This photo dated 1934 is titled "Baby elephant arrives on steamer, nurses on bottle" but no location although it was taken by a Boston photographer. Does anyone know the identity of the two gentlemen in the picture or where this elephant might have been headed?
Sunday, January 8, 2012
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Wade G. Burck
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The 1934 diary of Boston Zoo Director Dan Harkins had this under his entry for Wednesday, May 23, 1934 - -
“Christoph Schulz, Arusha, Tanganyika, Africa arrived at pier 47, Mystsic docks, via SS Wido . . . Mr Schulz brought the smallest African elephant ever to arrive in this country. Included in the cargo also were 3 Masai giraffes, 2 Grant zebras, 1 oryx antelope, 3 white bearded gnus . . .”
The entry for the next day said that Harkins had breakfast with Schulz aboard the SS Wido, after which the animals were unloaded to be transported to Benson’s in Nashua, NH for quarantine.
On June 2, 1934 Harkins wrote that he drove to Benson’s animal farm and again visited with C. Schulz and son Walter. He noted that on hand were 2 African elephants, 1 large African rhino, plus the Masai giraffes and Grants zebras and oryx, presumably the ones off the ship.
The small elephant must be the one that went to Brookfield zoo and was reported in Parks and Recreation for July 1935 as “smallest baby African elephant in America . . . an African female named Honey that has been in the zoo since June 1934.”
In the photo the man on the left might be C. Schulz - - perhaps the one on the right is Harkins. These are just guesses, however.
RJR,
Thank you for the history lesson, I know I can count on you. The gentleman both looked familiar to me but I couldn't place them. Your guess, I believe is spot on. The gent holding the bottle has a hand full of nails. I assume they nailed the crate back shut, and then crow-barred it back open when it reached it's final destination. No sense in fooling with a door. :)
I am going to look in my "Bensons" file and see if I might having something pertinent to your comment.
Wade
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