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