Thanksgiving in Letters, 1849-1904

Dine with a homesick college girl, a Civil War Soldier, the new father of a “Thanksgiving baby,” and others.

Destination:
1869-1871

The Heiress: Julia Newberry

Celebrate Chicago’s high society and witness the destruction of the Great Chicago Fire.

Destination:
1767-1812

The War Chief: Black Hawk

Battle alongside the Sauk leader as he defends his land from rival tribes and white settlers.

Destination:
1893

The Fairgoer: Errett Graham

Delight in the World’s Columbian Exposition’s novelties, including Ferris Wheels, electric lights, and Annie Oakley.

Destination:
1905-1927

The Writer: Era Bell Thompson

Explore issues of race and identity growing up in rural North Dakota plains and visiting Midwestern cities.

Destination:
1898-1900

The Military Nurse: Amy Wingreen

Brave scorpions, yellow fever and privations nursing wounded soldiers in the Spanish American War.

Destination:
1839-1864

The Reverend: J.H. Magee

Join in the struggle on a journey from son of a freed slave to prairie farmer to well-educated preacher.

Destination:
1804-1805

The Frontier Soldier: Joseph Whitehouse

Dance with French ladies, hunt bears, and treaty with Indians as a soldier on the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Destination:
1916-1922

The Vacation Photographer: Lenore Raster

Travel with a Chicago-based, German-American family to see the sights on their Mississippi River vacations.

Destination:
???

Discover a new journey!

Help scholars and learn about history by transcribing documents from the Newberry’s collections

Except where otherwise noted, contextual content on this site is made available under a Creative Commons Public Domain license. Digitized images and other media from the Newberry's collections are made available for any lawful purpose, commercial or non-commercial, without licensing or permission fees to the library, subject to the following terms and conditions: Newberry Rights and Reproductions Policy.

Edited by Jen Wolfe and developed by Nick White of the Newberry’s Digital Initiatives and Services department. Code is available for repurposing: Midwest Time Machine repository. Interactive maps created using the open-source software StoryMapJS. Grateful acknowledgement to WBEZ’s Curious City and the inspiration from their site If you toured Chicago in 1910, what would you do?