The first elephant in America was advertised simply as “The Elephant.” The front page advertisement in the Aurora, N.Y., newspaper says “Lately arrived from INDIA, and the first that was ever upon this continent.” Admission to see “The Elephant” was half-a-dollar for grown persons and a quarter of a dollar for children. The value of this newspaper is $40 to $50.

The “Golden Age of the Circus” is a perplexing period of time that historians have difficulty pinpointing. One historian identified 1880 to 1918 as the Golden Age and linked the decline of the railroad circus with its end.¹ But other historians have a range of opinions: 1880-1900,² 1860-1930,³ 1840-1940,⁴ beginning in the 1850s,⁵ or ending between 1900 and 1910.⁶

Regardless of what dates you specify, there was, without doubt, a “Golden Age”—a time when circus was king. However, that wasn’t the beginning of the circus in America.

John Bill Ricketts is credited with presenting the first complete circus performance on American soil on April 3, 1793. This performance debuted in an amphitheatre he erected in Philadelphia. President George Washington and First Lady Martha attended performances at Ricketts later in the same month.

Individual circus acts were performed in larger towns prior to Ricketts, and entrepreneurs traveled to rural America exhibiting wild animals. The first lion displayed in America was in 1716. In 1796, one of the most noteworthy events in circus history occurred when Captain Jacob Crowninshield arrived in New York harbor with the first living elephant in North America. The earliest item of circus memorabilia in my collection is a complete newspaper dated July 25, 1796, which has an advertisement promoting that elephant.

Early American circus memorabilia is scarce, especially items from the late 1700s and early 1800s. Some of the easiest items to find from the mid-1800s are articles in weekly news magazines like “Harper’s Weekly,” “Gleason’s Pictorial” and “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.” Prices on these publications vary widely depending on content. Civil War issues bring the highest prices. The three engravings shown below can usually be found for $10 to $25 each.

This engraving depicts William Hanlon on the flying trapeze in New York City’s Academy of Music. It appeared in “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper” in 1861. In 1891, while performing with Forepaugh’s Circus in Lyons, Iowa, William Hanlon’s trapeze bar broke. He plunged to the ground and died on the spot.

On July 13, 1865, P.T. Barnum’s first American Museum burned to the ground. This is one of two engravings published by Harper’s Weekly to illustrate the story inside. Barnum quickly re-opened the museum in a new location. Unfortunately, that museum also burned to the ground in 1888.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Stratton (General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren Stratton) were front-page news when they married in 1863. This “Harper’s Weekly” engraving is from a photograph by renowned photographer Matthew Brady.

Below are a few items from the mid-1800s. Generally, items from this era are more in the “circus-related” category than items actually from circuses.

This CDV (Carte de Visite) was published by E. & H.T. Anthony from a photographic negative by Matthew Brady. On the back are printed signatures of Charles S. Stratton (Tom Thumb) and Lavinia Warren Stratton. CDVs of Tom Thumb are fairly easy to find. I purchased this CDV for $7.50 while visiting Goodspeed’s Book Shop in Boston, Mass., in the early 1970s. In recent years, others like it have been selling for $30 to $50.

Chang & Eng were the original Siamese Twins. They arrived in America in 1829 and were exhibited around the country, including in Barnum’s American Museum. This early broadside advertising the pair sold on eBay in 2007 for $412.77.

This booklet was sold at Barnum & Van Amburgh’s Museum in 1866. It was Barnum’s second museum. The 70-page booklet had illustrated stories about the animals in the museum and the biographies of P.T. Barnum & Isaac A. Van Amburgh. A fascinating addendum featured a couple of pages documenting the amount of ticket sales for individual cities hosting the Jenny Lind tour, promoted by P.T. Barnum. Value is $80 to $120.

During the American tour of the Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind, which began in September 1850, the singer gave 93 concerts, netting P.T. Barnum approximately $500,000. This 1853 sheet music featuring the singer on the cover was published after Jenny Lind returned to England. It sold on eBay in 2007 for $45.

Books on the subject of the early American circus are sought after by every serious collector of circus. Almost all general history circus books have a section on the roots of the circus, particularly the American circus. However, there are a few books that really stand out because they provide special emphasis to the early years.

“Annals of the American Circus 1793-1829,” by Stuart Thayer, was published by Rymack Printing Company in 1976. It is almost impossible to find today. I was fortunate to locate my copy on eBay this year for less than $20. It was a stroke of luck, not likely to happen again. In the past year, searching the top-25 Internet out-of-print book sites—which include 40 large bookstores and 20,000 individual dealers—I have not found any other copies of this book. Estimated value is $200-$300.

“Annals of the American Circus 1830-1847 Volume II,” by Stuart Thayer, was published by Peanut Butter Publishing, Inc. in 1986. This Volume II of the “Annals of the American Circus” is also scarce. In 2008 a copy of this book sold on eBay for $62.21. Today, I can find just a handful of copies on the Internet, sold by only two dealers. One dealer’s price is $167 the other is $698.

“Traveling Showmen—The American Circus Before the Civil War,” by Stuart Thayer, was published by Astley & Ricketts, Ltd. in 1997. Prices range from $75.00 to 137.

“Pioneer Circuses of the West,” by Chang Reynolds, was published by Westernlore Press in 1966. Copies of this book can be found for $25 or less.

“Elephants and Quaker Guns—A History of Civil War and Circus Days,” by Jane Chapman Whitt, was published by Vantage Press in 1966. Value of this book is $15 or less.

“California’s Pioneer Circus,” by Joseph Andrew Rowe, edited by Albert Dressler, was published by H.S. Crocker Company, Inc. in 1926. These are the memoirs and personal correspondence of the circus businesses owned by Joseph Andrew Rowe in the 1850s gold rush country. The printing of this book was limited to 1,250 numbered copies and the one shown here is Number 894. Some copies of the book can be found on the Internet from $10 to $25.

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¹ “Bandwagon” – July-August 1972 – “A Note on the Decline of the Circus,” by Stuart Thayer.

² “Bandwagon” – March-April 1977 – “Kicking Sawdust in the Center Ring of Memories, The Story of J. Augustus Jones and His Circuses,” by John C. Kunzog. Also in “Hobbies” – January 1947 – “Circus Songsters,” by A. Morton Smith.

³ “Bandwagon” – May-June 2004 – “Strong Women and Crossed-Dressed Men: Representation of Gender by Circus Performers During the Golden Age of the American Circus—1860-1930,” by Marcy W. Murray.

⁴ “Back Yard” – June 30, 1998 – “Hertzberg Museum, San Antonio, Tx. – Circus Posters and Memorabilia from the Golden Age of the Circus, 1840-1940.”

⁵ “History Magazine” – October-November 2001 – “Step Right Up,” by Bob Brooke.
⁶ “Bandwagon” – September-October 1971 – “The Frontier and the Circus,” by Fred D. Pfening, III.

Larry Kellogg is a WorthPoint Worthologist specializing in circus memorabilia.

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The cover of the souvenir program for “The Biggest Show of Stars for ’57.” This program is a cross collectible, sought-after by circus collectors and rock & roll collectors alike. It has a value of $50.00 to $100.00 but has sold on eBay for as much as $305.00. Hard to find window cards for this show are valued in excess of $100.

Collectors of circus memorabilia do just that—collect items from circuses past and present. However, there are some items that are not circus at all, but are somehow related to the circus. In this article we will discuss one such item from the recent past that has a parallel story in the distant past.

P.T. Barnum entered the circus business late in life. In 1871, at the age of 61, he initiated his circus career when P.T. Barnum’s Museum, Menagerie and Circus premiered in Brooklyn. Within a year it was dubbed “The Greatest Show On Earth,” a title now known throughout the world. For more information on the history of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, The Greatest Show On Earth see my article titled: Circus Show Names and the Greatest Show Name of All Time.

Years before he had his own circus, Barnum, always the entrepreneur, was busy with his American Museum in New York City. He exhibited the likes of the Feejee Mermaid and General Tom Thumb. In 1850 he entered the concert business by promoting the American tour of Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale. The singer gave nearly 100 concerts and earned $250,000. Barnum netted at least double that amount.

Fats Domino & Clyde McPhatter	LaVerne Baker & Frankie Lymon
Chuck Berry & Fats Domino	LaVerne Baker & The Crickets

Clyde McPhatter & The Diamonds	The Biggest Show of Stars for ’57
Buddy Knox & Jimmy Bowen	The Everly Brothers

Chuck Berry & The Drifters	Paul Anka & Eddie Cochran
Harold Cromer & Paul Williams	Irving Feld’s signature

Fast forward 107 years. In 1957 Irvin Feld, also a concert promoter, toured a show called “The Biggest Show of Stars for ’57.” In that one show some of the biggest names in rock ‘n’ roll appeared on the same bill: Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Paul Anka, the Drifters, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, the Everly Brothers, The Diamonds, Eddie Cochran, Clyde McPhatter, LaVerne Baker and back-up band, Paul Williams and his Orchestra. At that time, Buddy Holly and the Crickets were so new on the scene that didn’t even have a professional publicity photo. The shot used in the souvenir program book has the four guys in T-shirts.

The record order form offered records by the artists for 89 cents each.

In the back of the program book there’s an order form for Super Enterprises, Feld’s mail order record house located in Washington, D.C. If you ordered 10 records at the regular price of 89 cents each, you received one record free. Shipping was 50 cents.

In 1967 Irvin Feld and his brother Israel bought the total assets of The Greatest Show On Earth from the Ringling and North Families for $8 million. For maximum publicity, they signed the contract in the Roman Coliseum in Italy. Feld was following in the footsteps of the great showman, P.T. Barnum. It is interesting to note that they both knew instinctively what the public wanted.

Larry Kellogg is a WorthPoint Worthologist specializing in circus memorabilia.

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A most unusual addition to my circus collection came from an unplanned series of events. More than 30 years ago I became acquainted with a local artist who was beginning to work with sculpture. My nephew introduced us. I always thought I’d like to have a bust of P.T. Barnum, which I thought would fit well on the bookshelves with my collection of Barnum and other circus books. When we asked this artist to create a small bust of Barnum, he was intrigued. So we worked out a deal. My nephew, also an artist, made a mold of the Barnum bust and cast Hydrocal reproductions of the bust to sell. I advertised them in magazines appealing to circus collectors.

The first ad appeared in the November 1974 issue of Bandwagon Magazine, the official publication for members of the Circus Historical Society. Within a week the first order and a check arrived from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Attached to it was a company purchase order signed by Bill Ballantine, the Dean of Clown College.

Bill’s illustrations and more than 400 articles have appeared in magazines like Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, Colliers, Holiday, True, Cavalier, Harper’s and Harper’s Bazaar. He has written many books, including Wild Tigers and Tame Fleas, Horses and Their Bosses and Clown Alley. In the 1940s Bill was a clown, designer and publicist with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Clown Alley is his story about the eight years from 1969 to 1977 when he was dean of Ringling’s Clown College.

I first met Bill in 1971 when I produced a show about Clown College for a local TV station and stayed in touch over the years. When I was at the Venice, Florida Winter Quarters early in 1975 to see the premiere of the all-new Bicentennial Edition of The Greatest Show On Earth I ran into Bill again. I was curious about why he had purchased the Barnum bust. Smiling, he escorted me into his office and there it was sitting on his desk. He had painted his own clown face on the Barnum bust. “I always wanted to know what Barnum would have looked like as a clown,” was his explanation. We both had a good laugh.

At that time St. Petersburg, Florida was the first stop for Ringling after leaving the Venice Winter Quarters. Bill and I developed a tradition that continued for many years. I was Promotion Manager of Bayfront Center Arena where the show appeared. Bill would call and let me know what day he was coming to watch the show. He would arrive in the morning and we would have lunch, catch up on circus gossip and attend the matinee performance. One day he came into my office with a towel-wrapped package. He presented it to me with great fanfare. It was the Barnum bust with his clown face. We enjoyed another good laugh when he said, “My wife told me to get rid of it. You were the only logical one to have it.”

Bill Ballantine died in 1999. but I’ll never forget him. Every time I look at the Barnum bust with his clown face gathering dust on my office shelf, I remember our special friendship.