Visual Materials

Barnum's curiosities illustrated

Description: Image of a political broadside for the 1880 United States elections illustrated with a variety of animals and people, including references to politicians: the "Indiana game cock" (Winfield Scott Hancock), "English's funeral" (William English), and "Sad Levi" (Levi Morton).
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: approximately 1880
Call number: priJLC_POL_002635
Creator: Last, Jay T(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Gift of Jay T. Last, 2005.

General Winfield S. Hancock

Visual Materials

Image of a bust-length portrait of American Civil War Union General Winfield Scott Hancock in military uniform.

priJLC_MIL_001238

Image not available

The Barnum & Bailey greatest show on earth. : Section 12. Delightful illustrations of childrens fairy tales... (Barnum & Bailey)

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_004730

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

Image not available

The Barnum & Bailey greatest show on earth. : Section 10. Delightful illustrations of Arabian nights' tales and nursery rhymes. (Barnum & Bailey)

Visual Materials

priJLC_ENT_004729

The Barnum & Bailey greatest show on Earth : interior view of the great double menageries

Visual Materials

Image of spectators in a large tent viewing zoo animals, with animals including rhinoceroses, lions, hippopotamuses, polar bears, giraffes, and seals in caged circus wagons, and animals including cows, including one cow with a third eye and miniature zebu cows with humps, oxen, zebras, horses, llamas, deer, camels, and elephants in a center roped area.

priJLC_ENT_000010

General Winfield S. Hancock

Visual Materials

Image of a full-length portrait of American Civil War Union General Winfield Scott Hancock on horseback in military uniform with hat in hand; soldiers on foot and mounted in background with an American flag.

priJLC_MIL_000790

Barnum's curiosities illustrated

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General Winfield S. Hancock

The Barnum & Bailey greatest show on earth. : Section 12. Delightful illustrations of childrens fairy tales... (Barnum & Bailey)

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

The Barnum & Bailey greatest show on earth. : Section 10. Delightful illustrations of Arabian nights' tales and nursery rhymes. (Barnum & Bailey)

The Barnum & Bailey greatest show on Earth : interior view of the great double menageries

General Winfield S. Hancock