"I Intend Keeping a Particular Journal": Women's Education, Travel, and the Sublime in the Early Republic

This article explores the domestic leisure tours taken by elite New England women in search of sublime and picturesque landscapes from 1790 to 1825. It examines the journals they wrote about their travels in which they recorded their experiences for family members back home. It argues that in reflecting on their travels, these women developed a female sensibility that differed from that of their male counterparts. This was evident in the way that these women drew on their schooling and reading to shape and pull meaning from their experiences, but particularly to frame their observations on the sublime landscapes they encountered. Thus, it provides new insights into the development of a specifically feminine appreciation of the American landscape. Importantly, the journals also reveal their authors' continuing engagement with their audience back home, and the centrality of home and family in their writing, even as they wrote of their new experiences. The unpublished travel journals of elite women therefore served a dual purpose: as a means to share their experiences; and as a conduit through which to demonstrate their learning, sensibility, and refinement. Abstract: This article explores the domestic leisure tours taken by elite New England women in search of sublime and picturesque landscapes in the period from 1790 to 1825. It examines the journals they wrote about their travels in which they recorded their experiences for family members back home. It argues that in reflecting on their travels, these women developed a female sensibility that differed from that of their male counterparts. This was evident in the way that these women drew on their schooling and reading to shape and pull meaning from their experiences, but particularly to frame their observations on the sublime landscapes they encountered. Thus, it provides new insights into the development of a specifically feminine appreciation of the American landscape. Importantly too, the journals reveal their authors' continuing engagement with their audience back home, and the centrality of home and family in their writing, even as they wrote of their new experiences. The unpublished travel journals of elite women therefore served a dual purpose: as a means to share their experiences; and, as a conduit through which to demonstrate their learning, sensibility and refinement.