Jules Alfred Bourquin was born in St. Emir, Switzerland on November 25, 1877. He immigrated with his family consisting of five brothers, his father’s parents and his mother’s sister to Horton, Kansas in 1888. Oline’s brother, Alfred Fete owned a sporting goods, hardware, wallpaper, paints, oils and glass store in Horton. Jules spent the rest of his life in Horton where he made more than 21,000 exposures from 1898 to 1959. The majority of images were taken in and around his hometown, but the collection also includes photographs from Colorado, Missouri and Wyoming.
Jules Bourquin first went into business with his family, Emile (1851-1945) and wife Oline, who owned a jewelry store and watch repair in Horton. Emile and Oline were watchmakers for Longines’ watch factory in Switzerland and saw Horton and the railroad as an economic potential for their talents. When Bourquin became interested in photography, the jewelry store began to carry Kodak cameras, photo supplies and other photographic equipment. Bourquin set up a studio and darkroom and sold his images as postcards in the local drugstore and his father’s store. He made photographs for 62 years. In 1898, Bourquin went to a watch making and optical school in Omaha, Nebraska returning to work as an optometrist from his father’s store. When his father later died in 1945, Bourquin disposed of the jewelry stock and devoted his time to the optical business until his retirement in 1963.
Jules Bourquin married Edith Starbuck on May 25, 1904 and honeymooned at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. They were staunch Presbyterians and sponsors of youth groups, participating in many community projects. For 35 years, Edith was a social worker and worked with the Kickapoo Indians regularly. They had one son, Jules Starbuck Bourquin, Jr. born in 1906.
Jules Bourquin’s images of Horton and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad reflect local activities and the flourishing railroad industry. Scenes that most would take for granted Bourquin saw as art and timeless. Some of his images detail the labor-intensive work that railroads demanded. Besides locomotive work, the Horton shops built and repaired Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad passenger and freight cars, and ancillary railroad equipment. His appreciation for blue-collar work may have come from a short apprenticeship as a machinist at the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad shops.
Jules Bourquin died on September 30, 1964, at the age of 86. According to his obituary,
Sources:
Quastler, I. E., Rock Island Line in Focus:
Quastler, I. E.,
The Bourquin Collection was purchased by Everett L. DeGolyer, Jr., in 1962. The collection illustrates life in and around the Horton, Kansas Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad yards and shops. Other lines include the Northwest Rock Island, Missouri Pacific, and Kiwanis Union Pacific Special. Train wrecks, derailed boxcars, track floods, fires, locomotives, and shots of specific locomotives coming in and out of the yards are just a few events Bourquin photographed.
Also included in the collection are images of the Bourquin family and small town life: street fairs, Labor Day parade and floats, U.S. Cavalry, street band playing, children swimming, acrobatic acts, Hiawatha Fair horse races and auto races, Kickapoo Indians, asphalt plant, union strike, military and infantry troops going to fight in the Mexican Revolution and World War I.
Specific Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific locomotive photographs:
Locomotives: 3, 5, 9, 24, 27, 64, 78, 84, 138, 139, 148, 165, 201, 208, 453, 476, 545, 615, 646, 661, 662, 667, 724, 826, 839, 841, 856, 885, 900, 914, 941, 999, 1226, 1229, 1235, 1274, 1282, 1318, 1326, 1417, 1455, 1462, 1466, 1484, 1489, 1517, 1566, 1718, 1864, 1889, 1903, 1919, 1929, 1942, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1970, 1973, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2014, 2017, 2027, 2037, 2200, 2503, 2510, 2566, 2570
Snow plow: 05338
Way cars: 95298, 90056, and 866026
Missouri Pacific locomotives: 301, 1202
The collection is organized into 3 series:
Another large Bourquin photograph collection can be found at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas.
Collection is open for research use.
Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the DeGolyer Library.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.
This collection is indexed under the following terms in the Southern Methodist University Libraries' online catalog. Researchers desiring related materials may search the catalog using these terms.
Jules A. Bourquin photographs, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
Purchase, Everett L. DeGolyer, Jr., 1962.
The Bourquin Collection was initially arranged, numbered and inventoried by Kay Bost. During processing, images and negatives were housed in archival sleeves. The photograph collection is stored in 7 acid-free boxes and two oversize boxes.
Finding aid by Susan B. Schmidt, May 2007.
Edited by Anne E. Peterson, May 2007.
Lara Corazalla, 2007.