Journey Across Mexico: Benajah Jay Antrim Journals and Sketchbooks

On February 1, 1849, Benajah Jay Antrim (1819-1903), a young mathematical instrument maker, departed Philadelphia for an ultimate destination of California.  With a company of men, he travelled by sea from the Atlantic coast to eastern Mexico, then overland across Mexico to the west coast. Antrim traveled in a guided party by pack horse that started from Tampico on February 21, 1849, and arrived at Mazatlán on April 17, 1849.

He created a written and visual record of what he witnessed along the way in his journals and sketchbooks. Though he viewed Mexico from preconceived Anglo-American perspectives and with the biases of a foreigner having a first-time encounter with the country, he possessed a strong desire to see and learn. He observed stirring landscapes, fertile crops, foodways, flora, fauna, geology, the engineering of bridges and roads, everyday life in small villages and ranchos, and the grand architecture and design of parks, cathedrals, and government buildings in urban centers.