Brief guide to manuscripts collections| William L. Clements Library The University of Michigan Carl Wilhelm Gallwitz Journal |
Gallwitz left his hom in Coblentz, German at the age of 20 to journey to America. Traveling with a friend, often with barely enough money to subsist, Gallwitz arrived in Baltimore in the summer of 1820. He made his way to Canton, Ohio, where he opened a school. He quickly tired of teaching and in January, 1821, began a tour that lasted 16 months and took him south through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, north again to the Ohio River, and down the Mississippi to New Orleans. Gallwitz traveled by foot, lodging with farmers, earning money occasionally by painting signs and cutting silhouettes. He sailed for Europe in May, 1822. Once home he joined the militia, took a government clerkship, and fell in love. but within the year he embarked again for America. Gallwitz returned to Canton, established a school, built a house, eventually married his German sweetheart, and spent this remaining years in Ohio.
Diary in German kept by Carl Christian Wilhelm Gallwitz, immigrant artist, schoolmaster, 469 pp.; miscellaneous letters; birth and baptismal certificates.
The diary is a simply written daybook containing occasional water color and ink sketches; Gallwitz did a series of 27 maps illustrating the river route he followed during his 1821-1822 trip. The diary has daily entries from 1820 to September, 1823; he records his impressions of the people he meets, the work he does, the places he visits. An English translation of the diary is in the collection.
Gift of John C. Mathes, 1976
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