Are you interested in learning more about westward expansion during the 1850s? If so, you’ll be interested to learn that University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center (AHC) has digitized and made accessible online the diary and 2 transcripts of the diary from the Charlotte E. Allis diary collection.

A page from the diary–you can see why the transcriptions come in handy!

Charlotte “Lottie” Elizabeth Jackson was born July 28, 1828 in Chesterfield Township, New York. Her husband, William Warren Allis, was born October 28, 1823 in Conway, Massachusetts. She and W.W. Allis were married September 11, 1849 in Beloit, Wisconsin. In 1853, W.W. Allis traveled overland to mine gold in California. In 1854, Charlotte followed him, leaving Beloit in April and arriving at Monte Cristo California in July. She maintained a diary during her journey that relates her trek by wagon and foot traveling with newlyweds George and Hannah Haskell and possibly with George’s sister-in-law Marie Haskell, as well as others who are not recorded in Allis’ diary.

The collection contains the diary of Charlotte Allis and two transcripts of the diary. The first transcript was by Esther Gay, wife of the diary’s donor Jim Gay. The second transcript was by Tamara Linse, freelance writer and American Heritage Center volunteer who researched and transcribed the diary from 2001 through 2003. The bulk of the collection is the research files created by Tamara Linse.

Links to digitized items and additional information about the Charlotte E. Allis diary can be found in the on-line finding aid at: https://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wyu-ah07445.xml

–Jamie J. Greene, Archives Specialist, Digital Programs Department