| Phineas Taylor Barnum was arguably the greatest | | | | Barnum adjusted the exhibits, shows and |
| showman of all time. He had a knack for finding | | | | educational materials to accommodate different |
| and exhibiting unusual people, animals and a range | | | | cultures and tastes as well as each strata of the |
| of oddities, some of them hoaxes, such as the | | | | social classes of the times. There was literally |
| Feejee Mermaid.While the Barnum & Bailey Circus | | | | something for everyone.The public response was |
| continues as a living testament to his talent for | | | | almost as varied as the museum's diversity. |
| promotion, he was also a politician and journalist | | | | Some loved the museum/theatre and some were |
| and enormously influential both here in the U.S. and | | | | appalled by it.The flames of that outrage were |
| in Europe during the 19th century. He could | | | | fanned by Barnum's support of temperance, and |
| tomanipulate the press in ways that render | | | | on July 13, 1865, the American Museum was |
| today's spin doctors inept hacks.P.T. Barnum, as | | | | burned to the ground. It has never been |
| he was best known, was born in Bethel, | | | | determined who set the fire. He subsequently built |
| Connecticut on July 5, 1810. After his father's | | | | a new museum further uptown, which also burned |
| death in 1826, rural life faded as his ideal, and he | | | | down.He is perhaps best known, however, for |
| was drawn to the city lights of Brooklyn, New | | | | two special finds: Tom Thumb and Jenny Lind.It |
| York, where he worked for a short time as a | | | | was in 1842 that he discovered Charles Sherwood |
| store clerk.His own fascination with curiosities, | | | | Stratton, whom he dubbed Tom Thumb, a man |
| strange and bizarre, convinced him that his | | | | who stood only 25 inches tall and weighed a mere |
| contemporaries of the era would be likewise | | | | 15 pounds at age 11.Barnum invested two years |
| captivated, so he set out to make collecting and | | | | in training Tom to sing, dance and mime, then |
| displaying peculiarities his career. His reading of the | | | | embarked on a world tour with his tiny friend who |
| sentiments of the times was right on, and people | | | | performed for fascinated domestic and European |
| gathered in large numbers at the various venues | | | | audiences, including royalty and Abraham Lincoln. |
| he built, in particular, the American Museum in | | | | Tom Thumb became a "must see" in the |
| New York.The first of his endeavors involved | | | | American Museum.Jenny Lind, whom Barnum |
| Joice Heth, whom he billed as "The Greatest | | | | called "The Swedish Nightingale" was a musical |
| Natural & National Curiosity in the World."Telling | | | | prodigy. She could play the piano at age four and |
| those interested that the story-telling, African | | | | developed an extraordinary singing voice, which |
| American woman was 161 years old, he | | | | she amply demonstrated to the influential and |
| convinced his audiences that, as a slave, she had | | | | political, including President Millard Fillmore, General |
| tended to a young George Washington.When a | | | | Winfield Scott, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Henry |
| prominent physician pared back her true age to | | | | Wadsworth Longfellow, Washington Irving and |
| 80 after her autopsy, Barnum insisted that her | | | | others.The Barnum & Bailey Circus, which he |
| body was a fake and that she was still | | | | dubbed "The greatest show on earth" is his most |
| performing elsewhere.In 1841, Barnum founded | | | | enduring legacy.Mixing politics with his passion for |
| and built the American Museum in the heart of | | | | the bizarre enabled Barnum to serve a one-year |
| "Old New York City." It comprised an eclectic | | | | term as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and he |
| blend of sensational and gaudy attractions, | | | | served two terms in the Connecticut |
| including Tom Thumb and the Feejee Mermaid, | | | | legislature.The Barnum Museum is an excellent |
| natural history with exhibits displaying taxidermy | | | | chronicle of the life and times of Phineas Taylor |
| and menageries, and art, wax figures and a | | | | Barnum and very much worth a visit.Jim Hyde, an |
| Lecture Room and theatre in which Shakespeare | | | | author, award-winning writer and syndicated |
| was performed.To many historians and social | | | | columnist, is editor and co-owner with his wife, |
| scientists, the American Museum was the bedrock | | | | Terry, of a top-ranked New England Website, |
| of New York's urban evolution.Remarkably | | | | NewEnglandTimes.Com, which covers travel, |
| perceptive of the changing demographics of the | | | | tourism, real estate and lifestyles. |
| city and the confluence of different cultures, | | | | |