Totally Cool!

In case you didn't see the Statesman Journal this past Sunday, they are featuring a series of articles about Lulu Hughes Bush. Lulu, who married A.N. Bush in 1886, traveled to Europe in the summer of 1905 and kept a journal of her voyage through The Netherlands, Belgium, France, England, and Scotland. The newspaper is publishing the journal, which is on loan to the Museum and has been transcribed by Museum staff, along with photos and a video. A link to the series can be found here.

This is totally cool for a number of reasons. First, a lot of people who wouldn't otherwise know about the journal can read about Lulu's trip to Europe, which would have been an unusual experience for any Salemite. Second, we would never be able to show the journal to the public with the level of detail provided by the newspaper series -- even if a visitor could decipher Lulu's handwriting, it would take a lot of time to go through the journal page by page.

Like many women of her era, Lulu lived in the shadow of her husband. We have only a few photographs of her, and no letters. This journal gives us a chance to learn a little bit more about who she was as a person, and to share her story with the community. Totally cool.