Browse Items (194 total)

Barnum and Bailey Circus performer Jack Barrett along with another man identified as "Barnum", although PT Barnum had died in 1891. A successor to previous performers Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren, among others, this negative shows that the…

The actual wood blocks are the ones that are reversed. The others are edited for closer inspection and readability. Large hand carved circus menagerie scene letterpress wood block. Made by the Neal Walters poster company in Arkansas c. 1930's-1940.…

In this photograph, there is interesting focus on the non-spectacular of the circus—there are no large crowds, the tents are in the background, and no performers are presenter. What is spectacular is simply the sheer number of horses in comparison to…

"Barnum & Bailey, greatest show on earth -- Troupe of very remarkable trained pigs, performing numerous difficult, clever and wonderful tricks, animals showing almost human intelligence and reason, while in the performance of many curious and…

In class we have discussed the agency of women in the Circus and at Exhibitions. From the readings little was said about the agency of women in Wild West Shows. Here I will explore my ideas about women in Wild West Shows in context of the item. In…

This is a wood engraving print entitled, "Their Bridal Tour--At Niagara Falls" that was printed in Harper's Weekly on September 29th 1888. It depicts a man and woman in what appears to be an intimate conversation, while dressed in fancy clothes with…

Belmont is one of the longest-running horse races in the country. Pictured is the raised grandstands. In accordance with Mullan's article, in which he quotes E.J. Hobsbawn as observing that "sport had become 'a mass spectacle... transformed into the…

The image presented by this poster is intriguing because it combines the more low-brow entertainment of the sideshow with the victorian respectability of glove-boxing. But, as crude of a show as this might seem, or seem to be advertised, it is…

The ticket allowing admittance to the match between recognized champion John L. Sullivan and Jim Corbett, which would mark the end of both bareknuckle fighting as a major sport as Queensbury rules grew in popularity as well as the career of Sullivan,…

The Metropolitans were founded in 1880 as an independent professional team by business entrepreneur John B. Day and baseball manager Jim Mutrie. Like New York area clubs, the team initially played its games in Brooklyn and in Hoboken, New Jersey.…