Das Grosse Deutsche Friedens-Jubilaum. Das Einige [sic] Deutschland, Hoch! [The Grand German Peace Jubilee. The Great Union of Germany.]
- Title:
- Das Grosse Deutsche Friedens-Jubilaum. Das Einige [sic] Deutschland, Hoch! [The Grand German Peace Jubilee. The Great Union of Germany.]
- Alternate Title:
- [The Grand German Peace Jubilee]
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Magnus, Charles
- Date:
- 1871
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2487.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2487_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1870 - 1899
- Subject:
- Advertising & Promotion
Ethnocentrism
Other War & Peace
New York City - Measurement:
- 12 x 19 on sheet 28 x 22 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- The top of this hand-colored double lettersheet contains a bird's eye view of New York City produced in the early 1850s by Charles Magnus. At the bottom is a bold notice of "The Grand German Peace Jubilee'' on April 10, 1871, a massive parade in New York by German Americans and their supporters celebrating victory in the Franco-Prussian War.
Charles Magnus was a mapmaker, lithographer and prolific publisher in New York for most of the last half of the 19th century. He is perhaps best known today for producing an enormous amount of printed ephemera, often reusing and repurposing his illustrations. His works included not only maps, but bird's-eye views, prints of important buildings, events and people, greeting cards, songsheets, illustrated lettersheets and envelopes, many of them with patriotic themes (particularly showing his support of the Union in the Civil War). See generally McKinstry 2013. For other Magnus works in the collection, Search > "Magnus."
By 1871, the estimated number of German-Americans in the New York Metropolitan area was over 380,000, some 30 percent of the City's population. New York was thus "a third German capital, larger than any German city other than Berlin or Vienna." Nadel 1990, 13, 41-42. For these immigrants and their families, victory in the Franco-Prussian War and the unification that created the German Empire were significant events worthy of a grand celebration.
The New York Times called the German Peace Jubilee "a glorious day for the German-speaking residents of this cosmopolitan Metropolis and vicinity." Its page one headline read: "Peace Rejoicings. Imposing Celebration by the Germans, Yesterday. A Magnificent Military and Civic Procession. Over One Hundred Thousand Persons in Line. Great Outpouring of the People as Spectators." New York Times, April 11, 1871, p.1. According to the Times report, "the numbers . . . made this demonstration . . . the most imposing, without exception, ever displayed to the gaze of witnesses of pageants in this Metropolis," larger than the crowds celebrating the end of the Civil War or mourning the assasination of Lincoln. Ibid.
The Times reported extensive details on the organization of military and civilian marchers, the route of march, the review at City Hall by the Governor, the Mayor, the Common Council and others, and the duration of the parade: three and three-quarter hours. It also noted that "The consumption of lager must have been enormous and almost beyond computation. Tho breweries of Staten Island were engaged day and night since Friday last in carting beer to this City, employing special boats for the purpose, and every brewery in the City and vicinity was as actively employed. At one of the Bowery [beer]gartens nearly 150 kegs of lager had been consumed at eight o'clock yesterday morning." Ibid., p.2.
It is unknown how promotion or celebration of the 1871 parade was married with the 1850s lithograph by Magnus. It is possible that Magnus himself produced this work, using either the original stone from the 1850s or overprinting unsold copies of the original double lettersheet from his stock. He emigrated to the United States in 1848 from Germany and maintained a life-long connection to that country and to the large German-American population of the U.S. (Pedersen 2013.) It is also possible that a third party printed or stenciled the text on the bottom half of the sheet from an unused original lettersheet.
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.