As people converge on London for the Olympic Games, we thought it might be fun to reflect on a time when travel across the Pond was much different. 

In 2011, thanks to a grant from the Friends of the UW-Madison Libraries, the University Archives acquired a diary entitled “Seeing the British Isles in 1929,” written by F. Chandler Young and his brother Hobart. 

Chandler Young graduated from UW in 1940, and also received his MA and PhD here in counseling and guidance.  He was a long time assistant and associate dean in the College of Letters and Science and also served as Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.  He retired in 1983 and died in 2001.  His father-in-law, H. A. Schuette, was also a chemistry professor here.

The diary chronicles a voyage from Winnetka, IL to the British Isles by then 11-year-old Chan, 13-year-old Hobart, and their parents, Hobart P. and Isabel Chandler Young.  

The family departed Chicago on the 20^th Century Limited on June 20, 1929 and arrived in New York the next day.  On June 22, they boarded the RMS Samaria for the trip to England. 

They docked in Queenstown (Blackpool) early on July 1 and took the train down to London.  For the next 2 months the Young family traveled in England and Scotland, with side trips to Ireland and France.

On September 1, the family boarded the RMS Empress of Scotland for the trip home.  They landed in Quebec on September 7 and then took “the special boat train” back to Chicago, arriving on the 8^th. 

The diary is about 130 pages, with many photos glued in.  It provides a fascinating glimpse through two children’s eyes of travel and touring in a world familiar but in many ways quite different from our own.

For more information about F. Chandler Young or UW-Madison history, visit http://archives.library.wisc.edu.

By David Null for the UW-Madison Archives.