Globetrotters Directory Repertorio Dei Globetrotters Annuaire Des Globetrotteurs
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Virtual museum of travel and tourism museumoftravel.org Museo virtuale del viaggio e del turismo museodelviaggio.org Musée virtuel du voyage et du tourisme museeduvoyage.org Virtuelles Museum über Reisen und Tourismus museumoftravel.org Globetrotters Directory Repertorio dei globetrotters Annuaire des globetrotteurs 1850-1945 Edited by Roland Hochstrasser, geographer Virtual museum of travel and tourism Lugano, Switzerland 2017 www.museumoftravel.org 1 Virtual museum of travel and tourism museumoftravel.org Museo virtuale del viaggio e del turismo museodelviaggio.org Musée virtuel du voyage et du tourisme museeduvoyage.org Virtuelles Museum über Reisen und Tourismus museumoftravel.org Copyright 2017 Virtual Museum of Travel and Tourism Creative Commons Licence Unless otherwise noted, all textual material on this document is licensed under the Creative Commons 3.0 Unported. Reference citation "Virtual Museum of Travel and Tourism, museumoftravel.org" www.museumoftravel.org 2 Virtual museum of travel and tourism museumoftravel.org Museo virtuale del viaggio e del turismo museodelviaggio.org Musée virtuel du voyage et du tourisme museeduvoyage.org Virtuelles Museum über Reisen und Tourismus museumoftravel.org Introduction In the rich history of tourism and travel industry, the role and importance of globetrotter’s adventures are often underestimated or simply not considered. Between 1850 and 1945 hundreds of globetrotters travelled the world in extravagant ways, without the knowledge, experience or funding necessary for the assignment. Events and personal stories which provides an interesting key to interpreting tourism development. The Globetrotters Directory offers an incomplete collection of those eclectic figures, edited mainly using written sources (books, periodicals and postcards). As noted by several researchers, some of those adventures are faked and thus it makes it more complicated to deal with this question. Finally, it was also noted that a significant number of adventures left very little evidence: the information retrieval is just at the beginning! Introduzione Nella ricca storia del turismo e dei viaggi, il ruolo e le vicende dei globetrotters sono spesso aspetti dimenticati o nel migliore dei casi esposti nelle note a piè di pagina dei tomi. Tra il 1850 e il 1945 centinaia di globetrotters si lanciarono nelle iniziative più stravaganti, spesso senza preparazione adeguata e senza fondi. Vicende e microstorie che nel loro eterogeneo complesso contribuiscono a fornire una chiave di lettura interessante del fenomeno turistico. Il Repertorio dei globetrotters fornisce un elenco incompleto di questi personaggi eclettici, elaborato prevalentemente sulla base di attestazioni scritte (cartoline, articoli di giornale, libri). Come evidenziato da diversi ricercatori, alcuni di questi casi sono in realtà dei falsi, fatto che complica non poco il recupero delle informazioni. Senza dimenticare che un numero importante di peripli non ha lasciato tracce o ne ha lasciate poche e disperse: il lavoro è solo all’inizio! Introduction Dans la riche histoire du tourisme et des voyages, le rôle et les récits des globetrotteurs ont été souvent oubliés ou – dans le meilleur des cas – relégué dans les pieds de page des ouvrages du secteur. Entre le 1850 et le 1945 de centaines de globetrotteurs ont réalisé les initiatives bizarres, souvent sans une préparation adéquate et sans argent. Il s’agit de récits et de micro-histoires qui dans leur complexe hétérogène peuvent fournir une clé de lecture significative du phénomène touristique. L’Annuaire des globetrotteurs présente une sélection de personnages insolites, rédigée principalement sur la base de témoignages écrits (cartes postales, articles de journaux, livres). Comme l'ont signalé plusieurs auteurs, certains cas ne présentent pas suffisamment d’attestation et peuvent être considéré comme des faux, fait qui complique considérablement la récolte d’informations sur ce sujet. Sans oublier qu’un nombre important d’aventures n’ont pas laissés de traces ou elles ont laissé uniquement d’attestations dispersés : le travail vient juste de commencer! www.museumoftravel.org 3 Virtual museum of travel and tourism museumoftravel.org Museo virtuale del viaggio e del turismo museodelviaggio.org Musée virtuel du voyage et du tourisme museeduvoyage.org Virtuelles Museum über Reisen und Tourismus museumoftravel.org Encyclopédie Larousse, 1922 www.museumoftravel.org 4 Virtual museum of travel and tourism museumoftravel.org Museo virtuale del viaggio e del turismo museodelviaggio.org Musée virtuel du voyage et du tourisme museeduvoyage.org Virtuelles Museum über Reisen und Tourismus museumoftravel.org More info ? Altre informazioni ? Plus d’info ? www.museumoftravel.org 5 Virtual museum of travel and tourism museumoftravel.org Museo virtuale del viaggio e del turismo museodelviaggio.org Musée virtuel du voyage et du tourisme museeduvoyage.org Virtuelles Museum über Reisen und Tourismus museumoftravel.org Directory – Repertorio – Annuaire – Jahrbuch Abbott Leland (w392) An intriguing tale of contrasting worlds A Fort Garry couple are hot on the trail of two Manitoba dog mushers who travelled from the Arctic to New York City in 1938-39. Anne and Graham Gieg have been gathering clues since last May about the odyssey of Graham's great uncle, Leland Abbott, and his friend Hector Despins, and plan to write a book about the off-beat adventure. "It's the family legend," says Gieg, who recalls a visit to his great-uncle's house when he was 10 years old. "The house was full of incredible keepsakes from all the places he'd travelled." Unfortunately, much of that material has been lost. "It's been a bit of a detective story," he says. The Giegs have been gathering material from newspapers, family members and the Hudson's Bay Company archives, and by soliciting memories from people who met the mushers during their trip. The story is an intriguing tale of contrasting worlds, says Gieg, containing within it the wilderness of the North and the metropolis of New York City, the solitude of the trapper's life and life in the media spotlight. It's also the story of one last civilian adventure before the attention of the world -- and the energies of the two adventurers -- became focused on the Second World War. Abbott and Despins were trapping muskrats and guiding mineral prospectors around a settlement called Tavane, in what is now Nunavut, when they read a six-month-old magazine article about people travelling to the New York World's Fair by unusual means. As muskrat pelts weren't fetching much of a price at the time, they decided in the fall of 1938 to mush to the fair at Flushing Meadows, N.Y. The trip was full of unexpected twists and turns. They ran out of snow around Dauphin, and a farmer helped them to create a wheeled sled. Unfortunately, the powerful sled dogs were no match for the home-made contraption and it fell apart soon after. From Winnipeg on, the mushers travelled on a more durable wheeled sled made from a car chassis, following a convoluted route that took them to Chicago via Iowa. Chicago turned out to be a rough town, even with Al Capone in jail, and the duo nearly rolled into a bank robbery and shootout. That's not the only aspect of the story that seems made for Hollywood. Abbott actually met his wife-to-be during a stop in Pennsylvania. Arriving in New York in April, 1939, in time for the opening of the World's Fair, Despins and Abbott and their dogs became celebrities. "The lead dog is supposed to have been the first dog on television," says Gieg, explaining that RCA first unveiled the brand-new technology at the New York fair. "This was 20 years before Lassie." They visited hospitals, participated in a travelling show, and attended openings of a James Cagney movie called Torrid Zone and, more appropriately perhaps, a Sgt. Preston movie. They also met boxing champion Joe Louis, according to legend, taking the dog team to the boxer's training camp in New Jersey. Eventually they returned to Canada to enlist in the Armed Forces. Despins was declared medically unfit because of an earlier injury, says Gieg, but he ended up driving bulldozers during the construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942-43. Abbott joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 and became a bomber pilot. After the war, Despins became a mining engineer and was involved in developing Thompson's nickel mining industry. Abbott "fell in love with the ocean," says Gieg, and eventually opened a fish business on the coast called Eskimo Abbott's Frozen Fish. Fascinating as the journey was, the Giegs have discovered that it was by no means unique. A string of Canadian adventurers undertook long dog sled trips in the 1930s, including William Campbell, who mushed from The Pas to Chicago for the 1933 World's Fair, and King Taylor, who mushed from The Pas to Halifax and back. The Giegs expect to spend another year digging up details of the journey, and hope to wrap up their investigation by following the dog sledders' path -- in a more conventional vehicle. Anyone with information about the adventure can call the Giegs at 832-2606. Winnipeg Free Press print edition 27.03.2002 www.museumoftravel.org 6 Virtual museum of travel and tourism museumoftravel.org Museo virtuale del viaggio e del turismo museodelviaggio.org Musée virtuel du voyage et du tourisme museeduvoyage.org Virtuelles Museum über Reisen und Tourismus museumoftravel.org Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: - Inscriptions-Iscrizioni-Inscriptions: Sled Dog - Artic to New York - Leland Abbott