{"product_id":"1917-milwaukee-brewery-workers-annual-picnic-panoramic-photo-as-is","title":"1917 Milwaukee Brewery Workers Annual Picnic Panoramic Photo | AS IS","description":"\u003cp\u003eHere we have a yard long photograph of a Milwaukee brewery workers' picnic, dated August 19, 1917. Wait until you hear the context of that date…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe men are arranged in the usual three rows, a mix of shirtsleeves and neckties, suspenders and work aprons, straw boaters set on the grass rather than on their heads. A trumpet player and an accordion player anchor one end of the front row, mid song, which tells you this was a real party and not just an obligation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook closer and the good time keeps going. Beside the trumpet and accordion, a third man works something small and homemade, likely a comb wrapped in paper, the kind of noisemaker a crowd reaches for when the real instruments run out. Down toward one end a young man in a cap stands with his hand on his hip, sleeveless under his overall straps, holding an honest glass of beer like he's mid toast for the camera. Someone else has abandoned his shirt for an undershirt entirely, arms crossed, not the least bit worried about decorum on a hot August afternoon. The front row leans in and grins, a cigar going in more than one mouth, hats tossed on the grass because nobody wanted to be photographed wearing one. It is, in short, exactly what a union picnic in the summer of 1917 should look like, unguarded and a little loose, the kind of afternoon that makes you wish these cameras had recorded sound along with the image.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten right into the grass at the bottom, in the photographer's own hand, \"Brewery Workers Annual Picnic, Aug. 19, 1917,\" with a studio credit beneath it, faded enough now to resist a clean read.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMilwaukee in 1917 meant Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Miller, all of it organized under Local 9 of the brewery workers' union, one of the largest locals in the country and the kind of outfit that threw a picnic big enough to need a photographer with a wide enough lens. A single company's outing usually says so right on the print. This one just says brewery workers, which is a good sign that what you're looking at is men from several of those breweries together on the same stretch of grass. No confirmation of the full story yet. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe date is the part I keep coming back to. Nine days before this picture was taken, Congress passed the Lever Food and Fuel Control Act, the first federal law of the war that put the government in the business of deciding what could and couldn't be made from American grain. Beer itself wasn't restricted yet, that came in stages over the following two years, but the direction was already obvious to everyone standing in this photograph. These were, overwhelmingly, German surnamed men working in a German founded industry four months after the United States declared war on Germany, posing for their annual picnic photo at almost exactly the moment the machinery of Prohibition started turning. None of them could have known it yet, but this may be one of the last ordinary company picnics before the industry that employed them started coming apart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rare pre-Prohibition photo comes out of an old Milwaukee estate. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe framed yard long measures 29” x 10”. The photograph carries a vertical crease running through the middle of the composition, visible but not disfiguring, the kind of damage panoramic prints like this tend to pick up after a century of handling and rolling. The mat shows real foxing and water staining, mostly along the lower edge, and the corners have old tape repairs holding the print to its backing. The frame has some chipping to the black finish. None of this erases the image or the caption, both of which remain fully legible. Please see all pics as they are part of the description. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI ship FedEx to street addresses only (no PO Boxes). Free shipping on the rare pre-Prohibition brewerianna photo. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe only dude with a pint in the photo may be the star of the show.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mad Van Antiques","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43374745681997,"sku":null,"price":350.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0116\/3637\/5610\/files\/IMG_9759.jpg?v=1786126485","url":"https:\/\/madvanantiques.com\/products\/1917-milwaukee-brewery-workers-annual-picnic-panoramic-photo-as-is","provider":"Mad Van Antiques","version":"1.0","type":"link"}