Photograph: Circus chariot driver Minnie Dunn holding reins of four horses, circa 1890

From Barnum Museum

circa 1890 (Date manufactured/created)

Cabinet card photograph in a horizontal format, showing circus chariot-driver Minnie Dunn in costume, holding the reins of two matched pairs of horses, one pair white, the other dark.    The setting is outdoors on a grassy area with trees behind; no circus tents are visible.  On the reverse of the cabinet card an inscription identifies the woman as Miss Minnie Dunn of the Adam Forepaugh Show.  In this photograph she is wearing a white garment with ruffles at the shoulders and loose fabric hanging from the shoulders, intended to heighten the visual effect of her driving the chariot at great speed as the fabric would stream behind her.  She wears a matching headpiece which may also have a  streamer at the back.  The chariot itself features a white horse painted on the side.  The horses wear bi-color feathered plumes or ornaments on their heads.  In the 1891 circus route book for Adam Forepaugh Shows she is listed under both "Four-Horse Chariot Drivers" and under "Lady Jockeys."   In the 1893 Forepaugh circus route book, it is noted on August 22nd that she was a visitor that day, greeting many friends, which suggests she had left the company but was previously employed there long enough to have made friendships.  She was also employed by Miller and Freeman's New United Shows in 1888, according to the circus route book for that company. In that route book she is listed under "Dressing Room Artists." 
The inscription on the back of the photo reads, "Compliments of Miss Minnie Dunn of the 4 Paw Show to her friend Kittie."   The photograph was presented to Kitty Sharpe Smith, wife of Fritz Smith, both of whom performed in the circus and vaudeville.  Fritz Smith must have known Miss Dunn as well.  "E. Fritz" (Edwin Fritz Smith) is listed in the same1891 Adam Forepaugh circus route book as Miss Dunn, both under "Clowns" and "Leapers and Tumblers."  Over the course of their long careers they met and befriended many other people in the entertainment business, and it must have been common practice to exchange photographs.  Cabinet cards and cartes de visite (CDVs) like this make up the bulk of the Smith/Sharpe collection, BM-MSS 027

Gift of Susan Crozier Fairchild

Accession/ID Number MS-0027-502-004