Documenting Recreation and Tourism in New England

Abstract

New England tourism is more than a century old, but historians have only recently begun to write about it, and about the related field of recreation. At first limited to the summer, tourism now flourishes in every season; once limited to the leisure class, it is now available to nearly everyone, and ethnic, racial, and religious exclusion has been reduced. Sources for tourism and recreation are either lacking or hard to find. This article describes some types of tourism, its history, and existing documentation of various kinds of resorts and recreational activities, and points to the possibilities for and difficulties of a documentation strategy.