In 1926, a nine year old boy and his father went to see the Christy Bros. Circus that rolled into their hometown of Wallingford, Connecticut. Mesmerized by the magic and excitement of the show, little Bill Brinley pronounced to his father that one day he would ‘have a circus of his own.’

This past weekend I found an amazing book at the Westport Library Book Sale that I would have given to P.T. Barnum as a gift if he did not already have it in his library.

This week I learned that one of my personal muses, Disney legend Jack Lindquist, passed away earlier this year.  You all know him, even if you don’t think you do – the first president of Disneyland, Jack created the iconic question: “…you just won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do next?”

  Barnum has an extraordinary history of supporting the Irish – from employing Irish men and women in his American Museum in New York City during the 1840s, to actively supporting Irish Home Rule.

As Executive Director of the Barnum Museum and someone who has dedicated many years of my career to the study of P.T. Barnum – I interestingly find I have something in common with Donald  Trump – his admiration of P.T. Barnum and that ‘Yes!’ – we all need a bit more P.T. Barnum in this

I want to welcome you to the first edition of my new blog, “All Things Barnum”. Thank you for inviting me into your lives.