Mrs. F. P. Lister (Anna May McAdam) was my music teacher during the 1950's and early 1960's. In the early 1980’s the late Rev. Lance McAdam, Mrs. Listers nephew, gave me her journal - a gift I've treasured over the past two decades. This personal diary recounts her trip to Leipzig Germany in 1913-1914 where she and five other young women travelled to study music. She was thirty-one years old at the time.

When I was a young child Mrs. Lister encouraged my love of writing, although I was a very shy writer. Mrs. Lister said she had only written one book - European Trip, her journal. Her intention was to publish the journal under her maiden name. In honour of her dream I make the authentic pages of her 'book' available to the world online in PDF format. Mrs. Lister also corresponded with me during her retirement. These letters have been scanned and posted for readers as well. The original diary has been donated to the New Brunswick Provincial Archives located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Readers are introduced to the travels of these six young women and their female chaperone who traveled by land and sea from Fredericton, New Brunswick Canada to Leipzig, Germany. The narrative is a descriptive tale of human qualities and impressions as well as the sights of another era. By sea they voyaged on the Laurentic (White Star Line) just a year after the Titanic sinking.

In England the party visited Lady Ashburnham - Fredericton telephone operator who married into the Ashburnham family. In the diary there are many artistic and cultural references as well as indications that tensions were building, culminating in WWI. 

The traveling party consisted of Mrs. Lister’s aunt, Nan McAdam (chaperone), Ida McAdam, Queenie Tabor, Helen Vanwart, Edna Baird, Gladys Grant and Anna May McCadam (Mrs. Lister)

An excerpt from my book Soul Gifts: The World's Self-Help Book, released in 2006, tells the story of Mrs. Lister’s significant impact on my life.   

Barbara J. Gill

Fredericton