The collection contains Webb's "Journal No. 1, From Manila to Calcutta" (142 pp.), Aug. 29-Oct. 19, 1892, and his "Journal No. 2, From Calcutta to Bombay and Agra" (144 pp.), Oct. 20-Dec. 15, 1892. This is the first journal that Webb ever wrote (Vol. 1, p. 1). His journal continued beyond Vol. 2; the last sentence was continued elsewhere, and no pages appear to be missing from this volume. A later volume or volumes contained the account of the rest of his journey which is incomplete here.
Webb's descriptive style is good, and he did extensive touring wherever he went. Thus, his volumes are good travel journals. The most important feature of his account is his contact with Muslim scholars, re-ligious leaders, businessmen, rulers, ordi-nary people, etc. Beginning in Rangoon, he and his mission to spread Islam in America were enthusiastically received not only by individuals but literally by throngs of well-wishers. He was received by many influential Muslims, and his comments about some of them are quite interesting. Webb did not like the English or local people who catered to them, and this attitude, often expressed, colored his reactions to persons whom he met. Some of the significant Muslims whom he discussed have been identified by using S. M. Ikram's Modern Muslim India and the Birth of Pakistan (Lahore, 1977). Spellings of names are given as Webb wrote them unless they are found written otherwise in Ikram's book or other reference sources.
Webb's journals record the following travels in 1892: Vol. 1: Manila, Aug. 29-Sept. 6 (pp. 1-10); ocean travel, Sept. 6-13 (9-23); Singapore, Sept. 14-21 (24-64); ocean travel, Sept. 21-28 (64-80) with a visit at Penang, Sept. 23-25 (66-74); Rangoon, Burma, Sept. 28-Oct. 9 (80-113); ocean travel, Oct. 9-12 (113-122); Calcutta Oct. 12-19 (122-142); Vol. 2: Calcutta, Oct. 20-23 (pp. 1-11); Patna, Oct. 23-24 (11-15); Benares, Oct. 25-26 (15-19); Bombay, Oct. 28-Nov. 17 (21-54); Poona, Nov. 17-19 (56-62); Hyderabad, Nov. 20-Dec. 8 (65-120); Madras, Dec. 10-12 (127-140); and Agra, Dec. 15 (143-144). Travel inside India was by train, of which Webb gave some interesting descriptions.
The item is a printed program for a horse race given by the Sultan of Johore at Singapore on Sept. 15, 1892.
A Xerox copy of Journals 1 and 2, on acid-free paper, is filed with the collection. Further photocopying should be done from these copies, not from the original volumes.
Description from the Manuscript Card Catalog located in the Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Alexander Russell Webb (1846-1916) has the distinction of being the first known American convert to Islam and of being the first person to conduct a major effort to spread Islam within the United States. Born in Hudson, New York, he had a short journalistic career as editor of the St. Joseph Gazette and Missouri Republican. In 1887 he was appointed American consul at Manila. There he befriended several Indian Muslim businessmen and studied works about Islam. In 1888 he declared in a pamphlet his conversion to Islam. He resigned from the consular service in 1892 and returned to the U. S. by way of Singapore, Penang, Rangoon, a number of cities in India, and possibly other places. Back in America, Webb established an office in New York City as the Oriental Publishing Co. In May, 1893, he published the first issue of the Moslem World, Devoted to the Interests of the American Islamic Propaganda, the earliest Islamic missionary periodical in America. In connection with his "American Mission," as Webb called it, he wrote a number of books and pamphlets among which were several of his lectures in India that were published there during 1892-1893. Biographical information about Webb appears in: Nadim al Maqdissi, "The Muslims of America, 80,000 Muslims and 12 Mosques in the United States and Canada," Islamic Review, Vol. 43, No. 6 (June, 1955), pp. 28-29; Nelson R. Burr, Critical Bibliography of Religion in America (Princeton, 1961), pp. 536-538; and V. S. Naipaul, "An Islamic Journey, Among the Believers," The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 248, No. 2 (Aug., 1981), p. 63. Copies of the pertinent pages from these sources are filed in the Information Folder in this collection.
