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Sells Brothers in Perpetual Union with S. H. Barrett’s Roman hippodrome three ring circus elevated stage 5 continent menagerie new monster shows : the children's dream of fairy-land



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  • Cole Bros. Circus : largest menagerie on Earth

    Cole Bros. Circus : largest menagerie on Earth

    Visual Materials

    Image of a circus menagerie with spectators viewing fenced and caged zoo animals including elephants, hippopotamus, polar bears, ostriches, seals, and zebras; "World Toured" globe logo at bottom right corner; "Cole Bros. Circus" panel pasted over another name printed on poster, presumably the Robbin Bros. Circus; date sheet for a June 18, [1936], show promoting "Ken Maynard's Wild West" in New London, Connecticut, pasted below image.

    priJLC_ENT_000098

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    Sells Brothers in perpetual union with S. H. Barrett's ... Billy Burke & brother. (Sells Bros. Circus)

    Visual Materials

    This collection contains more than 650 printed items that relate to circuses in the United States from the 1850s to the 1990s. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations produced for or pertaining to circuses, their tours and shows, staff and performers, acts and exhibits, and animals. Materials are arranged in three series: small-size prints and ephemera (11 x 14 inches or less); large-size prints and ephemera (more than 11 x 14 inches); and broadsides and handbills. The collection has 206 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic posters containing brightly colored images of featured circus acts, performers, and animals that were typically posted outdoors in advance of the circus coming to town. Small-size items in the collection number more than 320 and are comprised mainly of advertising and promotion ephemera and business documents such as trade cards, programs and souvenir books, route cards, envelopes, tickets, songsters, and printed billheads and letterheads. The 130 broadsides, handbills, and related advertisements consist primarily of long, narrow broadsides printed on newspaper paper in black ink using letterpress type that advertised upcoming circus shows and were intended to be distributed by hand, left in stacks in public places, or posted on walls, fences, or in windows in advance of the circus's arrival in a town. This collection provides a resource for studying the history of the American circus and its impact on popular entertainment and advertising in the 19th and 20th centuries. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of the development of printmaking techniques and trends, and of the artists, engraves, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creation of these prints.

    priJLC_ENT_004735

  • Carson and Barnes big 3 ring 2nd largest circus

    Carson and Barnes big 3 ring 2nd largest circus

    Visual Materials

    Image of the head of an elephant and a smiling whiteface clown over a circus tent graphic.

    priJLC_ENT_000086

  • Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey : the world's biggest menagerie

    Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey : the world's biggest menagerie

    Visual Materials

    Image of a large circus tent with spectators viewing a menagerie of zoo animals in caged circus wagons and behind fences in a central arena; caged animals include seals, lions, tigers, polar bears, monkeys, and a tapir; the fenced animals include giraffes, elephants, a rhinoceros, hippopotamuses, gorillas, ostriches, antelope, bison, zebras, deer, and camels; center cage is labeled "Mr. and Mrs. Gargantua the Great"'; "The Greatest Show on Earth" globe logo at bottom right.

    priJLC_ENT_000051

  • Carson and Barnes big 3 ring largest circus

    Carson and Barnes big 3 ring largest circus

    Visual Materials

    Image of the head of an elephant and the face of a smiling whiteface clown over a circus tent graphic; date sheet for a May 9, [1968], show in Mesa, Arizona, pasted below image.

    priJLC_ENT_000085