This collection contains 6 letters written by Irving L. Blinn to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis W. Blinn of Los Angeles, California, during a trip around the world in 1892. In his first letter, written on May 9, 1892, Irving reported that he had just left Kobe, Japan, for Hong Kong on the steamer Ancona. He commented on the nationalities of the ship's passengers, who were mostly British, and noted that the ship was loaded for cargo intended for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In further letters written in India and on the Red Sea, he continued to report on his progress, and detailed his anticipated westward route, which included a stop at Cairo. He often described the geography of his surroundings as well as his fellow passengers on the Hassiha; among the passengers was a British soldier headed home after being stationed in India. Blinn maintained an interest in the presidential election cycle, and noted the nomination of Grover Cleveland, who ran for president against the incumbent Benjamin Harrison. In his final two letters, written in Athens, Greece (August 10, 1892), and Paris, France (September 14, 1892), he described his sightseeing activities and wrote about the experience of traveling.
Irving L. Blinn was born in San Francisco, California, on August 2, 1870, the son of Lewis Blinn (1842-1928) and Celia Little (d. 1919). His father owned the L. W. Blinn Lumber Company, which owned lumber yards throughout California and the southwestern United States. After attending public schools in Sacramento, Irving studied at Hopkins Academy in Oakland and at St. Matthew's Hall in San Mateo. He inherited his father's business and later founded the Blinn-Waldo Mill Company in Westport, Oregon. His first wife, Genevieve Nannery of New Brunswick, Canada (1874-1956), was a silent film star; they had one son, Lewis Winship Blinn II (b. 1896), and divorced in 1904. He then married Corrine Cottrell Basset of New York.
