Entries recall finishing SC College, attending parties in Charleston, visiting many Jewish families, mentioning Penina Moise, travelling to Philadelphia, seeing Fanny Kemble & comparing Philadelphia & Charleston women. In Savannah, he studies law, comments on readings and writers, muses on atheism, observances of Jewish holidays and Sabbath, possibility of becoming Hazzan, his poor eyesight and health, his poetry and other topics. After a brief trip to Grahamsville, Purrysburg, Coosawatchie & Pocotaligo, he mentions nullification, Aaron Burr, goes to Effingham County for health, and returns to Charleston. Published in Memoirs of American Jews. Later entries re Civil War era movements of troops.
Diary of David Henry Mordecai's trip down east coast to Florida Keys, description of town, wreckers, drunkenness of Key West; description of Havana, and Mantanzas, Cuba. Also has notes on school subjects, reflections on various topics, notation of "Jews - the persecuted race," slavery in SC, pressed botanic specimens, details of weather first quarter of 1850, maps and drawings.
Fragments and narratives describing cities visited, often with notations re principal industries, amusements, transportation, etc. Cities visited include Paris, Ghent, Frankfurt, London, Liverpool, Sheffield, & Birmingham.
Record of David Henry Mordecai's illnesses and schooling, mostly in Heidelberg, Germany, with some notations at Ems. With sporadic notations of weather, and mentions of South Carolinians Albert Rhett, William, John & Alfred Preston, Charles Boyd, Hammond, Legare, D.C. Seixas & others. References to museums, artwork and plays seen. Mentions of health and cures, the need for an operation (p. 73); stupidity of peasants vs. slaves (18); lynching (21), political situation in Kansas (30); doomed nature of American slavery (31); inevitability of Civil War (31-2); state support of SC College (56-57); women who "paint" their faces (111). With constant references to family, and some financial jottings. Some entries in German.
David Henry Mordecai's 1857 diary contains details of a trip through Turin, Milan, Venice, Vienna, Heidelberg, etc with frequent references to artists and specific works seen in Museums. A flare up of consumption triggers change of plans; before embarking for Egypt, he mentions various Charleston friends including Rhetts, Middletons, Prestons and Hamptons, trips to the opera and a life-changing event not described. With botanic specimens and notations in rear of book.
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.
