Home to Berkeley in 1912: A Centennial Remembrance

A middle-aged couple, having just bought a large, brown-shingle house in Berkeley, California, immediately set off on a lengthy and memorable European trip. Business was the reason, but the pleasure for them was in making the "Grand Tour" of the Continent. As the year happened to be 1912, this was the last Grand Tour for the couple (and for everyone else): Europe and travel would be forever changed by the First World War.The middle-aged couple was the author's great-grandparents-"Nannie" and "Daddy." Their move to Berkeley in 1912 was a beginning, as subsequent generations have also called the university town home during the ensuing 100 years. To commemorate the centennial of the move, the events of 1912 are recounted here in Nannie and Daddy's own words through letters they wrote home from their travels, and illustrated with family photographs and vintage postcards.