In a nutshell, I love reading firsthand historical accounts - I frequently download real exploration accounts in the 17/18th centuries from Gutenberg .
I think there’s just something amazing about reading the straight account of someone from so long ago.
I was wondering if people had any ideas on how to find more?
They don’t have to be to do with exploration, just real first hand accounts.
Could be websites, or maybe even keywords that might lead me to some great stuff that I’m missing.
The Library of Congress has scans of complete issues of newspapers online, some going back to the 18th Century, at it’s Chronicling America site (it’s at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov but as I type this it seems to be down at the moment). These old newspapers are interesting to read because they were written for a contemporary audience that didn’t know how things were going to play out, rather than a history book analyzing events after the fact. You get a sense of people’s thoughts and opinions at the time.
I read the news from 100 years ago today there almost daily, and I’ve been doing that long enough that sometimes find myself talking about things from then as though they are current events. I’ve caught myself thinking of Wilson as the current U.S. President, and I “remember” major events like the Lusitania sinking, for example. A few days ago I read that Jack Dempsey’s manager was in New York to negotiate a challenge for the world heavyweight boxing championship with Jess Willard’s manager, and I’m genuinely looking forward to the bout.