June 3, 2015

Drexel University Archives will extend access to two diaries in the collection through a collaboration with the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries and the University of Pennsylvania's Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts.

Drexel University Archives contributed digitized images of Rebecca Thomas's recipe book and Francis Martin Drexel's travel journal. Rebecca Thomas was a resident of early 19th-century Burlington, New Jersey. She recorded recipes, arithmetic lessons, and folk remedies in a small journal that brings to life the day-to-day concerns of early American women.

Francis Martin Drexel was the father of the Drexel University's founder, A. J. Drexel, a painter, and 19th-century financier. Drexel's 'Journal of a Trip to South America' records his travels through Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile from 1826 to 1830, where he painted portraits of local luminaries and learned the art of currency exchange.

Both diaries will be accessible through OPenn, which makes an increasing range of public domain and creative commons licensed cultural heritage materials available to digital humanities scholars. The Kislak Center hopes to have the diaries section of OPenn available by late June.