Over the last few weeks our blog stories have centered on P. T. Barnum’s “stateside” connections and activities, as he directed his American Museum from afar and corresponded with family members in Connecticut. 

So Much to Talk About These Days! The Barnum Museum is fortunate to have extraordinarily talented artists, performers, writers, thinkers, designers and innovators as part of its century-old service to our community. 

Since this is the week when families in America traditionally gather—in normal times—to celebrate Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season, it seems appropriate to share another of P. T. Barnum’s letters home to his wife, Charity, with updates on the family matters we’ve been exploring in previous letters. 

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! And, off we go into a ‘different’ but all the same joyful holiday season!

Over the last several weeks we’ve gotten to know some of the key staff members of P. T. Barnum’s team at the American Museum in New York, by piecing together details from the letters Barnum wrote from France. 

A Happy Thanksgiving Message from the Barnum Museum!

Last week we learned of Barnum’s plans for a brand-new attraction at the American Museum—a physioscope, which he described in a letter to Fordyce Hitchcock, manager of the museum. 

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AMUSEMENT PARKS AND ATTRACTIONS HALL OF FAME Inductee – P.T. BARNUM! I’m sure it’s hard for everyone reading this to believe that Super Storm Sandy was 8 years ago! 

P. T. Barnum was never lacking ideas for attractions to bring to his American Museum in New York, and he was certainly an enthusiastic supporter of a mid-19th century popular phenomena: visual illusions in a variety of forms.