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Photographer: John Horsburgh, 131 Prince Street, Edinburgh, Great Britain
Title: The American Educational Party
Date: 1873
Medium: Albumen on printed mount
Size of Image: 8 ½ x 12 ½ inches
Size of Mount: 13 x 16 inches
Condition: Medium tonal image, old spotting marks upper section, light crack
to mount through print left top edge down half way through image, mount rubbed/worn at edges/corners, mount shows aging.
Other: Remarkable group photograph of The American Educational Party
at Edinburgh while taking Cook's tour of 1873. The book, A Memphian's trip to Europe with Cook's educational party: to which is added letters from Revs. T. W. Hooper, A. B. Whipple, and C. W. Cushing; also, letters from several ladies and gentlemen of the party,By Samuel Watson, Rev. T W Hooper, Rev. C W Cushing, Published by Southern Methodist publishing house, 1874 is a detailed account of this early "pre-planned" European group excursion.
Additionally, the tour is well noted in the Pennsylvania School Journal, Pennsylvania. Dept. of Public Instruction, Pennsylvania. Dept. of Common Schools, Pennsylvania State Education Association, Pennsylvania State Education Association, 1873, "EXCURSION TO EUROPE.“ It will be remembered that last June the steamer Victoria sailed from new York with one hundred and forty eight school teachers and professors on board of her, bound for Vienna and a tour of Europe. These teachers came from twenty-seven states in the Union, and seventy-eight were ladies, without male escort. They were enabled to make the tour at about half the rates charged to ordinary persons, through the arrangements of Cook, Son & Jenkins, of 261 Broadway, New York, the celebrated Tourist and Excursion Managers. How successful the Excursion proved, and how delighted the members were with the many beautiful and wonderful things, in art and nature, they saw in Ireland, in Belgium, on the Rhine, in Switzerland, in France and London, we will leave them to tell; we merely desire to give, as an item the news, the information that this firm are repeating this year the successful experiment of last year, and have chartered the new magnificent steamer "Bolivia, "which will sail from New York on June 30th next with another Educational Party, composed of Teachers, Professors, Ministers, and others engaged in educational work, for an excursion to the Giant's Causeway, Glasgow, Oban, Fingal Cave, Iona, The Caledonian Canal, Inverness, Sterling, Loch Katrine, The Trossachs, Loch Lomond, Edinburgh, Melrose, Abbottsford, Alton Towers, and London. The party will be conducted from New York to London by Mr. Thomas Cook in person, and will be carried in special trains and special boats"
The 1873 tour actually was carried to Europe on two steamships, The Victoria bound for Glasgow and the Canada bound for Liverpool each leaving from New York harbor. Reports of how many were included vary from 140 to 165 people (137 are pictured). One of the highlights of the trip was The Weltausstellung, Vienna's 1873 World's Exposition where the travelers spent three days.
A key reference to this photograph is found on page 51 of Watson's A Memphian's Trip to Europe with Cook's Educational Party, where Rev. F.W. Hooper reports while in Edinburgh, "I left your kind readers at Edinburgh, where we had just arrived and were pleasantly quartered at the Cockburn hotel. The next day our party went down to a public garden and had ourselves photographed."
John Horsburgh (1835-1924) was a well established painter and photographer from Edinburgh. The website EdinPhoto (which I highly recommend) places Horsburgh as active in Edinburgh from as early as 1863 to 1899. They list his various addresses over the years, with the 131 Princes Street address opening in 1868 and remaining the same for the next 30 years. By 1890 his listings began to read Horsburgh and Son. The site also has quite a bit of family info as well as photographs of the artist and his family. They note that he advertised, "Patronized repeatedly by Her Majesty the Queen." The legend on the mount reads, "On the morning of Saturday the party assembled in West Princess Street Gardens, where they were photographed by Mr. Horsburgh, of 131 Princess Street Daily Review."
Here is a list of names of attendees mentioned in Watson's book (which is available in whole through Google books) with some identifying information that was mentioned. One could presume some if not all might be present for the photograph:
John Cook
Thomas Cook
Rev. Samuel Watson (author)
Rev. T.W. Hooper, Lynchburg, VA (Presbyterian)
Rev. A.B. Whipple, New York (Baptist), President Lansingburgh College, New York
Rev. Professor Charles W. Cushing, Massachusetts (Methodist), President Auburndale College
Mr. B.A. Rogers, Verona, Mississippi
Capt. John Deering, Covingnton, Tennessee
Mr. A.S. Elliot, Huntsville, Alabama
Capt. Munroe (Victoria)
A.H. Plagge (conductor traveling along)
Rev. Dr. Witherspoon (Presbyterian), University of Virginia
Rev. Mr. Cosh (Episcopal)
Rev. Mr. Pierce (Methodist)
Rev. Mr. Barrows, (Congregationalist)
Mr. Stuart Robinson
Dr. Davidson
Rev. Dr. Arndt
Uncle Mike Connell
Mr. A. McDonald
Mr. J.C. Muller
Capt. C.W. Statham
Miss Hattie Stanard, Des Moines, Iowa
Miss Conkey, Oxford, Mississippi
Miss Pegues, Oxford, Mississippi
Miss Carrington, Virginia
Mr. Richardson
Rev. Dr. Speer
Miss Sylvester, Boston
Professor Wood
Isaac Wellman (Eleroy Wellman Barnard), writer
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