Phineas Taylor Barnum, papers, 1818-1993

ArchivalResource

Phineas Taylor Barnum, papers, 1818-1993

Phineas Taylor Barnum, papers, 1818-1993

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/759844198

Correspondence, manuscripts, inventories, photographs, clippings, and memorabilia documenting aspects of the career of P.T. Barnum and Barnum's relationship with Tufts University. Also included are letters authored by Barnum and his contemporaries and collected by, or donated to, Tufts University. Twentieth-century correspondence is mainly authored by Russell L. Carpenter, curator of the Barnum Museum. Carpenter's drafts of manuscripts and lectures about Barnum and Jumbo are present. Inventories outlining some of the artifacts contained in the Museum date from 1856 through the 1930's. Clippings from the 19th and 20th centuries relate to Barnum's career, Jumbo the elephant's career, Jumbo's role as Tufts' mascot, the fire that destroyed Jumbo, and occasionally, circuses in general. Memorabilia dates from the 19th and 20th centuries and includes Barnum's scrapbook from his 1889 London circus tour, framed drawings and clippings of Jumbo, copper plates showing an artist's representation of Jumbo's death, an elephant prod, advertising cards featuring jumbo, a "Cut-Up Jumbo" puzzle, and a segment of Jumbo's tail, removed during renovation of the stuffed elephant. Materials in the P. T. Barnum Collection were both generated and collected by Tufts University. Interfiled with Barnum's correspondence with Tufts are letters on unrelated topics, presumably purchased from dealers.

7 linear feet.

Tufts University - Tisch Library, Tisch Library