This handwritten diary belonged to John McOuan, a wealthy man from Canada West, and documents daily events of his 1856-57 journey to Scotland. McOuan writes with an upper-class narrative voice that presents himself and his family as intelligent aristocrats. Using this voice, he often critiques his surroundings and working-class Scottish culture. Among the places he visited were Glasgow and Bannockburn, and through guided tours McOuan saw many historic monuments, museums, and lochs. He traveled around mainly using the new pan-Scottish steamboat network developed for tourism a few decades earlier.

McOuan consistently takes time to analyze the local economy and military to assess their usefulness to the British Empire. McOuan often praises aspects of Scotland as a way to criticize Canada, such as Scottish labourers apparently working harder than Canadian ones. Like other travel writers of the time, McOuan compares his experiences in a foreign place with his homeland to comment on issues going on there. The travel account ends sometime after McOuan returns to West Canada, leaving the last third of the diary blank. However, a collection of names, addresses, and a pencil-drawn map are still on the last pages. This shows how McOuan tried to make his personal diary resemble the organization of published travel writing at the time.

However, John McOuan was not always impressed with Scotland. Sometimes he writes about Scottish attractions with interest, other times calling them disappointing. McOuan spends most of the diary complaining about the terrible Scottish weather and how sick it keeps making him. He is even bedridden for a time and states that his body could take much more of Scotland. Why McOuan would come to a place he hates being in so much makes sense when his personal motives are revealed. McOuan came to Scotland to reconnect with his family roots. During his few months there, he records visiting many relatives, seeing where his mother was born, and often reminisces about his father. His sentimental travel goals reflect the self-discovery that drove many tourists to Scotland in the nineteenth century.

A PDF version of this journal is currently under construction.