LibGuides: 19th Century Memoirs: Home

Calls #s: 800s and 900s

Complete Poetry and Collected Prose
by Walt Whitman This edition of Whitman's writings includes the autobiographical Specimen Days. It is also the only collection that includes, in exactly the form in which it appeared in 1855, the first edition of Leaves of Grass.
Call Number: 818 Whi
ISBN: 9780940450028
Publication Date: 1982-05-06
Two Years before the Mast and Other Voyages
by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. This volume collects three sea-going travel narratives by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., that span 25 years of maritime history, from the age of sail to the age of steam. Suffering from persistent weakness in his eyes, Dana left Harvard at age 19 and sailed from Boston in 1834 as a common seaman.
Call Number: 910.4 Dan
ISBN: 1931082839
Publication Date: 2005-10-06
Through "Poverty's Vale": A Hardscrabble Boyhood in Upstate New York, 1832-1862
by Henry Conklin An autobiographical account of a frontier family's struggles in a backwoods environment a century ago. Son Henry and the rest of the Conklin family lived and worked in upstate New York, with the difficult, industrious lifestyle typical of pioneers.
Call Number: 917.47 Con
ISBN: 0815601174
Publication Date: 1975-08-01
Robert Whyte's 1847 Famine Ship Diary: The Journey of an Irish Coffin Ship
by Robert Whyte The voyage of the 'coffin ship' Ajax, from Dublin to Grosse Île, the Canadian quarantine station as described in the contemporary diary of one of the passengers, Robert Whyte. Whyte was a Protestant gentleman of education and position, as well as being a professional writer who intended to publish his diary. The diary appeared in 1848. It is signed in the author's own handwriting and features vivid descriptions of the spectacular scenery along the way and the striking delineations of the passengers, the crew and the suffering travelers.
Call Number: 941.5 Why
ISBN: 1856350916
Publication Date: 1994-03-01
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
by John G. Neihardt Black Elk met the distinguished poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt in 1930 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota… Neihardt understood and conveyed Black Elk's experiences in this powerful and inspirational message for all humankind. When Black Elk received his great vision, white settlers were invading the Lakotas' homeland, decimating buffalo herds, and threatening to extinguish the Lakotas' way of life. The Lakotas fought fiercely to retain their freedom and way of life, a dogged resistance that resulted in a remarkable victory at the Little Bighorn and an unspeakable tragedy at Wounded Knee.
Call Number: 978.004 Nei
ISBN: 9780803283855
Publication Date: 2004-11-01
On the Border with Crook: General George Crook, the American Indian Wars, and Life on the American Frontier
by John G. Bourke After serving over 15 years with General George Crook, John Gregory Bourke, his right-hand man, sat down to write of his time with the legendary U.S. Army officer in the post-Civil War West.
Call Number: B Crook
ISBN: 9781626365438
Publication Date: 2014-02-18
Autobiographies
by Frederick Douglass Writing with the eloquence and fierce intelligence that made him a brilliantly effective spokesman for the abolition of slavery and equal rights, Frederick Douglass shapes an inspiring vision of self-realization in the face of monumental odds.
Call Number: B Douglass
ISBN: 0940450798
Publication Date: 1994-02-01

Call #s: Biography and Fiction

Geronimo's Story of His Life
by Geronimo This chronicle, recorded and edited by Stephen Melvil Barrett, details the life of the Apache Indian Geronimo. It is an important document in Native American history that allowed a chance for the voice of an oppressed people to be heard.
Call Number: B Geronimo
ISBN: 9781456598273
Publication Date: 2017-12-10
Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup A harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. Born a free man in New York, Solomon Northup was abducted in Washington, D.C., in 1841 and spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity as a slave on a Louisiana cotton plantation. After his rescue, he published this exceptionally vivid and detailed account of slave life — perhaps the best written of all the slave narratives.
Call Number: B Northup
ISBN: 9780143106708
Publication Date: 2012-07-31
Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871-1878: Experiences on the Western Frontier with the United States Army
by Frances M.A. Roe [She turned] her back on the cosseted Eastern life she had known and [headed] out to the Wild West. Her life with the colours took her to Montana Territory, to the Colorado lands of the Cheyenne and to Indian Territory. Frances Roe has left us a graphic view of army life in garrison, on campaign and in camp, in all its detail, as well as wonderfully described accounts of her adventures in the untamed and beautiful wilderness.
Call Number: B Roe
ISBN: 9780857062543
Publication Date: 2010-08-01
The Rough Riders: An Autobiography
by Theodore Roosevelt Reformer, rancher, conservationist, hunter, historian, police commissioner, soldier, the youngest man ever to serve as President of the United States — no other American public figure has led as vigorous and varied a life as Theodore Roosevelt.
Call Number: B Roosevelt
ISBN: 1931082650
Publication Date: 2004-10-07
Co. Aytch: A Side Show of the Big Show
by Samuel R. Watkins A personal narrative by a Confederate soldier, describing the battles he fought during the Civil War. Samuel R. Watkins was a soldier enlisted in the Tennessee Infantry Regiment, 1st Company H (or, “Co. Aytch”).
Call Number: B Watkins
ISBN: 0684833247
Publication Date: 1997-08-12
Novellas and Other Writings
by Edith Wharton Six of the works of Edith Wharton: novels, novellas, and her renowned autobiography, A Backward Glance. Together they represent nearly a quarter century in the productive life of one of the most accomplished and admired of American writers.
Call Number: Fict Wha
ISBN: 0940450534
Publication Date: 1990-04-01

19th Century Memoirs: Home

AMERICA DURING THE 1800s

America during the 1800s: slavery, western expansion, war, immigration, progress. Here is a sampling of first person accounts by people who experienced life during those turbulent times.

Calls #s: 800s and 900s

Call #s: Biography and Fiction