At the Zoo

This blog already has a few zoo posts, but, well, old photos of animals are a weakness of mine. An assortment of zoos, their animals, their visitors, and their keepers. 

From the 1850s-1960s. 

National Media Museum

A sea lion and keeper, 1898. Source

Library of Congress

Feeding a hippo at the Central Park Zoo, ca. 1910. Source

Nina Leen, LIFE © Time Inc.

An elephant stretches for a visitor's food at the Bronx Zoo, 1956. Source

Tiger Cubs of the 1940s

Nothing dramatic or insightful today, just the LIFE version of Zooborns. This adorable series captures newborn tiger cubs being cared for by Mrs. Martini, the wife of a Bronx Zoo keeper, after their mother wouldn't nurse, 1944. 

Alfred Eisenstaedt, LIFE © Time Inc.

Tiger cub in the hallway. Source

Alfred Eisenstaedt, LIFE © Time Inc.

Tiger cub trying to climb a couch. Source

Alfred Eisenstaedt, LIFE © Time Inc.

Mrs. Martini feeding a bottle to a tiger cub. Source

The Zoo, 1900

A warning-- for a post featuring a lot of cute and beautiful animals, this is very depressing. Zoos in 1900 didn't quite have the animal standard of living we're used to...

The Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, from glass plate negatives. 

From the collection of the Field Museum Library, Chicago. 

The Field Museum Library

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The Field Museum Library

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The Field Museum Library

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Children's Zoo

My childhood petting zoos never involved petting lion cubs and sharing playgrounds with baby goats! Photos from the San Diego children's zoo, 1959 (SD), and Brookfield children's zoo, 1953 (B).

Allan Grant, LIFE © Time Inc.

A little girl meet a 2 month old camel named Barmey (SD). Source

Allan Grant, LIFE © Time Inc.

Petting lion cubs (SD). Source

Howard Sochurek, LIFE © Time Inc.

Getting to know a baby elephant. (B). Source

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

Visit the Zoo with London Transport

We've already seen a series of WPA posters encouraging us to visit the zoo; they were doing the same thing on the other side of the pond, with just as much style! Here are 20s and 30s posters from London Transport for the zoo (and one from 1913!). 

Poster by James Fitton, 1936. Source

Poster by Clive Gardiner, 1927. Source

Poster by Charles Paine, 1921. Source

Poster by Sidney Thomas Charles Weeks, 1913. Source

Lion cub Elizabeth, 1930. Source

Lion cub Gus, 1930. Source

Lion cub Lerline, 1930. Source

Poster by Tom Eckersley and Eric Lombers, 1935. Source

Visit the Zoo with the WPA

The collection of WPA posters from the 1930s and early 1940s is so very wonderful in its variety. You go from ads warning about the dangers of syphilis, to reminders to turn off the iron, to wartime reminders to watch your words, to kid's posters emphasis the importance of reading -- all done that beautiful WPA graphic design. Various posters cover wholesome activities and destinations, some general (ie, 'hiking'!) and others more specific. Today's selection comes from these, illustrating the joys of  -- the zoo!

Coming, as always, from the amazing collection of the Library of Congress. 

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More WPA posters:

Important Reminders

See America