Porcineograph (1876)
Celebrates the American Union - and the Pig
One of the rarest and most fascinating images of American comic cartography, "This Porcineograph" celebrates the American Union - and the pig! At the center is a map of the United States as a pig "copied from the Census Surveys of 1870, adding only 3 feet of territory (?) resting on Cuba, Mexico and the Sandwich Islands, and the Hydro-Cephalus from Canada." (The author acknowledged that "Congressional Legislation is required to PERFECT this GEOHOGRAPHY.")
The map is surrounded by the seals of every state and pork dishes identified with each. At the top is a large vignette of hogs celebrating the Union, while two smaller vignettes describe hog-related litigation that affected American history. The Porcineograph celebrates an enduring love of pork, but its graphic style also anticipates the advent of advertising as the nation began to mass produce everything from clothing to food.
“The map was commissioned in 1875 by a former sewing-machine magnate, William Emerson Baker. Baker retired in 1868 at the age of forty. He moved to a large farm in Needham, Mass., which he transformed into an amusement park full of attractions and exhibits that expressed his radical political viewpoints. . . .
In the mid-1870s, Baker’s activist heart turned to the nascent Pure Food Movement, which lobbied for stricter regulations on food producers. . . . Baker became obsessed with hygienic farming. In 1875, he held a big party, with 2,500 attendees, to launch his 'Sanitary Piggery,' a new kind of hog farm featuring ultra-clean housing and controlled diets.
More on William Emerson Baker and his revolutionary idea of a sanitary piggery. Here and Here.
Because Baker was a man of many causes, the get-together also celebrated the centennial of the battle at Bunker Hill, and, through the invitation of Southern guests, advocated reconciliation of North and South."
The following year, Baker reproduced his "souvenir" with some changes in typography and an explanation at the bottom: "Yielding to numerous requests, the Author has decided to publish this as a good-cheer offering to all. Gains from its sale will be devoted entirely to charity.
Title: This Porcineograph/This Good-Cheer Souvenir
Collection: Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection :: 8548
Creator: William Emerson Baker,
Other Creators: Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Co., Boston
Date: 1876
I especially love this one.