Finding aid for the William Lewis Sachtleben papers LSC.1841
UCLA Library Special Collections
Online finding aid last updated 31 August 2022.
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: William Lewis Sachtleben papers
Creator:
Sachtleben, William Lewis
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1841
Physical Description:
0.4 linear feet
(1 box)
Date (inclusive): 1890-1895
Abstract: Collection consists of photographs of a bicycle journey across Asia, the originals of which some were used for his and Thomas
Gaskell Allen Jr's 1894 publication on the same subject.
Physical Location: Held at UCLA Library Special Collections. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. All requests to access
special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
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UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9968168093606533
[Identification of item], William Lewis Sachtleben Papers (Collection 1841). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E.
Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
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Collections.
William Lewis Sachtleben was an American long-distance cyclist who rode across Asia from Istanbul to Peking in 1891 to 1892
with Thomas Gaskell Allen Jr., his classmate from Washington University. Their journey had actually begun the day after they
graduated from college, when they travelled to New York and on to Liverpool. In all they travelled 15,044 miles by bicycle,
"the longest continuous land journey ever made around the world" as reported in their book Across Asia on a bicycle (1895).
On Wednesday, October 30, 1895, Armenians were massacred in Erzurum and the surrounding Armenian villages. American journalist
William Sachtleben happened to be in Erzurum at that time, investigating the disappearance of American cyclist Frank Lenz.
During the massacre Sachtleben was in the American mission building, where over 200 Armenians fled for protection. Sachtleben
witnessed the aftermath of the massacre; he took photographs of the victims in the Armenian Cemetery and wrote three lengthy
and detailed letters about the massacre that were published, unsigned and attributed to an Occasional Correspondent, in the
London Times on November 16, 27 and December 9.
This collection consists of photographs taken in 1891 covering William Lewis Sachtleben and Thomas Gaskell Allen Jr.'s winter
stay in Athens and part of the journey that followed from Istanbul to Tashkent. The circular format photographs were taken
with a Kodak box camera which was one of the first cameras available to amateur photographers (the Kodak, the No. 1, or the
No. 2). Folder 5 and 7 of this collection include Sachtleben's photographs of the aftermath of the October 30, 1895 Armenian
massacre in Erzurum.
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online:
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographs
Sachtleben, William Lewis -- Archives.
box 1, Folders 1-3, 5-6
box 1, folder 4
Diaries (No. 10 and No. 7) and shot logs (Kodak No. 4 and Lot P)
William Sachtleben Diaries (2 items)
box 1, folder 7
Photographs and negatives