Calling Card: Calling card for "Gen. Tom Thumb"
Unknown creator, American (created by)
Charles S. Stratton (General Tom Thumb)
Southworth, Mary (associated with)
Charles S. Stratton (General Tom Thumb)
Southworth, Mary (associated with)
1843 – 1883 (Date manufactured/created)
Miniature calling card, also called a visiting card, imprinted with the stage name of Charles S. Stratton, "Gen. Tom Thumb". Stratton was a little person who worked for P. T. Barnum in the mid-1800s and became internationally famous as a performer. The well-worn tiny rectangle is plain other than the elaborate script used for his name. The date is unknown, and presumably could be as early as 1843 when Stratton began working with Barnum, or as late as 1883, when Stratton died. Mostly likely it is from the 1840s or 1850s.
The use of calling cards followed a complex set of rules of etiquette. Typically a servant delivered the calling card to the person that his master or mistress wished to visit. The master or mistress would then await a response, also via a calling card. Among the rules of etiquette, cues such as turning down the corner of a card held particular meaning. Calling cards were commonly used by people of wealth and leisure but in the United States they were also used by members of the middle class who aspired to engage in social refinements. Barnum and Stratton may have begun using calling cards when they toured Europe in the mid-1840s, where the practice was a long-standing tradition among the aristocracy.
The use of calling cards followed a complex set of rules of etiquette. Typically a servant delivered the calling card to the person that his master or mistress wished to visit. The master or mistress would then await a response, also via a calling card. Among the rules of etiquette, cues such as turning down the corner of a card held particular meaning. Calling cards were commonly used by people of wealth and leisure but in the United States they were also used by members of the middle class who aspired to engage in social refinements. Barnum and Stratton may have begun using calling cards when they toured Europe in the mid-1840s, where the practice was a long-standing tradition among the aristocracy.
1977.003.001