The Department of History at the University of Zurich announce the publication of a new "Ad fontes" module in global history. "Isaak Iselin in Hawai‘i, 1807" follows a Basel merchant's sojourn in Hawai‘i only thirty years after the arrival of Europeans on the islands. Although Isaak Iselin-Roulet (1784-1841) prepared an edited account of his world circumnavigation for eventual publication, the module introduces both Iselin's original handwritten diary and letters to his brother. These valuable, rare sources come from the Iselin private archive in Basel, whose support we gratefully acknowledge. As in other Ad fontes modules, these texts offer users transcription exercises (here for the first time using English-language sources); other exercises introduce both the nature of private archival research and ways of reading Pacific encounters from a global history perspective.
"Isaak Iselin in Hawai‘i" is the result of a research collaboration between David Hänggi-Aragai M.A. and Prof. Dr. Martin Dusinberre (UZH).
Like all Ad fontes modules, it is freely accessible after an initial user registration: http://www.adfontes.uzh.ch/1000.php
This picture was drawn ten years after Iselin's visit by the artist Louis Choris. It shows the coast of the Island of Hawaiʻi from a ship's perspective. Choris, Louis. Voyage autour du monde, accompagné des descriptions par le baron Cuvier et A. de Chamisso; et d'observations sur les crânes humaines par le Docteur Gall. Paris: Didot, 1822, pl. 37.
