Item Detail
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12583
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0
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0
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English
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Voices from the trail : Young pioneers on the Platte River road between 1841 and 1869
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Laramie, WY
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University of Wyoming
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Ph.D diss.
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"During the mid-nineteenth century, approximately 350,000 pioneers followed the Platte River road to the American West, and many of these emigrants were children. Their point of view, however, has not been analyzed in depth. This study examines the white child's perspective on the Platte River road's Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails between 1841 and 1869 by an analysis of twenty-three diaries, letters, and journals of young pioneers and 430 oral and written reminiscences of adults who traveled as children. Diaries and letters portray the thoughts, feelings, and personality of young pioneers and are studied first as key sources for identifying the child's viewpoint. Reminiscences reflect the adult remembering the past often through shared and collective memory." [Author's abstract]