Travels in North America, 1832–1834: A Concise Edition of the Journals of Prince Maximilian of Wied. Edited by Marsha V. Gallagher. Translated by William J. Orr, Paul Schach, and Dieter Karch. Foreword by Jack F. Becker

Abstract

The same press that produced The North American Journals of Prince Maximilian of Wied, 1832–1834 in three massive volumes between 2008 and 2012 has released a user-friendly one volume condensed version of this important eyewitness source. The Joslyn Art Museum curator/historian Marsha Gallagher, who co-edited the complete version with Stephen S. Witte, chose the selections, representing around 200,000 words, or approximately one-third of the complete version. In her own words, she provides the reader “a good overview and understanding of where Maximilian went in North America, what he saw, and what he thought was significant about both” (p. xiii). The text is supplemented with thirty-two color and sixteen black-and-white illustrations from Maximilian’s own hand, as well as from that of the Swiss artist Karl Bodmer. As in her previous work, Gallagher provides the reader with short biographies of the most frequently mentioned Cast of Characters who appear in Maximilian’s journals. These include a few of the principal Indian leaders met on the journey, as well as many non-Indian hosts and acquaintances representing men of science in Boston and Philadelphia as well as fur traders and clerks from St. Louis to Fort McKenzie, below present-day Great Falls, Montana.