Guided Primary Source Analysis: Great Moon Hoax | Citizen U Primary Source Nexus

Fergola, Salvatore. “Partenza di Pulcinella per la luna.” Between 1835 and 1849. Landauer Collection of Aeronautical Prints and Drawings. Summary: Print shows illustration relating to the Great Moon Hoax with Punch riding to the moon in a ship on a chain track; inset shows Herschel’s machine and moon observatory.

Read the summary of the Lunar Narrative from the Museum of Hoaxes. What details from the articles do you see evidence of in this illustration?

Why do you think the illustrator created an inset, or a picture within a picture? Access this .pdf to see the image in more detail.

Compare and contrast the information about the Great Moon Hoax from the following sources. What did you learn? What similar information is presented? Are there any discrepancies?

Historic Hoaxes The Spokane Press (Spokane, Wash.), 23 Jan. 1910
Evening Sky Map for September, 1911 El Paso Herald (El Paso, Tex.), 30 Aug. 1911
Belief, Legend, and the Great Moon Hoax Folklife Today blog August 26, 2014
Moon Shot: Race, a Hoax, and the Birth of Fake News The New Yorker October 21, 2017

What other observations, reflections or questions does this source inspire? Let us know!