[Fred's Classical Pigs], Wild and Wonderful Album Documenting Fred Fred Kerslake and His Porcine Performers, 1900s-20s

[Fred's Classical Pigs]

Wild and Wonderful Album Documenting Fred Fred Kerslake and His Porcine Performers, 1900s-20s

Photo album; silver prints (130) and printed photos (10)

Various sizes, from 3 x 4 inches to 6 x 8 inches
With accompanying program

$ 3,500.00

[Fred's Classical Pigs], Wild and Wonderful Album Documenting Fred Fred Kerslake and His Porcine Performers, 1900s-20s

A wacky and wonderful album chronicling the work of Fred 'Lil' Kerslake and his trained pigs. From the University of Massachusetts at Amherts: Fred Lil’ Kerslake (1866-1949) was proprietor of...

A wacky and wonderful album chronicling the work of Fred "Lil" Kerslake and his trained pigs.

From the University of Massachusetts at Amherts:

Fred Lil’ Kerslake (1866-1949) was proprietor of one of the premier performing animal acts of the turn of the twentieth century, featuring a troupe of performing pigs (later joined by ponies and dogs). From about 1891 through the 1930s, Kerslake’s Pigs rolled barrels and jumped ropes, climbed ladders, played see saw, and drew carriages to the delight of audiences across the United States and Europe. In 1892, Kerslake advertised his show as demonstrating the possibility of “educating the lower order of the brute creation,” and he promised a lecture on “the evolution of the American pig from a ravenous barnyard rooter to a cultivated and respected member of the community.” The Boston Globe remarked in 1895 that “Kerslake understands all animals thoroughly,” although he had devoted “more time to pigs than other four-footeds” in recent years.

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[Fred's Classical Pigs]

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