Diaries
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Dow, Arthur W. (Arthur Wesley), 1857-1922
setName: label: See more items in
content: Arthur Wesley Dow papers
physdesc: label: Extent
content: (Box 1; 6 folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1861-1904
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.dowarth, Series 2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: This series has been scanned in its entirety.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: This series is comprised of diaries by Dow and family members. The diary of Mary Patch Dow, Arthur Dow's mother, contains entries written between 1861 and 1865 noting visits and correspondence sent and received, particularly from her nephew Charles H. Dow, who died while fighting in the Civil War. There are few references to her son, although there are brief entries concerning his early education and childhood illnesses.

The remaining diaries record a world trip undertaken by Dow, accompanied by his wife and brother Dana Fitz Dow, among others. The party departed Boston in early September 1903 and headed westward through Canada to San Francisco where they sailed for Japan, which the party explored for three months before continuing on to China, India, Egypt, Greece and parts of Europe. Dow's travel diary provides an account of the early stages of the trip, most importantly the period spent in Japan, where he visited ancient temples, tea houses, museums, art schools, viewed private collections, and purchased prints. His brother's travel diaries, four in total, document the entire trip and record his impressions of the cities and sites that the party visited, paying particular interest to landscaped gardens and native plants. Sketches and plans of garden layouts can be found amidst his entries.