Group portrait from the Artists’ Excursion over the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Description

Portrait of a group of men and women standing and sitting on the cowcatcher at the front of a train, flanked by two American flags. The individuals in the photo are presumed to be from a larger group of artists and businessmen invited to make an excursion by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad train starting from Baltimore to the Ohio River Valley and back. The trip began from Baltimore's Camden Street Station on June 1, 1859 and ended at the same station on June 5, 1859. The excursion was orchestrated by Maryland Institute board member William Prescott Smith, an officer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and was sponsored by Harper’s New Monthly Magazine for an article which appeared in June of 1859 (No. CIX, Vol. XIX) by Porte Crayon (pen name for David Hunter Strother).