Passport, 16 Aug. 1883, Swarthmore College Peace Collection, Jane Addams Collection; JAPM, 27:491; JAP 2:192.

Jane Addams’s Passport 1883

Jane Addams’s 1883 U.S. passport contains personal details of the young woman whose “feverish search after culture” would take her from Cedarville, Illinois, to the capitals of Europe, including Dublin, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, and Athens.  Standing five feet three and ½ inches tall with gray eyes and dimpled chin, Addams described her complexion as “rather sallow” and her face as “medium.”  A rite of passage for privileged Americans, the “Grand Tour” of Europe introduced young women to high art and culture. Addams regarded her first trip abroad as a form of post-graduate education and approached it with seriousness of purpose and intensity. After her unhappy experience in medical school and a resulting malaise, she discovered that travel and study in Europe between 1883 and 1885 renewed her health and sense of well-being.