Ticket: "Whole Ticket to P. T. Barnum's Museum and Menagerie"
Unknown creator, American (created by)
1871 – 1872 (Date manufactured/created)
Paper Documentary Artifact
Bright yellow ticket titled "P. T. Barnum's Museum and Menagerie, Whole Ticket." The ticket is printed in black and the center features an entwined design of Barnum's initials. It shows no date but is from the early 1870s when Barnum was in partnership with W. [William] C. Coup, whose name appears at the bottom right as "Manager." The name on the left reads, "J. N. [John Nicholas] Genin, Jr. Treasurer." Genin's retail business had been next-door to Barnum's American Museum on Broadway but was consumed in the fire that engulfed the building in 1865. The reverse side is also yellow; the center it is printed with Barnum's signature.
Barnum is best known today for the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, but his circus ventures did not come about until he was in his early 60s. His first circus, in the early 1870s, was called P. T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus. Barnum subsequently opened the New York Hippodrome with similar acts. In the 1880s, competition from other circuses increased. A merger between Barnum’s show and the Great London Show of Cooper, Bailey, and Hutchinson formed the circus called Barnum and London. Barnum's partnership with James A. Bailey in 1887 formed Barnum & Bailey, which continued to be managed by Bailey after Barnum's death in 1891. After Bailey's death in 1906, the Ringling Brothers bought Barnum & Bailey and operated it separately from their own circus. In 1919 the two were combined to form Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth. This circus gave its final performance on May 21, 2017.
Barnum is best known today for the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, but his circus ventures did not come about until he was in his early 60s. His first circus, in the early 1870s, was called P. T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus. Barnum subsequently opened the New York Hippodrome with similar acts. In the 1880s, competition from other circuses increased. A merger between Barnum’s show and the Great London Show of Cooper, Bailey, and Hutchinson formed the circus called Barnum and London. Barnum's partnership with James A. Bailey in 1887 formed Barnum & Bailey, which continued to be managed by Bailey after Barnum's death in 1891. After Bailey's death in 1906, the Ringling Brothers bought Barnum & Bailey and operated it separately from their own circus. In 1919 the two were combined to form Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth. This circus gave its final performance on May 21, 2017.
EL 1988.022.001