Louise Arner Boyd 1930 Finland Diary Entry

In 1930, Louise traveled to the extreme north of Finland in anticipation of her 1931 expedition to Greenland and took a cross-country ski trip to the Russian border area known as Petsamo which was ceded to the Russians after World War II. It was there that she met refugees walking across the border of Finland in order to escape the harsh conditions and repressive regime of Stalinist Russia.

1930 Finland Diary – Sep. 21, 1930 -  “Russian refugees met on the trail…only a few kilometers from Moskova, extreme NE Finland about 30km from frontier of Russia...packs on there (sic) back, feet wrapped in socks because their shoes were wore out, long coats, Three with fur boots, they had come eleven days with food, bread and some fat that they carried, fish they caught & berries in the woods....A minister, his wife & 2 children, a business man & his 2 children, all in their teens....nice upper class people. "

Louise Arner Boyd / Letter from U.S. War Dept. 1941

On Sep. 12, 1941 Louise received the letter below from Col. Giles of the U.S. Air Corps thanking her for her photographic and cartographic contributions to a Greenland air base. Her Arctic expeditions in 1937 and 1938 provided the War Department with invaluable images and information in support of the Atlantic Naval and Air Campaigns.

Louise Arner Boyd / Poland Diary 1934

Louise Boyd was honored in 1934 by being selected as the U.S. representative to the International Geographical Congress in Warsaw, Poland. Always the intrepid traveler and observer, Louise set out on a 3 month journey across the Polish countryside, after the Congress, photographing and recording the customs, dress, economy and culture of the many ethnic Poles and Russians in the newly formed nation. The journey, by car, rail, boat and on foot took her through regions that are now part of the Ukraine and Belarus today. Her travel narrative was supplemented with over 500 photographs and published by the American Geographical Society in 1937 as Polish Countrysides.

Sept. 11, 1934 Poland Journal Entry

Czestochowa…market in square, 13 covered wagons with cross being carried in front…barefoot women walking, men with high boots, all wagons half covered, half open. The covered part is decorated with artificial flowers and garlands.

Louise Arner Boyd / Cross Country Motor Trip - 1919

Louise Boyd, ever the intrepid traveler, took the train back to Buffalo, New York in the summer of 1919 to make a cross-country motor tour at a time when most of the roads outside of cities were dirt or gravel. She brought along her chauffeur and purchased a new Pierce-Arrow Limousine just like that of President Wilson (Louise was never going to travel in anything but first-class conveyances!). Her diary of that trip describes the roads, the towns, the landscape, her interactions with others, and what she ate and where she stayed. Still relatively young, 31 years old, her journaling is that of an experienced traveler who has yet to find her true calling, but the curious, hardy, humorous woman comes alive in the pages of her journal. I don't know if she was the first woman to drive across the United States, but she was surely one of the first!

US Motor Trip 1919 – Aug. 4-6

Left Fallon, Nevada 9:45AM. It reminded me of Egypt with its alfalfa and irrigating canals. Mud flats and quick sand getting into Fallon, lost lights. Off the road you were a goner! You had to crawl and stay in ruts, no passing for miles. Reached the Brighthuas at Lake Tahoe at 6:30PM. Left the Brighthuas at 11AM, lunched by road below Strawberry. Reached Placerville 4PM and Sacramento 6:10. Tried for boat but no accommodations. Arrived 10PM in Stockton. Left Stockton at 10AM, took the Creek Route boat to Oakland, 71 miles from Stockton. Lincoln Highway signs we had followed all the way from Salt Lake /city to the Oakland Ferry, Reached San Francisco by 1:20PM.Took 2:30 Sausalito Ferry auto boat and reached San Rafael at 4:05. Total of 3, 365 miles from Hotel Savoy, Buffalo, N.Y. to Maple Lawn, San Rafael, 21 actual running days not including stay-overs in cities and the Park. A grand and most interesting Trip! Am very glad to be home. Mother looks terribly ill although she and her nurse came down to greet us. But, am very sad and fear the approaching claim of those she loves in the great beyond!

Louisa's mother, Louise Arner Cook would die less than 2 months after this was written at the Adler Sanitarium in San Francisco.

Letter to Louise Boyd from U.S. War Department - 1942

Letter – July 14, 1942

Letter from Lt. Col. Poole of the U.S. Military Intelligence Office asking her for her “expert services” as a consultant. Louise worked for the War Department for a nominal $1/year providing the U.S. government with maps, photographs, and expertise in the Arctic areas she had explored in the 1930's. A year earlier, at the request of the government she also 'secretly' planned and paid for an expedition to Arctic areas of Baffin Bay to study the effects of polar magnetic fields on radio communications for the National Bureau of Standards. She paid $10,000 from her own bank account to charter the ship, Effie M. Morrissey and its Captain, Robert Bartlett and crew.

Cross Country Motor Tour, 1919!

Louise Boyd, ever the intrepid traveler, took the train back to Buffalo, New York in the summer of 1919 to make a cross-country motor tour at a time when most of the roads outside of cities were dirt or gravel. She brought along her chauffeur and purchased a new Pierce-Arrow Limousine just like that of President Wilson (Louise was never going to travel in anything but first-class conveyances!). Her diary of that trip describes the roads, the towns, the landscape, her interactions with others, and what she ate and where she stayed. Still relatively young, 31 years old, her journaling is that of an experienced traveler who has yet to find her true calling, but the curious, hardy, humorous woman comes alive in the pages of her journal. I don't know if she was the first woman to drive across the United States, but she was surely one of the first!

US Motor Tour 1919 – July 2

Dixie Highway between Bowling Green and Rudolph excellent, but only had a few miles of it. Found map ‘poor’ and hard to follow! Saw only white horses through here! Ate Dinner at Defiance, Ohio….rooms looked fair but food (75 cents) was awful!. Steak could not be chewed and “Wilted Lettuce Salad”, truly was! Man said, “Is you folks from Frisco? and I said, “Yes, we folks is a long ways from home!

US Motor Tour 1919 - July 10

Reached Marshfield at 5PM, decided to stay, and then changed our minds. Bought food and headed for Eau Claire. Had dinner by beautiful river at 7:30. Arrived Eau Claire about 11PM went to Galloway Hotel, full, not a hole or corner. Telephoned within a radius of 25 miles, all full, Carnival at Eau Claire. Ate midnight meal in cafeteria and left at 2:30AM. I took the wheel and drove all night till 7AM. Much of road under construction! Moon went down at 3:20AM after beautiful display with clouds!

Louise Arner Boyd Calendar Blog, June 19, 1935 / "All For Roosevelt Here!"

Along with her eight Arctic expeditions and numerous international tours, Louise took many cross-country tours in her chauffeured touring car starting in 1919! Always a diligent observer, Louise kept diaries and journals from all her trips. The following entry is from a stop in Iowa during the "Great Depression" where she and her chauffeur, Cameron, received some unvarnished 'Hawkeye" sentiment!

1935 US Motor Tour – June 19, 1935
Iowa Sunny and clear! Cold. Windshield wiper fixed. Garage man told Cameron all for Pres. Roosevelt here! If Hoover or a ‘Yellow Dog’, they’d vote for the dog! Under Hoover they got 7 cents for wheat and Roosevelt 52 cents and as high as 70 cents. To grow and harvest cost 42 cents so now have a good profit!

Louise's 1935 Cross-Country Tour Journal