Was there no better way to enjoy a Sunday family outing at the turn of the 20th century than by visiting the Union Stock Yards to watch a pig be brutally slaughtered by overworked, underpaid immigrants? Guess not.
I found this wonderful 1903 Swift and Company souvenir and just had to share. The booklet begins with some facts and figures regarding the Swift operation and then provides a station by station overview:
The hogs "are allowed to rest" after their long journey...
Note the happy little child in her Sunday best...
The entire 18 page 1903 Swift & Company Visitors Reference Book can be seen at the Duke University Libraries Digital Collection: Emergence of Advertising in America 1850-1920.
3 comments:
Wow, that's absolutely unbelievable. Congratulations on having found that little gem. Some of the pictures of happy sightseeing children are so wierd_:-O
LOL!
Thanks for stopping by, Jonathan! The Union Stock Yards was a favorite destination of visitor's to Chicago as well as residents. The efficiency of the "disassembly" line was a marvel of the age and Donald Miller, in "City of the Century" states it was the model for the assembly line developed by Henry Ford. Still, the Visitors Booklet is quite shocking in its sanitizing of the procedure. Rather a different perspective than the one presented in "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair.
I just happened upon this blog by accident lots of really good stuff here.
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