Artwork, Inserts, and Conserving the Journals
The two volumes of the journal of William Speiden, Jr., contain nearly fifty illustrations. These include pencil or ink drawings by Speiden and other shipmates and small Chinese pith paintings collected on the voyage. Speiden also inserted copies of selected documents in his journal.

The journals are handwritten on paper in pen and ink and bound in half-leather with marbled paper sides.
The many drawings, illustrations, and manuscript items that Speiden added within the journals created a scrapbook-like bulk to the original volumes which applied pressure to the original spines.
The Artists
Artwork in the journals includes drawings by William Speiden, Jr., Edward Yorke McCauley, Anton L. C. Portman, and William T. Peters (with some images based on the work of Wilhelm Heine), as well as lithographs by unidentified artists, sketches by unknown Japanese artists, and small pith paintings done in watercolor and gouache by unidentified Chinese artists who produced them for the export market.
Selections from Wilhelm Heine’s extensive official sketch work from the expedition were later published in the official record of the expedition, Perry’s Narrative of the Expedition to the China Seas and Japan. Heine’s work also appeared in published form in his own publication, Graphic Scenes of the Japan Expedition (1855). Similarly, works by expedition daguerreotypist Eliphalet M. Brown documenting the expedition were converted to lithograph for publication in the official report. The report also included brief discussion of Japanese art and mechanical arts. For more information, see Related Resources.
Artwork in the Speiden Journal
Speiden inserted artwork into his journals in different ways. Some of the Chinese pith paintings that he collected were added to his journals in paper windows and held in place by glue and silk ribbon frames. See, for example, the image of Hong Kong in volume one:

Some of the pen-and-ink or graphite diagrams, sketches, or illustrations in the journal were written, drawn, or pasted directly onto a journal page. See, for example, Speiden’s diagram of the 1854 American landing in Japan, which he created as an illustration within his text:

Or the naval anchor insignia he used as an epigram near the beginning of the first volume of his journal:

This illustration of Commodore Perry was drawn by an unidentified Japanese artist. Speiden pasted it into his account of the second landing of Americans in Japan:

The same is true for this sketch of Speiden’s father, U.S. steam frigate Mississippi purser William Speiden, Sr., and a sprig of a flowering branch:

Other images drawn by Speiden or others were sketched or painted on drawing paper and then inserted in various ways between the volume pages. Speiden’s sketch of Napoleon’s former residence received special treatment in the journal, with a decorative ribbon frame:

Other drawings featuring scenes from Speiden’s international travel and multi-cultural encounters are inserted on sheets of unlined paper, sometimes with protective tissues:
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Drawings [studies of individual figures, Macau]. Insert, Speiden Journal, vol. 1, c. May 1853. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
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Japanese Freight Junk. Edward Yorke McCauley, artist. Insert, Speiden Journal, vol. 1, c. Feb. 1854. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
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Sketch by William T. Peters, after work by Wilhelm Heine [Hawaii]. Insert, Speiden Journal, vol. 2, c. Oct. 1854. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
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Sketch, Gambling Table--California House—San Francisco, California. Unknown artist. Insert, Speiden Journal, vol. 2, c. Nov. 1854. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
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Sketch by William T. Peters [Valparaiso]. Insert, Speiden Journal, vol. 2, c. Feb. 1855. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
Speiden also inserted various printed images as keepsakes or as record of events or places he visited on the voyage, including illustrations based on artwork by expedition artist Wilhelm Heine and lithographs by unidentified artists:
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Ilustrations, Madeira scenes. Inserts, Speiden Journal, vol. 1, c. Dec. 1852. Insert, Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
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Illustration, [dinner given to the Japanese commissioners on board the Powhatan], Japan. From drawing by Wilhelm Heine. Insert, Speiden Journal, vol. 1, c. March 1854. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. See also P.S. Duval & Co., lithograph, 1856 in the collections of the Prints & Photographs Division (plate from the published Narrative of the Expedition).
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llustration, Valparaiso, Chile. Insert, Speiden Journal, vol. 2, c. Feb. 1855. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
Manuscript Inserts in the Speiden Journal
In addition to artwork and illustrations, Speiden included various kinds of manuscript inserts within his journals. These include sketched maps or diagrams, copies of correspondence, copies of thirteen general orders issued between 1852 and 1853, translated items, materials written in Chinese or Japanese, and other documents.
Examples include Speiden’s manuscript map of Yedo (Edo) Bay:

Or, visiting cards from interpreters pasted onto the pages of the journal , where the names could be captioned by hand for pronunciation in English:

One of his duties as purser’s clerk was to muster men on the ship. Speiden inserted a copy of General Order No. 4 of March 1, 1853 regarding laws for the better government of the Navy:

In this copy of General Order No. 13, Captain of the Fleet Henry A. Adams directs officers to submit diaries and art work related to the official record of the trip for deposit with the store keeper at Macau by February 15, 1854, for transmission to the U.S. Navy department. Speiden illustrated his copy of the order with a drawing of a Japanese freight junk:

Speiden also inserted a four-page translation copy of a secret communication from two scholars of Yedo (Edo), Japan. The men appealed to the Americans in the hope of departing Japan with the Perry squadron so they could travel abroad:

He also included a translation of Japanese communications received at Hakodate, 17 May to 3 June 1854:

And the lovely “Lines found in a Japanese Tea box,” as translated by Rev. S. Wells Williams:

Speiden ends the first volume of his two-volume journal with a four-page roster of the officers of the Mississippi, handwritten on the journal pages:
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Roster of officers attached to the USS Mississippi (p. 1 of 4), as prepared by William Speiden, Jr. Speiden Journal, final pages of vol. 1. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
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Roster of officers attached to the USS Mississippi (continued, p. 2 of 4), as prepared by William Speiden, Jr. Speiden Journal, final pages of vol. 1. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
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Roster of officers attached to the USS Mississippi (continued, p. 3 of 4), as prepared by William Speiden, Jr. Speiden Journal, final pages of vol. 1. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
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Roster of officers attached to the USS Mississippi (p. 4 of 4), as prepared by William Speiden, Jr. Speiden Journal, final pages of vol. 1. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
News clippings about Perry and Japan dating from 1901 and 1946 were later inserts in volume one of the journal. (See http://www.loc.gov/resource/mss83045.00101/?sp=6 and http://www.loc.gov/resource/mss83045.00101/?sp=7 ).
Conservation and Digitization of the Journal and Inserted Materials
Between 1998 and 2000, the two volumes of the Speiden journal and the journal inserts received extensive preservation treatment by the Conservation Division of the Preservation Directorate of the Library of Congress (see also “Preserving Pith Paintings” by Terry Boone).
During that process the journal volumes were dis-bound. Select original drawings and the Chinese pith paintings were removed from the journals, matted, and rehoused in separate archival box containers. High-quality digital-facsimile reproduction prints were created of the removed artworks and those reproductions were inserted in the place of the originals within the journals. The volumes were then re-bound in the original manner, using new leather matched to the original to replace the deteriorated spines.
The contents of the collection were scanned for this digital presentation from these conserved versions of the originals.
Locating Artwork and Inserted Manuscripts in this Digital Presentation
The Contents List section of the finding aid for the Speiden collection includes a list of the titles and dates of the original artwork that was removed from volume 1 and volume 2 of the journal during the conservation process, matted, and re-housed in two separate containers in the physical collection.
Those items are also listed online in this digital presentation at http://www.loc.gov/item/mss830450003/ and http://www.loc.gov/item/mss830450004/. These scans of the printed lists of artwork are immediately followed within this digital presentation by electronic images of the original illustrations. The artwork images are presented online in TIFF, JPEG, and GIF formats. Digitization includes imaging of the protective mat covers of the originals for purposes of preservation, reference, and identification.
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Printed list of Illustrations removed from Speiden Journal, vol. 1.
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Printed list of Illustrations removed from Speiden Journal, vol. 1 (contin.) and vol. 2.
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Macao [Macau]. Original pith painting. Unknown Chinese artist. Artwork removed from Speiden Journal, vol. 1, c. April 1853, and matted for preservation. Speiden Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
Reproductions of illustrations that were inserted into the journal volumes during conservation were scanned in place within the journals, along with remaining original illustrations.
Illustrated items in the journals can be located easily by viewing the journal pages for volume 1 and volume 2. As a further aid in locating specific illustrations, it is helpful to view the journal pages online in “Gallery View” format.