24 pp. Illustrated throughout from photographs. 25x27.5 cm (9¾x10¾"), wrappers with lettering & pictorial in gilt.
Rare pictorial booklet recording a hunting trip to Africa, at times in all-too vivid detail, undertaken in 1920 by Henry A. Snow and his son Sidney Snow, who founded the Oakland Zoo in 1922. OCLC/WorldCat has no listings for this book, but the film they produced is recorded.
By the time the East Bay Botanical and Zoological Society (EBZS) emerged, Sid Snow already had a following of dedicated people to help him realize his family’s dream; to provide Oakland with a small zoo with live animals. The community donated lumber, paint and supplies to build a new home for the zoo animals.
They were big game hunters, and in 1920 went on a two-year safari to Africa to capture live animals for the zoo. They shot the movie Hunting Big Game in Africa with Gun and Camera (1922) and published this book. Sid Snow was a well-known St. Mary’s football player and catcher for the Oaks Baseball team.
In 1935 Mr. Snow took possession of the 475-acre parcel and started building the zoo; two years later founding the Alameda County Zoological Society. Sidney Snow formed a Board of Directors and paid the mortgage and taxes out of operating revenues. The City of Oakland voted a budget of $4,800 per year in 1939 for the care and feeding of the animals.
Through Sid Snow’s tireless negotiation, the State of California State Park Commission, under the Joseph R. Knowland chairmanship, acquired the East Bay Botanical and Zoological Society. The Society, City and State approved the master plan, and in 1958 water lines, grading and fencing got under way, including an elephant house for the harmonica-playing Asian pachyderm, Miss Effie Oakland.
The zoo, at 98th Avenue and Mountain Boulevard, grew to an arboretum and exotic zoological gardens with annual membership fees of $1.00 per year for juniors, $2.50 for individuals, and $5.00 for sustaining members. The East Bay State Park was dedicated on May 21st, 1950.