Canned foods

President Roosevelt asks Frederick Courteney Selous about outfitting his upcoming African Safari, including what types of jams and other preserved food to bring; what types of tents and camping equipment is best; and what kind of camp cooking equipment is required. Roosevelt asks if he will need colored glasses or a helmet, and which of these items should be sent from the United States, and which from England. Roosevelt supposes that anything he forgets can be acquired at Nairobi or Mombasa.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-07-21

Vignettes show a country woman harvesting canned fruits and vegetables from “The Quaint Old Kitchen Garden,” surrounded with scenes of a young boy catching canned “Salmon” from a stream filled with other canned fish, an old man trying to catch cans of chicken running about the farm yard, a man loading a wagon at the “Freight Depot” with food products shipped from New York, and a milkmaid at a dairy opening a can of “Condensed Milk” at “Milking Time.” Caption: “Table stocked daily with an abundance of eggs, milk, fresh fish and vegetables.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

The caption of S. D. Ehrhart’s topical genre cartoon is, of course, a phrase that frequently appeared in brochures, signs, and newspaper advertisements for weekend or summer-vacation getaways at farms and rural spots. Whether farmers were committed to sell their produce to larger concerns, and needed to rely on canned goods, or not, Ehrhart’s cartoon probably was more representational than satirical.

On the left, “as they pictured it in advance,” a group of men finds an orderly campsite, canoes and serenades by moonlight, has a well appointed guide, and finds plenty of wild game to eat. On the right, “as it panned out in reality,” the men find a disorganized campsite in the rain, take a disastrous canoe trip, have a buffoonish guide, and eat canned food.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-10-04