Education: Lesson Details
Overview
P.T. Barnum was the most important showman of the nineteenth century, and his initial fame rested on the popularity of his American Museum in New York City. The promotion of the American Museum included massive publicity campaigns focussed on human exhibits. Barnum was selling the wonder, novelty, and spectacle of their "difference." This lesson examines the dime museum, Barnum's American Museum in particular, and the ways in which human difference intersected with its commercial success. The American Museum was a crucial institution in the development of American popular culture, and human exhibitions were at its center.
Questions To Consider
1. Why was the American Musueum such a popular institution?
2. How does it differ from a modern definition of a museum? What other institutions does it resemble?
3. What was the role of "difference" at the American Museum?
4. What sorts of innovations did P.T. Barnum introduce to American public life?