Tuesday, February 26, 2008

From Frederick Neill


Scan000010651, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hi, Trust I've got your email address right. Many thanks for your great circus history blog - however, as I only do internet searches twice a week I have trouble keeping up with your additions to it! I use my local library and several of your archive months are now too large to load on their system! (the 300+ ones) - still, keep adding 'em and I'll keep looking.
I've been researching the Barnum & Bailey visits to UK in 1889-90 and to Europe between 1897-1902 and, as often seems to be the case, several useful items seem to have "vanished" into archives/museums/ etc. without showing obviously in their catalogues. I've tried all the obvious UK & US sources but was wondering if any of your blog users know of possible sources of:-
'Olympia Gleanings; A Review of the Winter Season of 1889-90 in London, England with P.T.Barnum' 1890;
'Barnum & Bailey; Eight Views and Order of Procession' c1898; and, much less likely, 'Barnum & Bailey En Route, Leur Systeme Special de Transport' 1902.
The 1889-90 season was not so well publicised here as the later one so the 1st would be extremely useful to view, the 2nd was certainly on sale in UK EVERYWHERE but....
Any thoughts from anyone?

(I have tried all UK University libraries/British Library/V&A Theatre Museum/Earls Court Archive/local library main catalogues/Library of Congress/Sarasota/etc....). Many thanks in advance.

Fred Neill

Posted by Buckles at 2/26/2008 06:32:00 AM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Olympia Gleanings is the title of the show’s 80-page route book for the 1889-90 season in London. Original copies are available at the Circus World Museum, the Hertzberg collection now at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, and Princeton University. Barnum & Bailey En Route is a detailed and illustrated 40-page publication printed for the use of the railway companies that moved the circus train and I have a copy. I can scan portions if you send Buckles your email for forwarding. Very likely, Princeton University as well as the Circus World Museum and Ringling Museum have all three sources you seek. Princeton is also the home for the remarkable scrapbooks, photographs, and other material saved by James A. Bailey and presented to the University by his nephews, the McCaddons. Called the McCaddon Collection of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, it is rich with material on the European tour. An internet search will quickly bring you to the online inventory and some appears in the fifth volume of Toole-Stott’s circus bibliography. I assume you are familiar with the route book for the 1898-1902 tour and the recent book on the UK portion. Also, Barnum prepared several nearly identical scrapbooks about his 1889-90 visit for his family and a couple of these are in Bridgeport institutions but it was highlighted in a story The Old Showman’s Last Triumph appearing in the December 1961 American Heritage.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

26 February, 2008 09:45
Anonymous said...

There are other valuable resources beyond those listed and mentioned. If Mr. Neill would kindly post his breadth of interest and purpose,a nd his e-mail address, other items might follow.

26 February, 2008 10:19
Fred Neill said...

I am at Fred_Neill@Yahoo.com. See my March 5 comments.

11 March, 2008 05:45

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