Here we have a killer piece of Minnesota bovine history. It's a photography album from the early 1900s full of real photos, prints, and trade magazine cutouts of top of the line livestock. I was told this comes out of an estate linked to James J. Hill, the railroad mogul who also ran model experimental farms in Minnesota to develop superior livestock. This appears to be a ledger of trophy cattle, both owned by the farm(s) and possibly by other players in the game. The contents look to span the turn of the century to the 1930s.
Check out the killer old mens workwear on the farm worker. And don't miss the Model T in the background one of the pictured photographs.
Let's dive ride into the contents:
- 29 real photographs or photograph prints of various sizes.
- 147 trade magazine cutouts of various sizes.
- 3 additional magazine cutouts, one of a horse, and two of sheep.
- The crown jewel (opinion of yours truly) is the 8 1/2" x 6" photograph by H.A. Strohmeyer of the white cow (see pic). On the reverse is a stamp stating "H.A. Strohmeyer, Jr, Photographer of Animals, 215 Fourth Ave, New York."
- The real photographs that aren't fully attached to the album usually have notes written in ink, and/or a number stamp.
- Some magazine cutout images are marked with "Live Stock Photo Co.", "Horton", "Hildebrand", and the "Holstein-Friesian Association of America."
Here's a link to the
James J. Hill wikipedia page.
The photograph album measures 11 1/2" wide, 7 1/2" tall and about 1 1/2" deep. The album and contents show their age. There are some situations where the images and the fasteners are partially detached, and 8 images are fully detached. All images appear to be applied via adhesive. There are 46 pages in the album, with 3 pages at the end with nothing on either side. There may also be a few images missing from the album and this lot. Please see all pics as they are part of the description.
I ship FedEx to street addresses in the continental USA only (no PO boxes please). Free shipping on the rare bovine collectible.
These folks were serious about producing the best cattle in the world. This is a cool glimpse into the method behind their madness.
