This place is dazzlingly, I was going to say glaringly, beautiful...

October 14, 2003 8:00 AM

Travels in America. Another amazing resource from the Library of Congress, this contains "253 published narratives by Americans and foreign visitors recounting their travels in the colonies and the United States and their observations and opinions about American peoples, places, and society from about 1750 to 1920... The narratives in American Notes range from the unjustly neglected to the justly famous, and from classics of the genre to undiscovered gems." Go to "Search by keyword," put the name of a city into "Search Full Text," and enjoy. (The quote in the post title is about Santa Barbara, from First impressions in America by John Ayscough [pronounced "ascue"].) Via MeFi's own plep.
posted by languagehat (5 comments total)

I cannot think of one thing that the Library of Congress has put on the web that I have not enjoyed!

Thanks, languagehat, for pointing this out to us.
posted by anastasiav at 8:27 AM on October 14, 2003

LoC rocks! And so do languagehat and plep ...
posted by carter at 2:21 PM on October 14, 2003

Excellent post languagehat, personal travel narratives and personal historical accounts are some of my favorite things to read, so this is a best of both worlds. And despite the time I've spent on the LOC site, I hadn't yet unearthed this great resource...looks like it will keep me happily occupied for a good while.

And of course it would be plep who originally ferreted it out ;-)
posted by madamjujujive at 10:58 PM on October 14, 2003

Thanks all. The reason why you may not have seen it is because it's a new presentation - American Memory's 'What's New' page is well worth checking every week or so. :)
posted by plep at 11:31 PM on October 14, 2003

Write a Book! Well, why shouldn't I?--many a more stupid fellow than I, have "gone and done it," ere this. Let me see!--educated at Eton, many years in the army at home and abroad, a wanderer in many lands, with a smattering of every language under the sun;--write a Book! I rather think so-- and here goes!

Here goes indeed. A fantastic link, especially since you can actually read the books, not just read about them. I've read dozens, maybe hundreds, of American travel narratives, but mostly from the 20th century. I was familiar with almost none of these. Thank you, languagehat, plep.
posted by LeLiLo at 2:12 AM on October 15, 2003