A showman’s roster that filled halls and tents
From the 1830s to the 1880s, P. T. Barnum drew large audiences by promoting performers and attractions billed as “human curiosities.” This record traces how he assembled, advertised, and toured those acts, from New York museum halls to three-ring circus tents across the United States and Europe.
Early exhibits and Joice Heth
In 1835, at age 25, Barnum began exhibiting Joice Heth, a blind, nearly paralyzed enslaved woman billed around Philadelphia and New York as George Washington’s 161-year-old former nurse. She died in February 1836 at no more than 80 years of age. Barnum then staged a public autopsy before paying spectators to confirm her actual age.
American Museum: Tom Thumb and more
In 1841 he bought Scudder’s American Museum at Broadway and Ann Street and renamed it Barnum’s American Museum. In 1842 he introduced the “Feejee” mermaid, a stitched composite leased from Moses Kimball. He soon presented four-year-old actor Charles Stratton as “General Tom Thumb,” trained to impersonate Hercules and Napoleon.
He added live acts and displays that included albinos, giants, little people, jugglers, and “exotic” performers. During 1844–45, Barnum toured Europe with Tom Thumb, met Queen Victoria, and acquired additional attractions and mechanical curiosities. By late 1846, the museum drew roughly 400,000 visitors per year.
New faces in the 1860s
In 1860, Barnum introduced “Zip the Pinhead,” a microcephalic Black performer presented with invented speech. That year Chang and Eng, the conjoined twins, appeared at the museum for six weeks. In 1862 he discovered giantess Anna Swan and also featured the dwarf performer Commodore Nutt, Barnum visited President Abraham Lincoln at the White House with Nutt. The museum added an aquarium and expanded its wax figures. Barnum’s American Museum burned on July 13, 1865, a replacement site opened and then burned again in March 1868.
Three rings on the road
Barnum entered the circus business in 1870 with William Cameron Coup, launching P. T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome. After an 1881 merger with James A. Bailey and James L. Hutchinson, the show operated under combined titles, presented three rings, and included sideshow acts alongside acrobats and a menagerie. In 1882, the circus purchased the African elephant Jumbo from the London Zoo. Barnum’s partners helped move the enterprise by train, a practice he adopted widely as the show toured. Barnum died in Bridgeport on April 7, 1891, and was buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery.
From Manhattan halls to circus tents, P. T. Barnum drew crowds with billed “human curiosities.”
Between the 1830s and 1860s, his American Museum showcased headline acts and set the stage for the touring enterprise he later built…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/sFSEPCmT1z
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) August 22, 2025