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Hattie Summer : CURIOUS ORIGINAL HANDWRITTEN 1876 JOURNAL OF ONE WOMAN’S TRIP ALONE TO THE WORLD’S FAIR CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION IN PHILADELPHIA AND ALL THE AMAZING SIGHTS AND FASCINATING INVENTIONS SEEN

12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. On offer is a wonderful and exciting handwritten diary of Hattie Summer, a young woman from the Northeast United States as she visits the World’s Fair Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. The diary is signed on the front cover, “Hattie L. Summer, Burlington, Vermont. Sept. 19. 1876.” Beginning on the first page are Summer’s “Notes on the ‘Centennial’”. The diary reads less like a narrative of a trip, than an exhaustive list and description of all sights seen in the Centennial Exhibition. The diary begins with a two page list of sights seen in the “Main Building” and then includes the sights seen in all man different countries pavilions. A typical entry reads like this: “Main Building. Model of Hamburg Steamship. Model of man-of-war. Piece of iron ore: weight 70 stone, 66% iron. No. 486. Model. Immense mirror - glass frame (?) glass. First glass made in America.” This list goes on for another two pages. For Japan she writes, “Animals wrought with needle work. Old school house. Nos - 252, 260, 280, pictures. Picture with fish and sticks with heads on. Scene at autumn - on needle work; price $20. Scene in the winter. Moonlight picture. Sorke, wrought in silk from S. Shobey’s store at Yokohama. Photos with moonlight effect. Beautiful silks, very costly.. Grand fire-scene, of silk, representing bride & flowers. Elegant felts, S. Shobey’s silk store.” This entry also continues for a number of pages. It seems Hattie Summer is much less interested in other countries, as they are much less described: “South Australia. Silver mounted Emu ink-stand.”; “China. Pagoda. Elegantly carved furniture and arch-way.” ; “Peru. Large picture of a party dancing. Ancient pottery.” ; “Denmark. Sledge.” After visiting the Main Building and the pavilions of over 20 countries from around the world, she visits the Art Gallery, where she encounters, and lists, a tremendous amount of art from familiar countries such as England, Canada, France, and Germany and a large amount of paintings and sculptures from the United States. Again, the artworks are listed. They are not described in any figurative or personal detail. The artworks follow the Centennial theme as many of the paintings seen have such titles as “The Landing of Columbus”, “The Discovery of America by Columbus”, and “The Signing of the Declaration of Independence”. From the Art Gallery, she moves on to the “Agricultural Hall. U.S. Department.” Here she sees “A whale-boat. Walrus. Stuffed. Elephant Seal. Saws of a (?) whale. Tusk of narwhale. Goat. Large deer. Caribou. Beaver. Indian dug-out canoe, 60 ft. long, 8 ft. deck, from Vancouver. Florida Crocodile.” and many other natural oddities and curiosities. Finally, she lists the sights seen in the Machinery Hall. These include “The corliss Engine. A watch 218 years old. Ethan Allen’s watch. Identical suit worn by Capt. Paul Boynton where he swam the English Channel, May 28, 1875. The manufacturing of carpets, paper, envelopes, type, printing, silk, handkerchiefs, etc. An ice-boat. Large cannon.” The very last entry is titled, “In Miscellaneous Places.” and only contains one item: “The first train of cars made & run in this country. Washington coach.”(Background - International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine, it was held in Fairmount Park along Philadelphia's Schuylkill River on fairgrounds designed by Herman J. Schwarzmann. It was held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Nearly 10 million visitors attended the exhibition and thirty-seven countries participated in it. More than 200 buildings were constructed within the Exposition's grounds, which were surrounded by a fence nearly three miles long.[8] There were five main buildings in the exhibition. They were the Main Exhibition Building, Memorial Hall, Machinery Hall, Agricultural Hall, and Horticultural Hall. Apart from these buildings, there were separate buildings for state, federal, foreign, corporate, and public comfort buildings. This strategy of numerous buildings in one exposition, set it apart from the previous fairs around the world that relied exclusively on having one or a few large buildings.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good

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