View source for Our Dumb Animals

{{Short description|American animal welfare magazine (1868–1970)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title = Our Dumb Animals
| logo = 
| logo_size = <!-- default is 180px -->
| image_file = Our Dumb Animals - May 1915 cover.jpg
| image_size = <!-- default is 180px -->
| image_alt = 
| image_caption = May 1915 cover of ''Our Dumb Animals''
| editor = [[George T. Angell]]
| editor_title = <!-- up to |editor_title6= -->
| previous_editor = 
| staff_writer = 
| photographer = 
| category = [[Animal welfare]]
| frequency = Monthly
| format = 
| circulation = 
| publisher = [[Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals]]
| founder = George T. Angell
| firstdate = {{Start date and age|1868}}
| finaldate = {{End date|1970}}
| finalnumber = 
| country = United States
| based = [[Boston, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| language = English
| website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| issn = 0275-2476
| eissn = 
| oclc = 977896424
}}
'''''Our Dumb Animals''''' was an American [[animal welfare]] magazine published from 1868 to 1970 by the [[Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals]]; it was founded and edited by [[George T. Angell]], the founder of the society.<ref name=":0" />

== History ==
The magazine was first published in 1868 and remained in publication until 1970.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Song|first=Hoon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xaitEnIFgRcC|title=Pigeon Trouble: Bestiary Biopolitics in a Deindustrialized America|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8122-0009-6|pages=56–57|language=en}}</ref> For the first issue, over 200,000 copies were distributed, with Boston police officers distributing 25,000 of them.<ref>{{Cite web|title=George Thorndike Angell|url=https://www.mspca.org/who-we-are/history/george-thorndike-angell/|access-date=2021-10-21|website=MSPCA-Angell|language=en-US}}</ref> Free copies were delivered to newspaper editors, legislators, clergy, and teachers.<ref name="traitor">{{cite book | first =Ernest|last= Freeberg | title =A Traitor to his Species: Henry Bergh and the Birth of the Animal Rights Movement | location =New York | publisher =Basic Books | date = 2020 | pages =33–4 }}</ref> The magazine had an annual fee of {{Currency|0.50}} and was published monthly.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our Dumb Animals Vol 20 No.3|url=https://www.animallaw.info/article/our-dumb-animals-vol-20-no3|access-date=2021-10-21|website=Animal Legal & Historical Center}}</ref> The use of the word "dumb" in its title was not intended to disparage non-human animals, but to refer to their lack of capacity for speech;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Preece|first=Rod|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Cx1ZPoFuO0C|title=Animals and Nature: Cultural Myths, Cultural Realities|publisher=UBC Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-7748-4220-4|pages=34–35|language=en}}</ref> the motto "We Speak For Those Who Cannot Speak For Themselves" was printed on every cover.<ref name=":0" />

== Content ==
Its content included news about the organization's activities and members, news of pending legislation, [[humane education]] in the form of essays and fiction ("animal morality tales")<ref name="traitor" /> and reports on [[animal cruelty]], which was contrasted with the virtues of the animals being harmed, such as their intelligence and faithfulness.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="traitor" />

== Legacy ==
The magazine is considered important in the development of the early [[animal advocacy movement]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2012-06-27|title=Our Dumb Animals|url=https://bekindexhibit.org/exhibition/publications/our-dumb-animals/|access-date=2021-10-21|website=Be Kind: A Visual History of Humane Education|language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Bands of Mercy]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons-inline}}
*''[https://www.loc.gov/resource/ihas.200187253.0?st=gallery Our Dumb Animals]'' at the [[Library of Congress]]
* {{HathiTrust Catalog|006069414}}
*''[[iarchive:pub_animals|Our Dumb Animals]]'' at the [[Internet Archive]]

{{Animal welfare|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Our Dumb Animals}}
[[Category:1868 establishments in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:1970 disestablishments in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Humane education]]
[[Category:Magazines about animal welfare]]
[[Category:Magazines disestablished in 1970]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1868]]
[[Category:Magazines published in Boston]]
[[Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States]]