1937 - 1938 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT DIARY HANDWRITTEN BY A 17 YEAR OLD AMERICAN GIRL WHOSE PARENTS SEND HER TO THEIR ANCESTRAL HOMELAND IN HUNGARY TO STUDY, VISIT RELATIVES AND PERHAPS MARRY A TRADITIONAL BOY ALL AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF IMPENDING DISASTER

On offer is a unique, original September 1937 through August 1938 manuscript diary that relates the life a young American girl [named Sue as per the gift inscription] who travels back to her ancestral country of Hungary for an extended holiday whose purpose was likely to find her a traditional husband. The pressure or desire for her to marry is apparent within days of her meeting her European relatives. 'Went to visit Gene's grandmother and aunt. Real congenial people….they talked to me as if I were to become Gene's wife….some dope thought [I] would fall in love with him within three days.' Sue writes wonderfully of her times traveling regularly to Budapest and the activities of a 17 year old American teenager abroad. There were movies and shows and skating and shopping and dining and more dining and opera and chess and so much more. She also enrolled in the Fodor School of Music. She begins with her travels crossing the Atlantic on the Normandie, and then across Europe to Hungary, where she stays with relatives, dates dozens of men - mostly doctors - and visits the local sites for nearly a year. She does a super job also capturing the tone of the country and the events in other parts of Europe. In one she comments on Germany annexing Austria and how her parents want her to come home. In another she comments on the "Jewish laws" that they are unfair and that "everything is dead". Sue was insightful and articulate and one cannot but be a little chilled reading her personal account with the knowledge that World War II looms on the horizon. Green leather has a leather strip for locking the diary had to be cut. Overall VG.; Manuscript; 16mo - over 5¾" - 6¾" tall; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF, PRE WORLD WAR II, WWII, HUNGARY, TRAVEL, AMERICANA, BUDAPEST, AMERICAN YOUTH IN EUROPE, GENDER STUDIES, WOMEN'S STUDIES, EASTERN EUROPE, SOCIAL STUDIES, HANDWRITTEN, MANUSCRIPT, DOCUMENT, LETTER, AUTOGRAPH, DIARY, JOURNAL, LOG, KEEPSAKE, WRITER, HAND WRITTEN, DOCUMENTS, SIGNED, LETTERS, MANUSCRIPTS, HISTORICAL, HOLOGRAPH, WRITERS, DIARIES, JOURNALS, LOGS, AUTOGRAPHS, PERSONAL, MEMOIR, MEMORIAL, PERSONAL HISTORY, AMERICANA, ANTIQUITÉ, CONTRAT, VÉLIN, DOCUMENT, MANUSCRIT, PAPIER ANTIKE, BRIEF, PERGAMENT, DOKUMENT, MANUSKRIPT, PAPIER OGGETTO D'ANTIQUARIATO, ATTO, VELINA, DOCUMENTO, MANOSCRITTO, CARTA ANTIGÜEDAD, HECHO, VITELA, DOCUMENTO, MANUSCRITO, PAPEL,