Letters from Theodore Drayton Grimke-Drayton, 1891, 1906

Letters to his wife and undated letters to his son, Theodore, Jr. describe the trip by ocean liner to the United States and back again, with quick pen sketches illustrating many details. He notes ladies' hats (April 14); his impressions of New York and Philadelphia; shopkeepers acting as equals and accents of his family members versus other Americans (April 17); differences in manners of various Americans, northerners and southerners, and differences between American and British dinner parties (April 19); visit to Charleston and meeting various family members; researching genealogical facts; getting family portraits copied by Stolle (May 3); going on to Flat Rock, Atlanta, Vicksburg, Shreveport, El Paso, Yuma, noting Indians; visiting Yosemite, investigating raisin farming in California, visiting Los Angeles, San Francisco, seeing cowboys lasso cattle, etc., returning cross county to Charleston; and then noting life aboard the ocean liner going to England, describing the manner of an English or southern gentleman versus most Americans (June 14), and noting the difference between Harvard and British universities. There are numerous references to American manners, landscape, missing his wife and children and buying rare books. Lists of times and places stopped are included. With 1906 letters describing a trip to New York, contrasting the American (spoiled) and Canadian (unspoiled) sides of Niagara Falls.