Documenting American circuses and carnivals: an archivist’s perspective

by Marian Matyn,Clarke Historical Library, CMU

SAA-San FranciscoAug. 30, 2008

Based on:

• 6 month sabbatical studying MI circuses and carnivals, [1793]1900-1960[current]

• 3 years reading related materials• 2 years conducting oral history interviews

with circus and carnival people• Travel throughout MI, IN, WI • Correspondence with other states

What is a circus?

• Classic definition: to the public, a performance space, usually a tent with one or more rings; a menagerie; and a sideshow.

• Basic: “the ring, the horse, and the clown” (Arthur H. Saxon, Circus language: a glossary of

circus terms, 2000)• In U.S. since 1793• Circus performers are artists

Zeidman and Pollie Circus, Cincinnati, OH, sometime

between 1910- 1927, private collection of Curt Pollie.

What is a carnival?

• Both circuses and carnivals had midway, sideshows, performers, games of chance, at one point both had rides.

• Now: Rides, games of chance, food and drink, and maybe sideshows, inflatables, organized around a midway

• In U.S. since 1893 (Chicago’s World’s Fair)• Carnival people are business owners

Carnival Midway, Ionia Free Fair [MI],1922?, private collection of Curt Pollie.

Secondary Sources:

• Books• Articles• Websites• Directories• Maps• Catalogs

Primary and Secondary Sources: Route books

• Published • Manuscript with Route information

Zeidman & Pollie Exposition Shows Route book, 1932, CHL.

Pollie Bros. Circus Program, 1924, CHL.

Wixom Bros. Great Railroad Show Diary, 1900, BFRC, at The Henry Ford, includes route information.

Wixom Bros. Great Railroad Show Diary, 1900, BFRC, at The Henry Ford, with paid licensing fees.

Primary sources I used:

• Manuscripts• Vertical Files• Scrapbooks• Oral Histories• Newspapers (NY Clipper, Billboard, local)• Census• Images (photographic, movies, posters,

drawings, paintings, etc.)

Manuscript Collections:

• John C. Pollie Papers, 1910-1960, and undated, Clarke Historical Library (CHL), CMULetters to/from John were written at the time

• Wixom Family Papers, 1890-1968, and undated, Benson Ford Research Center, The Henry Ford (BFRC)Clyde Wixom wrote after the fact, late 1960s

John C. Pollie Papers, Business Correspondence, CHL. Letter, 1933, requesting hire by Cetlin & Wilson.

John C. Pollie Papers, Business Correspondence, CHL. Letter, 1955, from Net Tortni, WI DeLuxe Co., to John.

John C. Pollie Papers, Personal Correspondence, CHL. Birthday cards to John from his children.

John C. Pollie Papers, Personal Correspondence, CHL, birthday telegram to his six-year-old daughter, Janice, 1950.

John C. Pollie Papers, Personal Correspondence, CHL, postcard written by Bea to John, reporting personal and business news, 1957. Please mow the lawn!

John C. Pollie Papers, Business Accounts, CHL, examples of a wide variety of financial records.

Wixom Family Papers, BFRC, various tickets, passes, and railroad script, from Wixom and other circuses, giving date, location, and additional information.

Wixom Family Papers, BFRC. Letter from Clyde Wixom, 1965, to Art & Gracie Johns, about family history and circus staff.

Primary Sources: Vertical Files

• Pre-show advertisement (Example)• Short sketches, obituaries, articles, images

G.G. Grady’s Circus, Menagerie Museum & Grand Free Balloon show, pre-show advertisement, 1873, Western MI Univ. Archives & Regional History Collections, Kalamazoo, MI.

Primary Sources: Oral Histories

• Clowns, Trapeze Artist, Carnival people• Problems: lack of trust, “not one of us”, need

introduction, time consuming process, memory, dying off

Another Source: Newspapers

• NY Clipper, Billboard• Local news: ads, images, critiques, accidents,

deaths, reports, cancellations, elephant rampages

• Some people consider these primary and some secondary sources

N.Y. Clipper,Under the Tents, a1901 report from the Skerbeck Circus. They had a rough year!

Gollmar Bros. 3-ring Circus illustrative ad, Iron Ore, Ishpeming, MI, Aug. 4, 1917.

Death of trapeze artist Belinda Connors,Shrine Circus, Mining Journal, Marquette, MI, April 16, 1991.

Deaths in websites & grave-yards.Lizzie Whitlock, Circus Fat Lady in (Findagrave.com)

Primary Sources : Census

• Problematic: traveled in summer, used various performance names

• Example 1860 Federal Census for Goshen Township, Tuscarawas County, OH, Stow Circus troupe, Eliakim or Eliakam and Wes Stow

Primary Sources: Images

• Negatives, photographs, movies

Wixom Family Papers, BFRC, photograph taken at Fair Grounds, Ithaca, MI, 1900.

Information from back of previous Wixom photograph.

Wes Stow of the Stow Circus. Scan of now a lost carte-de-visite,Berrien Co. Historical Society, MI.

Location of Sources: All over

• Circus World Museum, Research Library, WI• International Circus Hall of Fame, Peru, IN• John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, FL• State, university, other archives• Public libraries and Historical societies• Museums• Private collections (especially carnival)

Conclusion:

• Much information, many formats in many institutions

• Many topics to researched= papers to publish, presentations to make, exhibits to mount

• On-line images help

Conclusion Problems:

• General problems: – Lack of cataloging, indexing, and public

knowledge of these documents –Deterioration, theft

• Oral history: memory problems, dying

More problems

General circus/carnival problems: • Lack of and conflicting information• a lot of baloney • facts crazier than fiction • Carnival problem: don’t trust outsiders

We are at the end. “Elephant’s rear end”, a scanned glass-plate negative of two circus elephants, in Alpena, MI, date unknown, William Boulton Glass-Plate Negative Collection, CHL.