Manuscripts
Two diaries kept by Albert Prescott from 1869-1870. The 1869 diary covers Prescott's dissatisfaction with working in Hamilton, and his opening entry notes "I'm sick & tired of my job [at the S.F. Restaurant] it's too hard work" (he quit the next day and worked a series of odd jobs). The 1870 diary records Prescott's trip to San Francisco and subsequent departure, accompanied by a man named McCord, for Lima on board the French bark Glaneur, which was loaded with railroad ties. Prescott gives a detailed account of the voyage ("it being my first voyage at sea I had but a faint idea of the Ocean," he noted), including descriptions of a fistfight between two crewmen, the sighting of a whale, his distress at the monotony of ship life ("it is rather hard not being able to talk French when among Frenchmen"), and his first glimpse of the Andes Mountains. After disembarking in Peru on August 2 Prescott writes of meeting Mr. Heath, an "American from Ohio in charge of the Railroad being constructed at this place," witnessing bull fights, and his impressions of native Peruvians. Prescott and McCord stayed in San Jose and also traveled to Pacasmayo, Trujillo, and the Guanape Islands. Also included with the diaries is a cardboard sheet with penciled genealogical information on the Prescott family.
mssHM 75051-75053
