Visiting the Amsterdam Zoo

We've been entreated to visit the zoo by posters from the WPA and London Transport; so, let's! The Dutch National Archives (Nationaal Archief) has a wonderful collection of photographs from Artis, a zoo in Amsterdam, from the 50s-70s. Both the photographers of these images and the people who selected them for sharing certainly had remarkable eyes for the adorable and quirky!

Nationaal Archief

Mother and baby jaguar, 1972. Source

Nationaal Archief

Zookeeper cleaning a hippo's mouth, 1961. Source

Nationaal Archief

Handful of baby leopards, 1968. Source

Nationaal Archief

Mother and baby hippo, 1968. Source

Nationaal Archief

Elephant shrew, 1961. Source

Nationaal Archief

Feeding a 20kg python, 1964. Source

Nationaal Archief

Polar bear (ijsberrtje) and baby, 1965. Source

Nationaal Archief

Baby seal (zeehondje) being weighed, 1962. Source

Nationaal Archief

Ostrich reading the newspaper of a zookeeper, 1951. Source

Eating Ice Cream

Again, let's celebrate the start of summer (or pretend it's the start of summer, as the case may be)-- this time, with ice cream! As these photos make clear, loving ice cream isn't confined to any time or place. 

Many of these come from the Dutch National Archives, because the Dutch clearly appreciate ice cream, and the rest are from the LIFE archives, because LIFE photographers do too. 

Children eating ice cream (the Netherlands?). Source

Woman eating a banana split, Toronto, 1952. Source

Eddie Cantor (who is awesome, by the way) having ice cream with actress Deanna Durbin, New York City, 1938. Source

Little girl with ice cream, St. Louis, Missouri, 1955. Source

Teenage couple eating an ice cream cone together, Atlantia, Georgia, 1947. 

Little boy with ice cream, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1959. Source

Even businessmen like their ice cream. United States, 1946. Source

Man dressed as a sheik eating date ice cream during a date festival, California, 1948-- why they were having this date festival, I don't know. Source

Chatting over ice cream, London, 1930. Source

28 flavours of ice cream to chose from! USA, 1948. Source

Sometimes you have to have them all. Source

The Dutch Liberation

The Netherlands were liberated from German occupation in late April and early May 1945... and, needless to say, they were pretty thrilled. The country had endured misery and starvation and the arrival of liberators was more than welcome. The majority of troops involved in liberation were Canadian, making this a very proud and happy event for Canada as well. The Dutch still send thousands of tulip bulbs to Canada every year as a thank you. These wonderful photographs of liberation celebrations capture the joy of Dutch and Canadians alike.

A crowd in Utrecht welcoming Canadian liberators. Source

Allied forces distributing food. Source

Flowers for a soldier in a tank. Source

Dancing in the streets at an Amsterdam liberation party. Source

Children (in wooden shoes!) riding on a tank. Source

Liberator standing next to a German sign. Source

Nurses waving at Canadian liberators. Source

Waving at Allied planes over Holland. Source