Travel and exploration in Special Collections

Can’t get away this summer?  Armchair travel is a cheap alternative to a vacation, and the library abounds in books by travelers and explorers to points around the globe, from the South Pacific to the North Pole.   Special Collections contains numerous rare and important accounts of early travel and exploration, including the voyages of Captain Cook, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and Sir Richard Francis Burton’s trip to Mecca (Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah, pictured below).

To find accounts of travel and exploration in the library catalog, construct a subject search using these tips:

• Collections of works written by travelers from a specific country are entered under “Travelers’ writings,” qualified by the nationality of the travelers, e.g. “Travelers’ writings, American.”
• Works on travel to a specific place are entered under the name of the place with subdivision “Description and travel,” e.g. “Greenland–Description and travel.”
• Accounts of the exploration of a specific place  are entered under the name of the place with the subdivision “Discovery and exploration,” e.g. “China–Discovery and exploration.”