Nearly daily journal of travel through Nice, Monaco, Genoa, Leghorn, Rome (where she visited Harriet Hosmer and other sculptors' studios), Pompeii and Herculaneum, Florence, Mantua, Milan, Venice, Trieste (glimpsing Emperor Franz Joseph III), Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin and Paris, where the family stayed. Just after the family left Italy, the second war for Italian independence broke out, and she mentions Austrian troop movements and her sympathies for the Italian side. In Paris, she mentions Ransom Calhoun & Mr. Preston, Mr. Ogier, Dr. Horlbeck & family, "Miss Lewis, the poetess," Boston Editor Bigelow, and Senator Charles Sumner, with an allusion to his caning by Preston Brooks; with visit to a synagogue. Frequent references to beggars, family members, and detailed descriptions of artwork seen and admired. Diary begins very soon after the death of her brother, David Henry Mordecai, and she often references her sadness over the loss.
