William Kennard was a Quaker minister of Somerset Monthly Meeting. Kennard's diary records his travels through Ohio, Michigan, New York, Canada, Connecticut, Vermont, and Pennsylvania, including travel by rail, steam and canal boat, and coach, and comments on visits to Quaker Meetings and with Friends.

Jane Rhoads Morris's journal was written for her family at home during her trip to Canada during August and September, 1889. Her daily entries describe, in detail, her experiences camping in the Canadian wilderness, accompanied by her cousins and Indigenous people they employed to paddle them in canoes to and from each campsite, as well as interactions with Indigenous people the group meets during their travels.