Flying Elephant (with apologies to Dumbo)

Elephant being unloaded from ship at Hoboken, Sept. 24, 1924

The sight of an elephant being lifted from a ship’s cargo hold is very dramatic. This animal is just one of many that a major dealer in exotic animals brought to America. Some were for zoos and others for circuses. Remarkably, there is tracking information about most of them.

While Hoboken’s piers after World War I reverted to mostly civilian passenger use, the United States Lines also handled freight and sometimes live cargo such as animals. This press photo is one of the historical views in Museum Collections about what went on at our piers.

Read more about this photo (the man with elephant is identified) in our online catalog, use keyword: 2014.001.0048

or just enter: elephant

Museum Collections