Harry F. White Automobile Trip Album
name: label: Collector
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Work and Industry
topic: label: Topic
content: Automobile travel
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Kathryn S. White and Hazel H. White, 2004.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: .25 Cubic feet (1 box )
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1912-07-13-1912-12-11
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Collection transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Work and Industry, 2024.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1656
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Diaries
label: Type
content: Photographs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged as a single series for the album. Album is arranged in chronological order.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Joshua Insel, intern, 2025.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Diaries -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: A 100 page photograph album and typewritten travel diary of a 1912 automobile trip from Phelps, New York to San Diego, California by Harry F. White and companions. The trip began on July 13, 1912, with White traveling with Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Partridge, his sister, Miss Meta E. White, his friend, Ned (last name unknown), and a dog named Fiji. Along the way, they passed through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada. White and his companions arrived in San Diego on September 14, 1912. This journal is an invaluable document of the conditions of American transcontinental car travel at the time, presenting the lack of paved roads and limited automobile and travel services available in rural areas, especially in the western United States.