Found a citation of a published travel narrative? We may have a print copy at Howard-Tilton, but also try Google Books in case there's a keyword-searchable copy online.
Contains letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts of early encounters from 1534-1850. Effective browsing and searching capabilities allow, for example, to identify all encounters between the French and the Huron between 1650 and 1700.
This project has been developed to encourage undergraduate work with rare primary documents. By using images of the texts rather than transcriptions, Empire Online enables students to connect with the past with greater immediacy. By retaining the look and feel of the original sources, we engender greater interaction with the material as students can understand better the circumstances in which sources were created and the ways in which the authors chose to present their arguments.
Choose "Advanced Search" and select "Travel" in the Subject Area. Includes published pamphlets, tracts, memoirs, congressional legislation, correspondence, broadsides, biographies, histories, fiction and poetry, eulogies, sermons and other genres.
From the everyday to the extraordinary, these rare diaries and the supporting correspondence describe the travel experiences, destinations and desires of nineteenth and twentieth century American women.
The project has wide ranging interdisciplinary appeal, offering first hand accounts of major historical events as reported by eye witnesses, detailing key interests and themes in women’s lives, providing snapshots of cities, cultures and customs, and charting the rise of modern tourism and the travel industry. Topics covered include: Emigration and daily life, Missionary Work, World War I, World War II, Boxer War in China, Frontier Life in America, Personal Enlightenment through travel, Education and Finishing School, Sightseeing, Holidays and Tourism, Customs, culture and leisure.
Women & Gender
The following are databases that include primary source material on women. Diaries and letters may describe their experiences traveling abroad.
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries includes the immediate experiences of approximately 500 women, as revealed in over 100,000 pages of diaries and letters.
Resource for the study of American social, cultural, and popular history, providing immediate access to rare primary source material from the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History, Duke University and The New York Public Library. It comprises thousands of fully searchable images (alongside transcriptions) of monographs, pamphlets, periodicals and broadsides addressing 19th and early 20th century political, social and gender issues, religion, race, education, employment, marriage, sexuality, home and family life, health, and pastimes.
The collection is especially rich in conduct of life and domestic management literature, offering vivid insights into the daily lives of women and men, as well as emphasizing contrasts in regional, urban and rural cultures.
Digital facsimilies of more than 4,700 publications concerning women's history from continental Europe, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand, dating from 1543-1945.
Contains the personal writings of women of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, displayed as images of the original manuscripts. The collection is drawn entirely from the holdings of the American Antiquarian Society.
Collection of women's diaries and correspondence from Colonial times to 1950. Sources include journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings, much of the material is in copyright. Represented are all age groups and life stages, all ethnicities, many geographical regions, the famous and the not so famous.
The history of women in social movements in the U.S. between 1600 and 2000. Seeks to advance scholarly debates and understanding about U.S. history generally at the same time that it makes the insights of women's history accessible.
The collection currently includes 91 document projects and archives with more than 3,600 documents and 150,000 pages of additional full-text documents, and more than 2,060 primary authors.
The Press
Newspapers and popular magazines may provide a window into popular impressions of foreign lands and peoples. Consider news, advertising, and perhaps even a travel section when searching these resources.
Contains periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children’s and women’s magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals.
Access full text of hundreds of periodicals from the late 17th century to the early 20th, comprising millions of high-resolution facsimile page images. Topics covered include literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture.
Full text of this American political magazine from 1857 to 1912. Features foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays, humor, and illustrations. Extensive coverage of the American Civil War, including illustrations. Includes artwork of the political cartoonist Thomas Nast.
Provides indexing of over three million articles from more than 550 leading magazines. Offers a wide range of researchers access to information about history, culture and seminal developments across nearly a century.
Other Collections
These collections contain a wide range of material types and subject coverage.
The open access digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Offers all types of media: print (monographs, periodicals and press) in image and text mode, manuscripts, sound recordings, graphic material, maps and plans. The gateway to digital collections in French.
Access online collections: view maps & photographs; read letters, diaries & newspapers; hear personal accounts of events; listen to sound recordings & watch historic films. Highlights include: Discovery and Exploration; Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training ; The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures.
Collection contains approximately 8,500 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints
Governments Abroad
Official government documents may also serve as primary sources for studying travelers. How did colonial administrators describe the people and cultural practices of the colonies they goverened? How are the observations of security officials different from the perceptions of diplomats?
British government Confidential Print files, issued by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. Collections by region include:
Africa, 1834-1966;
China, 1919-1929, 1949-1980;
India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, 1947-1980;
Middle East from Egypt to Afghanistan, 1839-1969;
North America (USA, Canada, the Caribbean), 1824 – 1961.
A comprehensive resource of historic and current congressional information, including bills & laws, hearings, CRS reports, committee prints, reports, and the text of the Congressional Record. Researchers can explore Congress in action with the most comprehensive online resource available for congressional publications and legislative research.
The resource includes abstracts and indexing for congressional publications, and legislative histories. It also includes member biographies, committee assignments, voting records and financial data; and the full text of key regulatory and statutory resources.
ProQuest, in partnership with The National Security Archive, produce the Digital National Security Archive, the most comprehensive collection available of significant primary documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945. Collections cover the most critical world events, countries, and U.S. policy decisions from post-World War II through the 21st century, with access to more than 150,000 indexed, declassified government documents. The DNSA is comprised of many database collections which can be searched individually or together.
The resource comprises the following databases; Afghanistan: The Making of U.S. Policy, 1973–1990; The Afghanistan War and the United States, 1998-2017; Argentina, 1975-1980: The Making of U.S. Human Rights Policy; The Berlin Crisis, 1958–1962; Chile and the United States: U.S. Policy toward Democracy, Dictatorship, and Human Rights, 1970–1990; China and the United States: From Hostility to Engagement, 1960–1998; CIA Covert Operations: From Carter to Obama, 1977-2010; CIA Family Jewels Indexed; Colombia and the United States: Political Violence, Narcotics, and Human Rights, 1948-2010; The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962; The Cuban Missile Crisis: 50th Anniversary Update; The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited: An International Collection, From Bay of Pigs to Nuclear Brink; Death Squads, Guerrilla War, Covert Ops, and Genocide: Guatemala and the United States, 1954-1999; Electronic Surveillance and the National Security Agency: From Shamrock to Snowden; El Salvador: The Making of U.S. Policy, 1977–1984; El Salvador: War, Peace, and Human Rights, 1980–1994; Iran: The Making of U.S. Policy, 1977–1980; The Iran-Contra Affair: The Making of a Scandal, 1983–1988; Iraqgate: Saddam Hussein, U.S. Policy and the Prelude to the Persian Gulf War, 1980–1994; Japan and the United States: Diplomatic, Security, and Economic Relations, 1960–1976, 1877-1992, and Part III, 1961-2000; The Kissinger Telephone Conversations: A Verbatim Record of U.S. Diplomacy, 1969-1977; The Kissinger Transcripts: A Verbatim Record of U.S. Diplomacy, 1969-1977; Mexico-United States Counternarcotics Policy, 1969-2013; The National Security Agency: Organization and Operations, 1945-2009; Nicaragua: The Making of U.S. Policy, 1978–1990; Peru: Human Rights, Drugs and Democracy, 1980-2000; The Philippines: U.S. Policy During the Marcos Years, 1965–1986; Presidential Directives on National Security, Part I: From Truman to Clinton; Presidential Directives on National Security, Part II: From Truman to George W. Bush; South Africa: The Making of U.S. Policy, 1962–1989; The Soviet Estimate: U.S. Analysis of the Soviet Union, 1947–1991; Targeting Iraq, Part 1: Planning, Invasion, and Occupation, 1997-2004; Terrorism and U.S. Policy, 1968–2002; U.S. Climate Change Diplomacy: From the Montreal Protocol to the Paris Agreement, 1981-2015; U.S. Espionage and Intelligence, 1947–1996; U.S. Intelligence and China: Collection, Analysis and Covert Action; The U.S. Intelligence Community: Organization, Operations and Management, 1947–1989; The U.S. Intelligence Community After 9/11; U.S. Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction: From World War II to Iraq; U.S. Military Uses of Space, 1945–1991; U.S. Nuclear History: Nuclear Arms and Politics in the Missile Age, 1955–1968; U.S. Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy, 1945–1991; U.S. Policy in the Vietnam War, Part I (1954-1968) and Part II: (1969-1975); U.S. Policy toward Iran: From the Revolution to the Nuclear Accord, 1978-2015; and The United States and the Two Koreas, Part 1 (1969-2000) and Part II (1969-2010).
The Foreign Relations of the United States series is the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication.
Digital access provided by the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.
Initial volumes document the origins of the modern intelligence establishment, followed by detailed coverage of foreign relations from 1952 through 1980.
Online versions of the FRUS volumes provided by the Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State.
