Guide to the Mrs. Benjamin Eddy Cotting Diaries Travel-diaries

Guide to the Mrs. Benjamin Eddy Cotting Diaries

Travel-diaries


COLLECTION SUMMARY
Repository:	University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Department of Special Collections 1450 Poplar Lane, Lawrence, KS 66045-7616 Phone: (785)864-4334 Fax: (785)864-5803 URL: http://spencer.lib.ku.edu Finding aid prepared by alh, October 2, 1973 Finding aid encoded by mg, 2005
Creator:	Cotting, Mrs. Benjamin Eddy, active 1865-1870
Title:	Travel-diaries
Quantity:	2 volumes
Abstract:	Travel Diaries.
Identification:	MS A8

Administrative Information

Custodial History

6 uniform notebooks were previously catalogued as MS X8: Cotting, B.E., Journey to Brazil, 1865.

Preferred Citation

Mrs. Benjamin Eddy Cotting Diaries, Department of Special Collections, MS A8, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries

Return to the Table of Contents

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

None

Restrictions on Use

Spencer Library staff may determine use restrictions dependent on the physical condition of manuscript materials.

Return to the Table of Contents

Authorship: MS A8a, written by a woman who refers to "the Dr" as if he were her husband, includes her account of the April 1865 voyage of the Colorado to Brazil with "the Professor" and Mrs A. Agassiz' "A journey in Brazil," 1868 (Ellis Aves C7) mentions in the foreword that his old friends, Dr. and Mrs. B. E. Cotting, accompanied him. Spencer Research library’s manuscript does not mention a Dr. C or Mrs. C.

MS A8b, written by the same person, mentions a gentleman putting her in a cab, and giving his love to Cotting. A former owner (bookseller? librarian?) has written in pencil on the cover of vol. 1 "Cotting, Mrs BE. Journey to Brazil." Benjamin Eddy Cotting, 1812-1897, is named in the National Union Catalogue as the author of a number of medical books, most published in Boston.

Author has to journey to NY, apparently from New England. Her husband was a curator of the Lowell Institute in 1817 when he took the sick Agassiz into his home (Ellis Aves B17); Orginial Cataloguer suspected they lived in Massachusetts, probably Boston suburbs.

Return to the Table of Contents

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION


MS A8a March 30-August 15, 1865 2 pencil sketches of Rio harbour on last leaf of v. 1.
	Author more interested in Agassiz than natural history, but makes brief notes of his lectures. Interested in customs, dress, scenery, curiosities. Dinner with the Emperor of Brazil. Notes others' emotions; gossip. Mentions Civil War.
	Language: English
	Places: New York-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (aboard the Colorado), Rio and environs, Rio-St Vincents-Lisbon-Southampton (aboard the La Plata), Isle of Wight, Southampton-Le Havre-Rouen-Paris, Paris and environs
	v.l: March 30- April 29 (arrive Rio April 22)
	v.2: April 29-May 23
	v.3: May 24-June 20 (leave Rio June 7)
	v.4:June 21-August 15 (arrive Southampton July 2, arrive Paris July 12)


MS A8b April 8-July 1, 1870
	Language: English
	Places: New York-Chester (aboard the Java--few details)
	Chester-London-Paris-Nice-Genoa-Rome-Florence-Venice-Milan-Lake Como-Zur1ch-Lucerne-Altorf- Grindelwald-Berne-Fribourg-Geneva-Paris, Paris and environs, London and environs
	Not as detailed as A8a; describes villas and gardens at Como; London and Paris social life: Americans and nobility.
	v.l: April 8-May 26 (Altorf). Last leaf: list of hotels.
	v.2: May 27-July 1 (leave Liverpool for New York aboard the Java).

KU Home | Libraries Home | Online Catalog | Finding Aids Home | Kenneth Spencer Research Library