/1867), Bache immediately confronts a hurricane (2/11/1867). Bache had an opportunity to take numerous shore leaves across Brazil, South Africa, Madagascar, Oman, Singapore, China, Japan, and the Philippines: he visits Rio de Janeiro during Holy Week (April 1867), offers extended descriptions of Saint Augustin that spills across multiple entries (7/9-7/22/1867), and attends a Chinese opera in Singapore (10/10/1763). His 1868 journal continues to narrate his travels in Asia, most especially Japan. Bache makes good use of this volume's larger pages, recording extended accounts of the cities Hakodate, Hyogo, Nagasaki, Niigata, Osaka, and Yokohama. After spending most of the year traveling Japan's coast--he doesn't leave for China until 11/16/1868--he closes his volume with a brief visit to the Philippines.
 

The Fox Family Papers include three quite dissimilar journals spanning generations of the Fox family. The first two volumes are from the late-eighteenth century (1785 and 1790) and both appear to have been maintained by George Fox, a prominent Philadelphia doctor and close friend of William Temple Franklin. The first journal features some entries from 1785, though few are sequential. Fox records both a transatlantic voyage (6/25/1785) and and various trips throughout continental Europe later that fall. This volume might be better described as a commonplace book than a journal, with numerous quotations, historical notes, and data, including at least one note about Buffon, written in French. A second volume, also presumably recorded by George Fox, contains accounts from the year 1790. Finally, a descendent, Sara Fox, furnishes a European travel diary from nearly one-hundred years later. That volume recounts Fox's sightseeing in England, France, Germany and Italy between 1883-1884. These volumes may interest scholars researching the Fox family, transatlantic travel in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and women's history.
 

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).

A Polish historian and archaeologist, Jan Potocki maintained this journal during a journey to Russia (1797-1798) in search of the origins of the ancient Scythians. The usefulness of this diary will be limited to researchers who can read or translate French. However, as the Early American History Note suggests, this volume may, interest scholars researching global history, international relations, imperialism, or the U.S. in the world.
 

"Journal of a Vacation Spent in New England" actually contains accounts of several trips taken over a five-year span. The first trip is to Massachusetts (hence the journal's name) and Quebec in the summer of 1895. The second trip, the following summer, culminates in Nova Scotia after stops in Boston and Portland. During a visit to Longfellow's house, the diarist furnishes an illustration of the tombstone (8/25/1896) and, later, a sketch of the "Jelly-Fish Medusa." The diarist also includes pressed, dried flowers, which she associates with various destinations on a trip to Europe in the summer of 1900. Several of those labels are excerpted in Selected Quotations.

In an anonymous journal maintained between 1895-1900, a female diarist documents several family trips with lengthy accounts of places, sights, other travelers, item prices, and modes of travel--including sailboat. Judging from the destinations (e.g. Hyannis Port and Marie Antoinette's Garden) the diarist's family is upper-class. The diarist also furnishes several illustrations and numerous dried flowers from her travels in Europe. This volume may interest researchers seeking accounts of New England, Quebec, and Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, European fauna, and perspective of upper-class women in the Gilded Age.
 
"Journal of a Vacation Spent in New England" actually contains accounts of several trips taken over a five-year span. The first trip is to Massachusetts (hence the journal's name) and Quebec in the summer of 1895. The second trip, the following summer, culminates in Nova Scotia after stops in Boston and Portland. During a visit to Longfellow's house, the diarist furnishes an illustration of the tombstone (8/25/1896) and, later, a sketch of the "Jelly-Fish Medusa." The diarist also includes pressed, dried flowers, which she associates with various destinations on a trip to Europe in the summer of 1900. Several of those labels are excerpted in Selected Quotations.

Although the Loammi Baldwin Diary traverses just three months (9/9-11/29/1823), this volume provides a valuable record for researchers interested in antebellum travel, early-nineteenth century Europe, and urban architecture and mechanics, particularly the construction of canals and bridges. In fact, the highlight of this diary is less Baldwin's narratives of prominent European cities, including Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris, than his remarkable illustrations of their architecture and mechanical structures. Reference his illustration of the floating bridge on Helder Canal in Amsterdam for a model of Baldwin's keen draftsmanship (11/1/1823).