Anthony J. Stanonis Travel Scrapbook and Diary Collection

Anthony J. Stanonis received a B.A. in history from Loyola University New Orleans (1997), followed by an M.A. (1998) and a Ph.D. (2003), both in history, from Vanderbilt University. Stanonis' research interests have centered on the cultural and economic implications of urban tourism.  Starting in 2007, he began teaching Modern United States History at Queen’s University in Belfast where he continues to teach and reside. 

The volumes displayed here have utilized the scrapbook format to document personal travel narratives.  Connections between the display and preservation of these situational “self works” can be made with the contemporary practice of personal travel blogging.

Memoirs of Washington, 1929

Anthony J. Stanonis Travel Scrapbook and Diary Collection 

(Box 9, Folder 2, Collection 65)

This scrapbook documents a three-week stay in Washington, D.C. in the spring of 1929. Mrs. Archibald J. Taylor (born Jessie P. Truman) of Burlington, Vermont was invited to the capitol as a guest of Attorney General John G. Sargent’s wife, Mary Gordon Sargent, where she attended Calvin Coolidge’s last public reception while President. The scrapbook is built around a narrative account of Mrs. Taylor’s trip and illustrated with memorabilia from the presidential dinner, newspaper clippings, postcards and other ephemera documenting her sightseeing.

So This Is New York…, 1948

Anthony J. Stanonis Travel Scrapbook and Diary Collection 

(Box 18, Folder 1, Collection 65)

Charles E. Ryan (1910-1997), a 38 year old “small town lawyer,” wrote this account of his 1948 trip from Crawford County, Galion, Ohio, to New York City for a lecture course at the Practicing Law Institute. After the train lost his suitcase for a day, Ryan enjoyed all that New York had to offer, visiting the Statue of Liberty, Jack Dempsey’s bar, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Yankee Stadium, Wall Street, Park Avenue, Central Park, La Guardia Airport, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, as well as shopping at Macy’s, Gimbels, and Saks 5th Avenue.  Largely narrative, the scrapbook also includes postcards, maps, clippings, and pamphlets. 

While Ryan seemed to have a wonderful time, he did find New York compared unfavorably to Ohio in several respects—he preferred Cleveland’s baseball stadium, and found the shows at a dive bar to be no more “unveiling” or “revealing” than Cleveland’s. He also forgot his camera, perhaps leading to the obviously fabricated photo with the Statue of Liberty pictured here.

Maude Liersch Scrapbook: Florida 1945, Ado + Neva

Anthony J. Stanonis Travel Scrapbook and Diary Collection 

(Box 19, Folder 2, Collection 65)

Maude Lehman Liersch (1895-1977) assembled this scrapbook to document several trips she took with her husband Joe, a physician and son of one of Kansas City’s pioneer druggists. The bulk of the scrapbook details a road trip they took with Adolph “Ado” or “Otto” F. (1884-1961) and Neva Wiedenmann Seidel (1890-1979) from October 27-November 9, 1945. The quartet began in their hometown of Kansas City, Missouri and circled the Midwestern, Southeastern, and Southwestern United States. Maude took meticulous notes of all food and beverage consumed as well as prices for their accommodations. After splitting the total with the Seidels, the total cost for each couple for the two-week-long trip was $119.45 (including a flat tire and oil change in southern Florida). The trip is richly illustrated with photographs, postcards, clippings, and pamphlets.

Anthony J. Stanonis Travel Scrapbook and Diary Collection