The collection consists of some 47 letters from Frances Hellman to her daughter and son-in-law, Edith and George L. Beer, during a journey with her husband and a small party of friends throughout the Mediterranean region and into Eastern Europe, Jan.-July 1900. The letters are bound in chronological order, and include vivid and enthusiastic descriptions of places visited and events witnessed, with her commentary, and asides about friends and family members, often recorded on hotel or ship letterhead. They travelled by steamship, yacht, and train, visiting Gibraltar, Alexandria, Cairo, up the Nile River, Beirut, Damascus, Jerusalem, Constantinople, Athens, Naples, Corfu, Sicily, Rome, Tyrol, Vienna, Munich, and Paris.
