Tuscarora Academy

Title

Tuscarora Academy

Creator

Artist unknown
American, 19th century?

Date

circa 1840

Description

This broadside announces the Tuscarora Academy, founded in Academia, Pennsylvania (about eight miles southwest of Mifflintown), in 1836 by the Reverend McKnight Williamson, pastor of the nearby Lower Tuscarora Presbyterian Church. The Academy was the first secondary school in Juniata County, designed, as the text explains, to prepare young men for college or to train them as teachers for the common (elementary) schools.

The announcement doubled as stationary for use by the young students, most of whom were likely away from home for the fist time in their lives. On the verso of this sheet is a letter, dated May 5, 1855, from one Henry H. Black to his parents, letting them know he had arrived safely in time for the beginning of the summer term. It reads in part:

"I take this opportunity of informing you that I am well at present, and hoping that these few lines may find you all enjoying the same state of health. I landed at Perrysville [Port Royal] at 5 o’clock P. M. and from there I went on the hack [horse-drawn carriage], and I arrived here about sundown. I am very well pleased with my new home and a more pleasant place I do not think can be than Tuscarora is."

Contributor

Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, Partial gift and purchase from John C. O’Connor and Ralph M. Yeager

Identifier

86.672

Source

John C. O'Connor and Ralph M. Yeager Collection, Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University

Rights

This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.

Format

Lithograph; 9-7/8 x 15-1/2 in. (25.1 x 39.4 cm)