Wonderland; or, Alaska and the Inland Passage

Published in 1886, Wonderland was a free guidebook promoting travel via the Northern Pacific Railroad to the minimally developed and gloriously natural northern territory of the United States between the Mississippi Valley and Alaska. Wonderland includes a reference to a previous journey through Alaska made by E. Ruhamah Scidmore, who published a travel guide titled Alaska, its Southern Coast and the Sitkan Archipelago in 1885. Wonderland's author, John Hyde, incorrectly describes Scidmore as “the man who…gives his account…writing in Glacier Bay." Our copy of Wonderland includes two hand-written corrections explaining that the "man" in question was actually Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore. Scidmore was a writer, journalist, photographer, and U.S. cultural ambassador to Japan. Her accomplishments also included introducing color photographs to the fledgling National Geographic Society magazine, and selling the idea of planting Japanese cherry trees in the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian Libraries holds eight of Ms. Scidmore’s travel books.