• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

PT Barnum

Becoming Barnum: Going It Like a Rush

January 23, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastIn this episode of the Becoming Barnum podcast, we dive into P.T. Barnum‘s 1846 letters to his uncle Alanson Taylor. He shares his business advice for their partnership in the Baltimore Museum, emphasizing the importance of good systems, press relations, and gradual improvements.

He also expresses disdain for previous museum managers and their lack of physical improvements. [Read more…] about Becoming Barnum: Going It Like a Rush

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Circus, Museums, Podcasts, PT Barnum

Becoming PT Barnum: New Year’s Day, 1846

January 18, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastIn this episode of the Becoming Barnum podcast, explore the letters P.T. Barnum wrote on New Year’s Day in 1846 as he navigated his business dealings on both sides of the Atlantic and grappled with the difficult decision of whether to return home during his wife’s confinement. From business schemes to the challenges of managing a family across the ocean, this episode offers a unique insight into the mind of the legendary showman. [Read more…] about Becoming PT Barnum: New Year’s Day, 1846

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Circus, Podcasts, PT Barnum

PT Barnum’s Personal Life

January 14, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastIn this episode of the Becoming Barnum podcast, we learn about P.T. Barnum’s thoughts on personal wealth, honor, and “gulling” the public, as well as his religious beliefs and values.

We explore letters written in December 1845 in which Barnum discusses his wife’s pregnancy, his acquisition of paintings of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and his efforts to persuade others of his Universalist beliefs. Don’t miss this fascinating look into the personal and financial life of P.T. Barnum in the 19th century. [Read more…] about PT Barnum’s Personal Life

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Circus, Philosophy - Ethics, Podcasts, PT Barnum, Religious History

PT Barnum’s Promotion of General Tom Thumb in London

January 5, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastIn this episode of the Becoming Barnum podcast, P.T. Barnum works to promote the performances of his famous protégé, General Tom Thumb, in London. He uses handbills, street parades, and even advertising vans to attract a crowd. This episode includes an interesting tale of how Barnum brought General Tom Thumb to the stage in London and offers a unique glimpse into 19th century entertainment. [Read more…] about PT Barnum’s Promotion of General Tom Thumb in London

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Circus, Cultural History, London, Performing Arts, Podcasts, PT Barnum, Social History

PT Barnum & Showing Human Beings As Curiosities

November 20, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastThis episode of the Becoming Barnum podcast discusses an uncomfortable truth about showing human beings as curiosities. A letter from P.T. Barnum in November 1845 concerns the exhibition of people with genetic abnormalities. To be sure, this topic is complex. [Read more…] about PT Barnum & Showing Human Beings As Curiosities

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Circus, Cultural History, Medical History, Museums, Podcasts, PT Barnum, Social History

PT Barnum, George Catlin & Indigenous Exploitation

November 11, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastOn this week’s episode of the Becoming Barnum podcast, the connection between P. T. Barnum and a lawyer-turned-artist, author, and showman George Catlin is explored. While in Europe, Barnum reached out, looking for new and profitable opportunities, especially since the entourage had made so little money performing in French towns, Paris being the exception.

This proposal, in particular, which Barnum described to Catlin on November 8, 1845, comes across like a middle-of-the-night brainstorm that should never have made it to pen and paper. The idea was abhorrent, and further investigation reveals that this wasn’t a novel and untested idea for Barnum in 1845. Far worse, it points to a disturbing piece of history, exposing a profound injustice that should not be swept out of sight. [Read more…] about PT Barnum, George Catlin & Indigenous Exploitation

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Indigenous History, Podcasts, PT Barnum

PT Barnum Podcast: Frances Clarkson, Barnum Museum Ticket Taker

November 3, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastThis week on the Becoming Barnum podcast, we have the opportunity to learn about an employee in a less glorified, though still significant, position: the ticket-taker and bookkeeper for PT Barnum’s museum, one Frances Clarkson.

The name “Frances” is mentioned in earlier letters about a person leaving the museum, an incident that seemed to upset Barnum. Yet those letters gave no clue as to the role or identity of that individual. [Read more…] about PT Barnum Podcast: Frances Clarkson, Barnum Museum Ticket Taker

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Labor History, Podcasts, PT Barnum

PT Barnum Podcast: A Tree Found, Tried & Shook

October 14, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastFall is apple season and the title phrase of this week’s Becoming Barnum podcast — plucked from a P. T. Barnum letter — seemed ripe for picking.

Writing from France to his American Museum manager Fordyce Hitchcock on September 12th, 1845, Barnum commented, “No, my dear H, the Museum, like Tom Thumb (2 years ago), is a tree found, tried & shook. There is nothing now to do but pick up the fruit.” [Read more…] about PT Barnum Podcast: A Tree Found, Tried & Shook

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Performing Arts, Podcasts, PT Barnum

Becoming Barnum: Read & Reflect, Then Do as You Please

October 11, 2022 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastThis episode of the Becoming Barnum podcast explores circus impresario P.T. Barnum’s relationship with his family. A collection of letters written in 1845-46 during a trip to Europe include relatively few to his wife Charity Hallett Barnum.

Although it’s clear that Barnum missed his wife and their young children, the correspondence suggests a marital relationship that was often out of sync, compounded by Charity’s chronic health problems. [Read more…] about Becoming Barnum: Read & Reflect, Then Do as You Please

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Circus, Podcasts, PT Barnum

The Albany Museum: Curiosities, Circus & Performing Arts

July 4, 2022 by Peter Hess 3 Comments

1848 painting of State Street in Albany by John Wilson, the Albany Museum is on the right in the building with the colonnade (courtesy Albany Institute of History and Art)Albany’s first museum was started in 1798 in a building on the corner of Green and Beaver streets. In the summer of 1808, two royal tigers were housed at the Thespian Hotel, a circus pitched its tent, and Ralph Letton started the Albany Museum.

The Albany Museum was located in the Old City Hall (Stadt Huys) on the northeastern corner of South Market Street and Hudson Avenue (today’s Broadway and Hudson Avenue). The Old City Hall was built in 1741 and was the site of the 1754 Albany Congress meeting where Benjamin Franklin first proposed the Albany Plan, a plan of union of the colonies that later was a basis for the U.S. Constitution. On its steps, the Declaration of Independence was first read to Albany on July 19, 1776 by the order of the Provincial Congress. With the construction of the new building on Eagle Street in 1808, the Old City Hall was converted into the Albany Museum. [Read more…] about The Albany Museum: Curiosities, Circus & Performing Arts

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Art History, Circus, Cultural History, Museums, Music, Musical History, Performing Arts, PT Barnum, Rensselaer County, Theatre, Troy

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Help Finish Our 2022 Fundraising

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • GARY SCHOEN on Moose Are Back in New York State: A Population Update
  • Deb Heller on Catskills Resort History: The Beginning of the End
  • John Warren on Civil War in the Mohawk Valley: The Battle of Oriskany
  • Richard Daly on Poetry: Mention It, Don’t Insist
  • Norma Coney on Civil War in the Mohawk Valley: The Battle of Oriskany
  • David Forest on Knapp’s Folly: Sullivan County’s Columbia Hotel
  • John Jarosz on State Rebuilding of High Peaks Wilderness Roads Challenged in Court
  • Marlene V Thompson on Supporting the Poor in Saratoga County
  • Sue L on Hair Ice and Frost Flowers
  • dave on Catskills Resort History: The Beginning of the End

Recent New York Books

The Great New York Fire of 1776
The Sugar Act and the American Revolution
battle of harlem hights
Ladies Day at the Capitol
voices of wayne county
CNY Snowstorm book front cover
The Struggles of Boston's Black Workers in the Civil War Era
Expanded Second Edition of Echoes in These Mountains
historic kingston book

Secondary Sidebar

preservation league
Protect the Adirondacks Hiking Guide