This diary was written by a Miss Standish of Omaha, Nebraska between February 14 and May 8, 1888. Until April 29, she was visiting Washington, D.C. and then traveled to Pittsburgh and finally Chicago. She visited many notable locations and met several prominent people while in D.C., including places like the Congressional Library, Corcoran Art Gallery, Botanical Gardens, Mount Vernon, Anacosta Insane Asylum, and the Capitol Building and people such as President Cleveland and his wife, Dr. Mary Walker, and Belva Lockwood, who introduced her to play piano at a reception at Lockwood's home. Standish received an in-depth tour of the Capitol building from someone who worked there. She also wrote in detail about her trip to the asylum.

Miss  Standish,  a  woman  who  lived  in  Omaha,  Nebraska,  and  Chicago,  Illinois,  traveled  to  Washington,  D.C.,  in  February  1888  and  mingled  with  the  high  society  there  until  April  29.  On  February  14,  she  attended  a  presidential  reception  at  the  White  House  where  she  met  President  Grover  Cleveland  and  his  wife.  Over  the  next  three  months,  Miss  Standish  visited  the  Library  of  Congress,  the  Corcoran  Gallery  of  Art,  the  United  States  Botanic  Garden,  and  Mount  Vernon,  and  received  in-depth  tours  of  both  the  Capitol  Building  and  the  Government  Hospital  for  the  Insane  in  Anacostia.  Miss  Standish  also  saw  and  conversed  with  several  notable  figures,  including  Frederick  Douglass,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Dr.  Mary  Walker,  and  Belva  Lockwood.  After  D.C.,  Miss  Standish  headed  westward  on  a  train  where  she  stopped  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  before  returning  to  Chicago.