European and American Travel Accounts

The library has an extensive collection of printed European and American accounts of travel to the rest of the world, beginning with Breydenbach’s 1486 illustrated book on his trip to Jerusalem, and including large numbers of works on the Americas, Africa, and Asia from the 16th century to the early 20th century.  In addition to printed books, there are numerous unpublished letters and diaries describing the writers’ experiences in other countries, including letters of Bryn Mawr graduates Clara Edwards letters from Persia during World War I, and Margaret Bailey Speer’s letters as dean at Yenching University in China during the 1920s and 1930s.