---
title: Inspecting the Democratic Curiosity Shop (Puck cartoon, c. 1880)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-inspecting-democratic-curiosity-shop-1880/
description: Colour lithograph by Joseph Keppler from Puck, printed by Mayer, Merkel & Ottmann (LOC dates it c. 1880).
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** 1880 Puck cartoon with slavery-era objects and a caricatured Black head. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Inspecting the Democratic Curiosity Shop (Puck cartoon, c. 1880)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/puck-inspecting-democratic-curiosity-shop-1880.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/puck-inspecting-democratic-curiosity-shop-1880.jpg)

# Inspecting the Democratic Curiosity Shop (Puck cartoon, c. 1880)

Colour lithograph by Joseph Keppler from Puck, printed by Mayer, Merkel & Ottmann (LOC dates it c. 1880). Hancock in general's uniform exclaims 'Great Scott! Am I to be the Head of that?' at a stuffed donkey labelled 'Democracy', in a shop of objects tied to the Civil War and slavery: a whipping post, a 'Fugitive Slave Act' sign, a 'Slave Tracking Bloodhound', a ship 'Alabama', 'K.K.K.' and 'Repudiated Bonds'. The cartoon attaches past stigma to the party behind the nominee.

[← National Democratic Banner: Gen'l Hancock, Wm. H. English](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/national-democratic-banner-hancock-english-1880/) [The Appomattox of the Third Termers: Unconditional Surrender (Puck cover, 16 June 1880) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-appomattox-third-termers-1880/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)