The Iselin family archive, Basel

A lot of the personal belongings of Isaak Iselin are stored in the private archive, including here a diary and a passport.
Picture by David Hänggi-Aragai.

Skimming and scanning – Comment

Only envelopes X, XII, XIII, XVII and XVIII seem to have nothing to do with Isaak Iselin's voyage on the Maryland. The other dossiers need to be checked.

A lot of primary material about the voyage of the Maryland is stored in the private archive. Besides the original journal written on board (I) and a shorter, cleaned–up version (II), there are letters and bookkeeping materials (III–VII).

In addition to several types of ego–documents by Isaak Iselin about the voyage, there are also commercial notes and tables. They are not as well ordered as would be expected in a merchant's archive, but are rather randomly put together. Most likely, Isaak Iselin kept them privately when he returned from New York to Basel. The bequest is therefore a personal one. Probably, more archival material about the voyage is stored in the firm archive of Le Roy, Bayard & McEvers in the US, if such an archive still exists.