I love photos where worlds collide. History books are usually polished narratives that by necessity trim away all the wandering side branches of messy life. This photo is about the early days of the University of Chicago and messy life. Left to right it’s Sophonisba Breckinridge, Marion Talbot, Stella Stagg, and Amos Alonzo Stagg. They are sailing off to attend the 1908 Olympics in London. It’s hard to picture Stagg and Breckinridge and Talbot hanging out together and sharing an interest in athletics, but here they are.
Marion Talbot was Dean of Women, tirelessly promoting the role of women at the University of Chicago. Sophonisba Breckinridge had just graduated as the first women with a law degree, had her PhD in political science and economics, had just joined Hull House to research and work for social change, and was a brand new assistant professor in Talbot's department. She had not yet started her efforts to found the School of Social Work.
Stagg is of course renowned as the coach who invented so many fundamentals of football and who turned the University of Chicago into a football powerhouse for thirty years, winning 9 Big Ten championships. He had championship teams in the seasons before and after this photo was taken. He was also Director of Athletics, so he was probably traveling over to see the University of Chicago students who were competing, one of whom was Ned Merriam, who competed in the 400 meters and went on to coach track on the university. The university had done really well in the 1906 Olympics. University of Chicago track star James Lightbody (PhB 1912) won the gold in the 1500 meters and the silver in the 800 meters, and H. M. Friend (PhB 1906, JD 1908) brought home a bronze medal in the broad jump. They may have been competing again. I couldn't find a list of names. Thirty-seven women competed in the 1908 Olympics, but I haven’t discovered whether any of them were from the University of Chicago. The main sports were tennis, golf, and archery. Talbot and Breckinridge were renowned for liking to travel, so perhaps they just liked the excuse to go to London for the festivities.
As all photos, it freezes a moment in time. Breckinridge and Talbot had been inseparable, but Edith Abbott, who shared her passion for reform, had already entered Breckinridge’s life. A complicated romantic and work triangle was forming. Here, however, four people look happy to be sailing across the Atlantic.
https://gendersexuality.uchicago.edu/projects/closeted/pdf/20150219UChicagoLaw.pdf
https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/projects/centcat/quad/quadch6_05.html
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