1955 Travel Diary

51 letters from Comini's family detail Comini's college experience from the family's perspective. Letters are written to Comini from her mother, her father, and her younger siblings. The bulk of the letters are written by Comini's mother, Megan, who is also a Barnard graduate. Topics and subjects in the letters are primarily focused on the family's concern for Comini's well being with regards to her adjustment to college life, budgeting her expenses, and inquiries of and comments upon Comini's scholastic endeavors including her coursework. The letters also provide dispatches from the family's life in Dallas while Comini is in college in New York City.

Two of the travel diaries are accessible to researchers. Comini's diary from the summer of 1953 chronicles her international voyage by sea, on the ship "Saturnia," from New York to Italy, where she studies at the University of Perugia. It additionally highlights Comini's travels in Milan, Assisi, Todi, Rome, Orvieto, Umbertide, Urbino, Siena, San Marino, Rimini, Umbria, Napoli, and Florence. The 1953 diary includes many small sketches in ink by Comini, photographs, and small pieces of ephemera like postcards, maps, and ticket stubs. These pieces are all pasted into the diary making it something of a diary-sketchbook-scrapbook hybrid.

The 1955 diary is written the summer before Comini's senior year at Barnard. In this diary, Comini again travels primarily to Italy including stops in Genoa, Milan, Riccione, Perugia, Rimini, San Marino, Ravenna, Assisi, Florence, Milan, Bolzano, and Stresa. Comini travels elsewhere including Istanbul, Athens, the Dardanelles, Corinth, Innsbruck, Munich, Ulm, Heidelberg, and Lucern. Many, but not all entries are accompanied by a small watercolor painting depicting an aspect of Comini's experience at each of these sites.

Comini's 1948 diary is currently restricted from use as it is water damaged, fragile, and will necessitate significant conservation. Its contents depict Comini's teenage, post-war travels to Italy, Switzerland, and France. Comini is a life-long diarist, and it is anticipated that there will be additions of diaries to this collection.