Finley, John


Brief Biography:
John Houston Finley was born on the plains of Illinois in 1863. He attended Knox College and graduated as its valedictorian in 1887. His post-graduate studies were at Johns Hopkins University, where he studied history and journalism. In 1889 he began his professional career as secretary of the New York State Charities Aid Association. He became president of Knox college in 1892. He was a successful editor of philanthropic journals, including Charities Review and State Charities Record. He also served as editor of Harper’s Weekly magazine. In 1900, he became a professor of politics at Princeton University, where he became life long friends with ex-President Grover Cleveland. From 1908 to 1919 he served as President of the City College of New York. He was the Commisioner of the Red Cross in Palestine from 1918 to 1919. He subsequently held the post of Commissioner of Education for the State of New York. From 1921 to 1940 he was associate editor of the New York Times. During his long career, he was presented with 32 honorary degrees. A great walker, he annually walked around Manhattan Island for thirty years. He went on long walks while in Palestine, and is said to have once logged 72 miles in one day. A devout Presbyterian and student of Latin and Greek, Finley was instrumental in raising money to help rebuild the Parthenon in Athens. He also helped found the Dictionary of American Biography. He died after a long illness at the age of 77 in 1940.

Brief Itinerary:
Finley began his trip to Palestine in April of 1918. He traveled by ship from New York City to London, England. He then landed in Allied controlled France. He traveled through Italy and into Albania. From there he went to Serbia and then Macedonia. He sailed through the Aegean Sea to Port Said, Egypt. He then took a two and a half hour airplane ride to the interior of modern day Israel.

Brief History of the Text:
The text of the book A Pilgrim in Palestine first appeared in Atlantic Monthly Magazine in serial form in 1918. Charles Scribners’s Sons publishing house printed the book first in 1919 and then again in 1920.





Travelling to Jerusalem Homepage
[Instructions: On the floppy disk label print the name of your traveler, the country he/she was from, and the year/years the journey was made. After finishing this page with information about your traveler, save it to A: drive calling it "index.htm"].