1895 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT TRAVEL JOURNAL AND SCRAPBOOK WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY THE MAN AND ONE TIME NAVAL ACADEMY STUDENT WHO PULLED PRESIDENT GRANT'S COATTAILS

On offer is a fascinating part journal and part scrapbook of a 3000 mile trip written and compiled by Benjamin W. Parker for his wife in 1895. Invited to accompany a friend on an extensive business trip, Parker, his wife and mother travel mostly by train starting in Boston to Chicago and the mid west and through to Washington DC. Parker creates what iss meant to be a memory album for his wife to cherish in future years. Typed on onion skin, tipped in with ephemera throughout the depth and breadth of the journal is wonderful providing a lovely perspective of America through this interesting man's eyes. There are personal anecdotes and we learn that Parker was a unique individual and highlights of the journal include a story of how he got kicked out of Naval Academy for pulling the coattails of President Grant on a dare. Ephemera tipped in includes a handwritten invitation by Senator William Frye of Maine to Charles Hamlin, Asst Secretary of the Treasury on Senate stationary. [Hamlin later became the first Chairman of the Federal Reserve and Frye was elected to replace James Blaine as Senator from Maine.] The book is 100+ pages and save for the spine cap being sprung and attached on one edge the thick leather bound journal is overall G.; Manuscript; 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF, SCRAPBOOK, FEDERAL RESERVE, BENJAMIN W. PARKER, MAINE, NAVAL ACADEMY, NAVY, TRAVEL, TRAIN TRAVEL, RAILROADS, RAILROADING, 19TH CENTURY, 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, 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,