Travel

The Brittinghams' great wealth is evidenced by the wide scope of their travels, both nationally and around the world. In 1897 they traveled to Montana, California, Oregon, and Alaska. The next year they took a cruise to Eastern Asia; the Alumni Magazine reports that Mary Brittingham spent a year traveling in Japan.¹¹ Over the next two decades the Brittinghams visited at least 32 countries and 22 states.

It is important to note that the information presented here regarding the Brittinghams' travels is derived almost exclusively from a collection of lantern slides acquired by the university. The number of photographs and/or trips that do not appear in the collection is unknowable. What is certain is that the collection does not represent the entirety of the Brittingham's travels. The most recent international photograph in the collection was taken on March 14, 1917, just a few weeks before the United States' entry into World War I. We know that the Brittinghams continued to travel after that, however, because Thomas died on the return voyage of a trip to South America in 1924.

Although such extensive travel was undoubtedly more unusual in their time than it is in ours, much about the endeavor has remained unchanged. In fact, as one examines their travel photographs, the Brittinghams often seem to typify contemporary tourism. They visited the standard historical sites—the Louvre and Versailles in France; the pyramids in Egypt; the Parthenon in Greece; Williamsburg, the White House, and Ford's Theatre in the United States—taking pictures all the while. Many of their activities, too, are familiar: hiking up and swimming in the Dunn River Falls in Jamaica, mounting horses for the descent into the Grand Canyon, and embarking on guided camping excursions in national parks (though campers today are probably less likely to sleep in teepees or on the ground).