If hippopotamus was put on the menu, would you try it? That’s what America almost did in 1910! Confronted by corporate beef monopolies, meat shortages, and rising prices nationwide, senator Robert Broussard proposed a solution: Import hippopotamuses from Africa to free-range in Louisiana! The idea was that hippos could substitute for cattle, ridding the hyacinth that polluted the swamps while being harvested to feed hungry Americans. While many considered edible hippopotamus quite practical since “a little of him would go a long way gastronomically,” in the end it was the idea—not the hippos—that was put out to pasture. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.