William Lewis Sachtleben Athens travel diary

Item Overview

Title

William Lewis Sachtleben Athens travel diary

Alternative title

Notebook No. 7. From Corinth to Athens, Jan. 3, 1891 to Feb. 5, 1891

Author

Sachtleben, William Lewis

Date Created

January 3, 1891-February 5, 1891

Date

1891-01-03/1891-02-05

Language

English

Collection

Sachtleben (William Lewis) Papers. Collection 1841
Sachtleben (William) Diaries

Notes

Summary

William Lewis Sachtleben was an American long-distance cyclist who rode across Asia from Istanbul to Peking in 1891 to 1892 with Thomas Gaskell Allen Jr. The diary of “Notebook No. 7” covers the period from January 3, when he and Allen cycled into Athens from Corinth, to February 5, the day Allen left for London to collect two new bicycles for the Asian portion of their journey. The diary records Sachtleben’s attention-attracting navigation of Athens by bicycle to major archeological sites; during one ride he witnessed, by chance, the funeral procession of Heinrich Schliemann, the German archeologist and excavator of Troy. The diary also recounts his visits to consular officials to make arrangements for his Asian journey, including Archibald Loudon Snowden, United States minister to Greece, and James Irving Manatt, the United States Consul in Athens. Much of the diary is occupied with recording day-to-day activities, encounters and friendships formed in Athens, the most important being with Basilios Kapsambelis, a member of a wealthy Piraeus family, and Serope Armenag Gurdjian. Gurdjian was an Armenian from Talass, Kayseri, Turkey who had graduated from New Hampton Literary and Theological Institution (Vermont) and Bowdoin College, had become a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1874 and had returned to Istanbul to work and found a school with sponsorship from wealthy Americans. Earlier that winter, Gurdjian had been detained in Istanbul on suspicion of participating in a revolutionary committee and making a seal for the committee. He was released on the basis of his American citizenship. Several conversations with Gurdjian are recorded in the diary and they include substantial biographical information. It appears that his friendship with Gurdjian was the catalyst for his decision to continue his cycling adventure across Turkey and Iran instead of some other possible but less challenging route.

Description

Entries in pen and ink
William Lewis Sachtleben’s diary of “Notebook No. 7” covers the period from January 3, when he and Allen cycled into Athens from Corinth, to February 5, the day Allen left for London to collect two new bicycles for the Asian portion of their journey. The diary records Sachtleben’s attention-attracting navigation of Athens by bicycle to major archeological sites.
The page numbering in the Athens travel diary jumps from page 26 to page 47. It appears that page 47 is the verso of page 26. The entry on page 27 is dated Jan. 10. The next dated entry, on page 52, is for Jan. 11.

Physical Description

Extent

1 v. (173 pages)

Keywords

Genre

notebooks--19th century
diaries--19th century

Names

Gurdjian, Serope A. (Serope Armenag), b. 1847
Allen, Thomas Gaskell
Kapsambelis, Basilios Georgiou, 1866-1929
Sachtleben, William Lewis Diaries

Location

Greece

Resource type

text

Subjects

Athens (Greece)--Description and travel
Bicycle touring--Greece